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"He's after S.T.A.R.S. members- There's no escape!"

Introduction

Resident Evil fans will all remember Resident Evil 3 for the PSX. Chances are that non-fans have also heard of it too. It was what some called the defining Resident Evil title. Taking elements like the monster that stalks you throughout the game and the wide, expansive areas of Raccoon City from Resident Evil 2 and taking them to the next level. Resident Evil 3 was also the last September 28th game in the main line of games (The next game in the main line would be Resident Evil 4, which would not take place around the events of Raccoon City), although there would be many games in-between. Although this game came out in 1999, a port was inevitable. In 2003, it was released for GameCube after the remake came out for GameCube, and Nintendo had a short monopoly over the Resident Evil franchise.

Note: When I mention the "remake" in this review, it's a reference to the remake of Resident Evil. No remake of Resident Evil 3 currently exists.

Graphics/Visual

There's really not much difference from the PSX here, except that the pre-rendered backgrounds are much better than the character models in comparison, and it does, of course, look better overall because of the GameCube's higher ability to create and process quality visuals.
None of the original menu or status screen templates or designs have been changed or altered either. Neither has anything else.

This is a direct port, so I guess I should review that graphics as if I'm reviewing the original. For a game that's seven years old as I'm reviewing this, it's not painful to look at at all. The graphics are all ahead of their time, that's for sure. Then-unheard of effects like intricate shadow work in window panes and fire (even if it's a bit blocky by today's standards) aren't avoided here.

The camera angle in this game is unique, like the other Resident Evil games. The camera will be fixed on one spot, and will stay there until you move out of it, and will always fix on different angles, giving it a cinematic feel to it.

FMVs seem to not look as good as normal in-game cutscenes for some reason, possibly because the animating style then for FMVs was all about getting in the smooth edges over lighting and detail. While Jill seems to look like a blow-up doll in some scenes however, Nemesis looks particularly detailed and frightening. The games' animators definitely put a little somethin'-somethin' into the making of Nemmy. Other enemies though, all pretty much look the same. Zombies come in about fifteen different varieties in total (including male and female). Cereberus and Deidemos, of course, all look the same.

However, while the FMVs are under-accented, sometimes the in-game can be over-accented, making items on the ground (particularly herbs) hard to locate at some times. Your keys and items do the standard 'glint in the light' thing, nothing special.

The atmosphere is well set in Resident Evil 3. You'll spend a majority of the game in the city, where much effort has been put in to show as much carnage as possible, and it's a great job well done. You can see how everyone tried getting out of town, and how the bloody battles were fought between the Raccoon Police Department and the unnatural creations of Umbrella.

Over all, the graphics are below average to poor by todays standards, but easy to put up with. Besides, it's a ported game. Have you ever downloaded a Super Nintendo ROM and complained about the 2D graphics? Exactly.

Sound

My position on the sound is different than on the graphics. Visuals have improved much more since '99 than sound has. This game still sounds great.
The musical mood is the same as with the other Resident Evil games, but with a little more urgency and excitement. You'll recognize the famous safe-room music from the other games, but other than that, nothing is recycled from Resident Evil 1 or 2. For those of you who don't know, the musical mood of Resident Evil has always been about what isn't there as much as it's about what is. A chilling silence can be used to make you immediately feel even more uncomfortable than a nice, slow, creepy chord in the background.

Sound effects are also well done. You can be travelling down an alleyway for the 500th time, as routine as a robot, and then the sound of a window smashing or a car door popping open will set your heart racing.

Monster sounds are good, but after a while you can predict exactly what sound something's going to make next time you shoot it. Zombie moans are nice and deep compared to other (original) games, and soud painful and sad. Nemesis gets a mention here of course for always summing up his reason for existence in one garbled word... "Stahrss! Stahrss!" I guess that's two words, but other than his roar following "Stars", that's all he says. Not that I'm complaining, really- How much would you be able to say with a set of teeth like that?

Dialogue is well written and acted out, and they even managed to pull of the russian accents of the mercenaries, but there's always a long pause in-between lines and the characters ruin it further by waving their arms around awkwardly.

Story

It's the infamous September 28th, and this game takes place both before and after the events of Resident Evil 2. It would of been clever for the writers to add in a little five second cutscene where you see Leon or Claire from the second game, as it does occur around the same area of town. Basically, the virus from the first game has mutated further and spread throughout the city. Early attempts to stop the monsters from taking over the city were useless, and they quickly overpowered all the police, SWAT and mercenary groups sent in to deal with the problem, save for a handful of survivors.

Jill Valentine from the original Resident Evil game is back and has a bone to pick with Umbrella. First, however, she must get out of Raccoon City. It wont be easy, as she'll have little help from other survivors, and will be stalked by a new, unrelenting nemesis created to destroy the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members.
Throughout the game, you'll venture through most of the city, and some more interesting locations that I wont mention in the second half of the game and meet up with mercenaries that were sent in during the first wave and somehow managed to survive.

Most of the story is presented through cutscenes and "files" that can be found throughout the game. These are often peoples diaries and accounts of what happened to them up until they died, and give you a bit of story filler. This really helps add to the atmosphere that you're one of the only people left in Raccoon City.

