Review
Played on: Xbox One X
Released: 2020
Released: 2020
Introduction
Last years remake of Resident Evil 2 was a fantastic example of how to remake an old classic. Renewing ideas, while retaining the spirit and content of the original. I awarded it a healthy five out of six S.T.A.R.S., pun intended, and in hindsight, I think it might be the best remake I've ever played.
So, I was surprised to see the remake of RE3 done in little over a year of development. Screenshots and character updates posted online looked great, the demo gave me a tiny taste of how it played and so I was ready for my full retail version to arrive in the mail.
To get some context here, as to how excited I was for this title, next after the first RE, I actually prefer RE3 over RE2 in the original trilogy! It's a perfect, three part story and I felt RE3 had more interesting ideas than RE2. Plus, it had better variation in it's selection of areas to explore. This is why then, REmake 3 is something I can't review lightly or forgive massive changes to.
A fair warning before reading on: the original has been out since 1999 and I'll be spoiling locations in this review. If you haven't played the original, you might want to go into this remake without knowing some of the major plot developments.
So, I was surprised to see the remake of RE3 done in little over a year of development. Screenshots and character updates posted online looked great, the demo gave me a tiny taste of how it played and so I was ready for my full retail version to arrive in the mail.
To get some context here, as to how excited I was for this title, next after the first RE, I actually prefer RE3 over RE2 in the original trilogy! It's a perfect, three part story and I felt RE3 had more interesting ideas than RE2. Plus, it had better variation in it's selection of areas to explore. This is why then, REmake 3 is something I can't review lightly or forgive massive changes to.
A fair warning before reading on: the original has been out since 1999 and I'll be spoiling locations in this review. If you haven't played the original, you might want to go into this remake without knowing some of the major plot developments.
Let's reload Jill's handgun and take a look!
Premise
REmake 3 begins where it did in the original and expanding it slightly, with a welcome nod to RE7. Featuring a first person segment as you explore Jill's hotel room in Raccoon City. This is a nice playable touch versus the original, which simply had a drawing of Jill sitting on a bed in the hotel with text explaining the back story.
Just like in 1999, you're thrown out of the building, this time by Nemesis smashing down the place. Giving some back story as to why Jill crashed out of the hotel in the original. From here, the remake takes a new turn and you're guided by Brad Vickers, the helicopter pilot for RE1, who helps you towards safety.
Just like in 1999, you're thrown out of the building, this time by Nemesis smashing down the place. Giving some back story as to why Jill crashed out of the hotel in the original. From here, the remake takes a new turn and you're guided by Brad Vickers, the helicopter pilot for RE1, who helps you towards safety.
After another intense, but scripted, meeting with Nemesis you end up driving off a car park roof and agreeing to cooperate with an Umbrella team of mercenaries. This task force is helping to clean the city from the company's, self caused, zombie outbreak and save civilians. Here you're also introduced to the new, and curly haired, but greatly updated, version of Carlos.
Phew, what a start! What feels like something that should have been at least a couple of hours of events, is crammed into the first 30 minutes. All the main characters are introduced at once too, ringing first alarm bell that this remake has pacing issues.
Phew, what a start! What feels like something that should have been at least a couple of hours of events, is crammed into the first 30 minutes. All the main characters are introduced at once too, ringing first alarm bell that this remake has pacing issues.
After this roller coaster of an introduction, you're finally left to find your own premise to wander around some simple city streets. While presenting itself incredibly well visually, the actual size of this city layout feels extremely small. It could have done with more streets and buildings, allowing the player to sink into a more complex layout and volume.
Instead, you finish off the city part quickly, the OG RE3's tricky puzzles are left out entirely and replaced by stupidly simple ones. The cutbacks from the original are evidently beginning to show.
With the large increase in zombies, it becomes clear that REmake 3 is more about action than REmake 2 was. Even the revisit to REmake 2's police station, is vastly more action orientated, albeit with some welcome meetings of familiar faces. I never had any real problem with ammo either, making Capcom's self-titled "survival horror", miss the target.
I appreciate the design and art direction in this remake, but I never felt I recognised anywhere from the original. The original felt like part of a larger city and more cohesive. You could roam from the city to the R.P.D. police station, and back, freely. Here, we're cut off in a linear fashion, pulled through segmented areas through cutscenes, giving the impression that areas aren't connected.
Gameplay and features
The same control scheme and gameplay returns from REmake 2. Precise and well controlled movement and shooting, but still lacking a hipfire option, making it feel a little stiff as a third person shooter in the fluidity of gun control. It becomes more apparent here too, with the increased number of zombies. You need to let Jill pull her gun up to here face in the full animation loop before you can fire, trying to fire midway in this animation, cancels the movement. Just let the player hipfire in stressing situations, as they're pulling up the gun, Capcom!
