I came, I saw...I pirated. Yep, who needs to pay $40 for a Gamecube port of an old game when you can download it to PC for free? Not that I would do that or anything...*cough*

So anyways, I decided to get Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and give it a whirl. So, heres a short review.

Story - 7/10: Straightforward and simple. You play as Jill Valentine (from Resident Evil and REmake) in a zombie infested Racoon City. The story starts by throwing you straight into things. The T-Virus has been distributed throughout the city through a leak in the water supply, and has turned everyone into zombies. For those of you who have played the original RE, you'll remember STARS. They tried to warn the people of Racoon City about Umbrella (the creators of the virus), but due to a corrupt police chief they were disbanded and discredited. So now it's up to Jill to escape the city...ya know, without getting eaten.

Honestly, I havent seen anything that really aids the RE storyline so far. It's all stuff you probably already know if you played RE2. If you're looking for a game to advance the story, play Code Veronica. Throughout the game you'll make your way through Racoon City, and eventually meet with a guy named Carlos. He's part of a special ops unit hired by Umbrella to 'rescue' the civilians...although they end up needing a rescue themselves. You'll work together with the survivors and eventually make your way out of the city.

Another element is random appearances by the 'Nemesis'. Imagine a faster, stronger, better equipped 'Tyrant' from RE. His mission is to kill all of the STARS members remaining in the city, so he'll be after you throughout the entire game. When I say 'random', I actually mean preset paths...but it all seems random until you get the pattern down.


Gameplay - 7/10: It's just...fight zombies, run from zombies, do puzzle, unlock door, etc. However, even though it's a ton of backtracking and repetitiveness, I'm still finding it fun...so no complaints there. The control scheme on PC takes some getting used to (that's a bit of an understatement). The mechanics are the same as RE though, control your character through a pre-rendered environment with fixed camera angles. This game introduces 'counter' moves, where you can dodge from enemies or push them away quickly. It's a bit awkward feeling, but you get used to it. Another new element is 'Gunpowder'. You can mix the gunpowder with a 'Reloading Tool' to make your own ammo, such as handgun and shotgun rounds. Quite handy. Oh, and the constant "I'm being chased by a hulkling invincible guy with a rocket-launcher" feeling helps to add urgency to your situation.

Sound - 5/10: *Sigh* It must be the plague of older RE games to have sucky voice acting. Thankfully, in RE3, you can STAND the voices...some of them don't seem TOTALLY out of place. Jill's VA has the whole "Oh NO! I'm beING chASED bY A moNSTER!" thing going on, although not nearly as bad as the original RE. Carlos is so-so, he doesn't really over-exaggerate, but there's just something not quite right. The other characters either go overboard on the drama, or just kinda...talk. No emotion, no nothing.

Of course, not EVERYTHING you hear is bad. The music is quite fitting, and although repetitive, hasn't got on my nerves yet. And it's not like RE...no fat drunk man playing an accordian this time around (THANK YOU!). Gun sounds are meh, they fit but sound weak. Nothing astounding, although nothing is particularly bad. The monster sound effects are pretty good too, although I still think of an old man with a fit of constipation when I hear a zombie.

Graphics - Then rating 8/10, Now rating 2/10: This segment is split into two ratings. I went into the game EXPECTING crappy graphics and voice overs, so I haven't been disappointed. The backdrops look good...although they are extremely low-resolution and pixelated, something I would have hoped for a fix for. You can tell that the environment is static...it looks like one of those old cartoons where the thing that moves is a brighter color and has less detail. The character models are...well...that's a toughy. A) They're better than the ones on Goldeneye (a game from a similar time period), yet B) They are...weird. They have low resolution, a low poly count, and move strangly (when stationary, Jill's arms/legs/torso will just...wiggle). However, females DO look like females, and you can tell the difference between zombies and other creatures. If this was the year when this game came out, then the graphics would be pretty good, maybe even great. However, now, they just don't cut it...period.

Replayability - 6/10: It's an RE game. You don't have a seperate characters story to play out, so that cuts some points off. You CAN do puzzles in seperate orders each different playthrough...but it'll all lead you to the same point. Plus, if you start on Easy mode, you start the game with the Magnum, Shotgun, Handgun, and Assault Rifle...and it makes the game waaaaay too easy.

There is the Mercenaries mini-game (made popular in 2 and seen again in 4) which adds on to the replayability a bit, but come on...how many zombies can you shoot relentlessly before you get bored?


Chronologically, this game takes place 24 hours before RE2 and 24 hours after, so you really need to play both to get the full experience. If you can take the cut-back in graphics, sound and gameplay, then this game is sure to keep you entertained for at least a few hours.

Snake's Overall Rating - 7/10