Gameplay

The gameplay is what you'd expect to find from a survival horror game. You're going to be in for a long haul without FAQs, and I'd say this game offers about two weeks of gameplay. The biggest issue with gameplay is that it's either too hard or childishly easy. Hard mode you start out with a handgun and one clip. Easy mode you start out with every single weapon excluding one of the heavy ones in your item box, in addition to an infinite ink ribbon, which totally takes all the fun out of the game.

Most of your time you will be looking for items that you will figure out how to use to access new locations and progress further in the game and half of the game or so will be spent trying to obtain pieces to get the tram functioning again. You'll need to play the game to see. It takes some good thinking to solve the various puzzles that you'll need to do involving machinery and mechanics, but it shouldn't be too hard for someone who has a general knowledge of technology and science- and if you don't, you can take as much time as you want trying random things until you make something happen.

This is, of course, a survival horror game which means you'll often find yourself running by your enemies instead of just killing them because of both the shortage of ammunition and the amount of shots it takes to kill someone that's already dead. While combat is avoidable most of the time, sometimes you will want to kill enemies in areas that you go through often, or will need to kill a boss, so in Resident Evil 3 you have the ability to dodge attacks (Ready your weapon and press the action button just before they attack), and to get free of a hold when you are grabbed by shaking the controller and mashing the buttons, giving you a feel for panic.

Lots of elements of gameplay are unrealistic, such as how you can do almost everything in your status screen like reloading your gun instantly by combining your ammo with your weapon, or heal yourself just the same way- all while time stands still and the game is paused. Time freezes itself for other things like giving you the option to throw away a key after you use it to unlock a door. Another big flaw in reality is the door scene. You can be chased by three dogs... They're catching up on you really fast as you come up to a door, and as soon as you press the action button in front of the door, the door opening animation with the camera stepping through the door plays, and all your problems are on the other side, when in reality, the dogs would of mowed you down while you were opening the door. This wasn't as noticable in the remake, where most of your monsters are just zombies, but with a higher monster count and faster moving enemies, you can really notice it. It's all for the sake of smooth, possible gameplay though- you'll still find yourself panicked and excited when you just manage to get to a door before Nemesis smashes you in.

Speaking of Nemesis. You never really know when he's going to bust through a window, or come chasing after you. And after he starts chasing you, he's hard to lose and even harder to kill.

The controls are issues for alot of players, but once you get used to them, they come naturally. You just need to not let camera angles confuse you, as the controls are binded as if it was an over the shoulder view. Whether you're used to the controls or not though, it's not an easy gaming experience (Except on easy, then it's childs play). Which brings me to my next section in the review,

Replay Value

This game has much more replay value than the remake and Resident Evil 2. The various locations all over the city still don't get old as fast as in Resident Evil the Remake, where you spend all of your time in the Spencer Mansion, or Resident Evil 2, where you spend most of your time in the Raccoon City Police Department. Resident Evil 3 also has alot of unlockables to be earned such as epilogues (Files that tell you what happened to each of the characters after their escapes from Raccoon City), five different costumes to be unlocked depending on your "Report card" grade at the end of the game.

There's also the Mercenaries mini-game, in which you play as one of three mercenaries trying to get from point A to point B. It's timed, but you can gain extra time by defeating enemies, saving people from zombies and gaining bonuses. At the end of your mission you are awarded money depending on how well you did. You can use this money to buy weapons with infinite ammo fore the main game, such as the Gattling Gun. This game is lots of fun, and can be played over and over again.

There are also some nice secrets here such as an alternate ending which completely changes the final half hour or so of gameplay and allows you to reunite with Barry Burton more fully. The hardest secret to obtain is the special directors message which you can only watch after you beat the game for the -eighth- time, and can only be watched once.

Between all of the unlockables, easter eggs, alternate ways to play the game, you can still be unlocking new things for the first eight times you beat the game. That's almost unheard of, and offers a great deal of replay value that probably won't get old before you do.

Final Thoughts

It was a fantastic game in 1999, and I can't see why anyone wouldn't still want to play it now. The graphics aren't great, but it is ported from the PSX, and besides- it's still the same game. The game gives off it's own sort of eerie feeling while you play- being able to see a recognizable city that could easily be whatever city you live in crumble into a sub-civilization is a great basis for a game. And with tons of unlockables that only hardcore fans are going to be able to earn, and tons more that you can easily get, it's not likely to sit on the shelf anytime soon after you buy it.

This definitely isn't the kind of game you can rent and unlock everything (or even near everything) before it's due and should be bought so you can enjoy it fully. It is, however, a hard game to find for the GameCube, so if you have an opportunity to buy it, take it. Even though it might be costly depending on where you buy it.

Playing this game will make you remember why Resident Evil became so popular to begin with- even if it's the first Resident Evil game you've ever played.

Features
+ More unlockables and replay value than I've ever seen
- It's ported so you know you're getting PSX quality graphics
+ Still sounds good though
+ Classic survival horror that scares and excites you and of course
teaches you that there's nothing more useful than a lighter or a lockpick
+ Mercenaries mini-game adds hours on to the time you'll spend playing this game


Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/06/06