There are some smaller gameplay changes for better or worse too. Ink ribbons are, sadly, removed entirely and self defensive weapons are swapped out with a dodge move. While I understand the dodging is added to avoid all the zombies easier, I found it annoying that once a zombie grabs you there's simply nothing to do but watch a pre-written biting sequence. You may only reduce damage with some button prompts, but the same sequence will play. It feels scripted and quickly becomes an annoyance.
Another scripted change I noticed was that REmake 2 featured proper ragdoll physics when a zombie is shot dead and falls, plus you can rip them apart limb by limb with gunshots. In REmake 3, however, this has simply been replaced with scripted death animations and they don 't let you tear the zombies apart with bullets. Again, evidence of cutbacks and rushed development.
These smaller gameplay changes aside though, there's two major complaints that have brought REmake 3 down for me personally. First off, is the weird scripted-only Nemesis. In the original RE3, Nemesis would occur rather randomly and hunt you down as you made your way back and forth in the city. It could happen multiple places and wouldn't necessarily happen again the second time you tried. In this remake, he's bound by scripted cinematic appearances only. Killing the horror aspect of being hunted and followed completely.
Mr. X in REmake 2 handled this much better and gave a constant overhanging fear as you roamed the halls of the R.P.D. Nemesis in REmake 3 just isn't scary and you know when he turns up. All his scenes are pre-determined, more often just chasing you down an alley then disappearing again. It's a cheap and obvious downgrade.
The second, major complaint, is the overall locations. Not only was the original fairly short, maybe an eight hour affair, but this is even shorter. Maybe five to six hours and, sure, they entice replays at higher difficulties, but most people will never do so. The lack of road map choices, prompted before major Nemesis encounters in the original, makes replaying this remake alike and repetitive aeach time.
There are some smaller gameplay changes for better or worse too. Ink ribbons are, sadly, removed entirely and self defensive weapons are swapped out with a dodge move. While I understand the dodging is added to avoid all the zombies easier, I found it annoying that once a zombie grabs you there's simply nothing to do but watch a pre-written biting sequence. You may only reduce damage with some button prompts, but the same sequence will play. It feels scripted and quickly becomes an annoyance.
Another scripted change I noticed was that REmake 2 featured proper ragdoll physics when a zombie is shot dead and falls, plus you can rip them apart limb by limb with gunshots. In REmake 3, however, this has simply been replaced with scripted death animations and they don 't let you tear the zombies apart with bullets. Again, evidence of cutbacks and rushed development.
These smaller gameplay changes aside though, there's two major complaints that have brought REmake 3 down for me personally. First off, is the weird scripted-only Nemesis. In the original RE3, Nemesis would occur rather randomly and hunt you down as you made your way back and forth in the city. It could happen multiple places and wouldn't necessarily happen again the second time you tried. In this remake, he's bound by scripted cinematic appearances only. Killing the horror aspect of being hunted and followed completely.
Mr. X in REmake 2 handled this much better and gave a constant overhanging fear as you roamed the halls of the R.P.D. Nemesis in REmake 3 just isn't scary and you know when he turns up. All his scenes are pre-determined, more often just chasing you down an alley then disappearing again. It's a cheap and obvious downgrade.
The second, major complaint, is the overall locations. Not only was the original fairly short, maybe an eight hour affair, but this is even shorter. Maybe five to six hours and, sure, they entice replays at higher difficulties, but most people will never do so. The lack of road map choices, prompted before major Nemesis encounters in the original, makes replaying this remake alike and repetitive aeach time.
They haven't even bothered to remake every location! A massive disappointment is the lack of the Clock Tower building, merely showing up as a backdrop of a Nemesis boss fight. You can't explore or go inside, it's simply skipped. Such a letdown, as it's one of the classic old mansion styled buildings in the original, bringing a sort of cohesiveness back to RE1s setting.
The lovely park area is left out too, as is the nasty underground worm monster. Even the water works at end, replaced by yet another high tech and sterile looking lab. Did we need more of that type of environment, when it wasn't even in the original and already featured in REmake 2?
The lovely park area is left out too, as is the nasty underground worm monster. Even the water works at end, replaced by yet another high tech and sterile looking lab. Did we need more of that type of environment, when it wasn't even in the original and already featured in REmake 2?
It's hugely disappointing to see such major cutbacks, simply skipping segments of the original. It's blatantly cut content, in an already short game and it removes any hope of being a remake where you can recognise yourself, when comparing to the original.
At least the hospital segment is expanded upon and ends up as one of the best parts of the remake. With the exception of a rather stupid escape scene, an unwelcome nod, alongside zombies with stuff coming out of their heads, from RE4. Don't forcibly put RE4 connections into my original RE trilogy, thank you very much!
Overall, I'm left with the cool visual appearance of the city streets , albeit with no intention to try to imitate the original layout, and the only recognisable building left is the R.P.D. police station, which is copy pasted from REmake 2 anyhow!
At least the hospital segment is expanded upon and ends up as one of the best parts of the remake. With the exception of a rather stupid escape scene, an unwelcome nod, alongside zombies with stuff coming out of their heads, from RE4. Don't forcibly put RE4 connections into my original RE trilogy, thank you very much!
Overall, I'm left with the cool visual appearance of the city streets , albeit with no intention to try to imitate the original layout, and the only recognisable building left is the R.P.D. police station, which is copy pasted from REmake 2 anyhow!
Video
Good things first then, visually the game looks fantastic. The streets look detailed, with a better overall design than the outdoor areas in REmake 2. Especially, the use of bright, colourful and vibrant HDR, makes it look spectacular. Character models are fantastic and Jill's new look is arguably my favourite Jill design of all of them, through the entire franchise. She looks bad-ass and absolutely up for the task at hand. Clearly inspired by the RE movie's star appearance of Milla Jovovich.
I'm going to let it slide, as a complaint, that the Xbox One X version shipped with a native 4K that made the framerate drop like hell, as they patched the game soon after and set it to 1600p, just like REmake 2. As a result, it runs smoothly at 60fps and feels fast and responsive to move and aim. While this resolution makes it look a little soft for the native 4K resolution lovers out there, it sets itself nicely alongside REmake 2 visually.
I'm going to let it slide, as a complaint, that the Xbox One X version shipped with a native 4K that made the framerate drop like hell, as they patched the game soon after and set it to 1600p, just like REmake 2. As a result, it runs smoothly at 60fps and feels fast and responsive to move and aim. While this resolution makes it look a little soft for the native 4K resolution lovers out there, it sets itself nicely alongside REmake 2 visually.
The RE engine, once again, shows it's strength as a fantastic looking engine, with one exception being reflections on surfaces. They have some rather ugly and weird artefacts in them.
I appreciate the visual art direction in these remakes, resulting in a CGI movie like appearance, with perfect character models for the graphical style they're aiming at. I'm very happy to see Raccoon City centre with these lovely visuals, even better would have been to recognise some places too...
Update: This game has since been updated to run on modern consoles, with options of native 4K@60fps, 4K@120fps and a ray-traced mode at 4K@60fps.
Audio
Classic RE3 music themes have been updated and are set prominently in the audio mix. REmake 2 missed this opportunity by featuring forgettable new music and relied on people to purchase a DLC for the classic themes. Luckily, REmake 3 goes for the old soundtrack and renews it. Rest assured, that the save room theme is audible, soothing and warm like it should be!
It's overall fantastic voice acting, with the new Jill doing an excellent job at portraying a hardened and experienced cop. Nothing to complain about here!
It's overall fantastic voice acting, with the new Jill doing an excellent job at portraying a hardened and experienced cop. Nothing to complain about here!
Surround sound, though, is sadly not using Dolby Atmos anymore, unlike REmake 2. Thus, taking away the spacial awareness of where sounds come from. Guns sound severely downgraded too, weak and audibly much worse quality than REmake 2. I wanna hear loud, bass heavy gunshots vibrate in the claustrophobic rooms and hear the cartridge casings hit the floor, not weak gunshots that sound nothing like the weapon they're fired from.
Summary
It's hard to play something as good looking and gameplay upgraded, compared to original, and at the same time call it "bad". Confused? Well, REmake 3 is a good game on it's own and extremely well presented, albeit very short.
Problem is, it just isn't a good remake. In that sense, it's a game to recommend to those who simply can't stand playing old games or have no way of revisiting the original release. You'll get the main story and some vague concept of what RE3 was about, but technical merits aside, it's a bad remake.
Problem is, it just isn't a good remake. In that sense, it's a game to recommend to those who simply can't stand playing old games or have no way of revisiting the original release. You'll get the main story and some vague concept of what RE3 was about, but technical merits aside, it's a bad remake.
You won't get the "oh I remember this" warm and fuzzy feeling like REmake 2 so cleverly managed to make you feel in 2019. I get it, REmake 2 also changed up a lot of visual design, namely the sewers and labs, but it didn't skip entire parts of the original. Making the game shorter, and at the same time just leaving out memorable areas and moments entirely, only to replace it with generic ones.
As it stands, the fantastic original RE3 has received an undeserving remake, that never highlights the originals highs and leaves fans of the original behind. RE3 veterans are left with a remake that will probably never get one again. Sure, it works fine on it's own and perhaps viewing it as a re-imagination is a better angle? Yet, as such, it doesn't feel like a very large title to sink into, or become emotionally engaged in.
Newcomers will play this unaware, but the remake part matters to me and Capcom have missed the mark and rushed this release. The original RE trilogy never was about speed and tons of action, it was about atmosphere, exploring the surroundings and solving puzzles to progress.
Newcomers will play this unaware, but the remake part matters to me and Capcom have missed the mark and rushed this release. The original RE trilogy never was about speed and tons of action, it was about atmosphere, exploring the surroundings and solving puzzles to progress.
As it stands, REmake 3 is a fun, action focused, but short and bad remake affair, that scrapes through to get my review score.
