Avery K. Tingle, The Gamer Author

No way I was going to pay sixty bucks for a game that took six hours to complete. But with Sony selling the game at more than half off (including all add-ons) I jumped. The original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was a Playstation classic. I was looking forward to seeing the end of Raccoon City again.

My first playthrough on standard difficulty took a little more than five hours. Not even close to being worth sixty bucks. The question is: for half of that, is it worth it?
The short answer is yes. A revamped story, unlimited weapons and ammo, plus resistance is worth the price of admission. I played this game for the story. I also wanted to revisit the sheer horror of confronting an enraged superzombie on steroids who hated me for some reason and oh let’s give him weapons too and he can outrun you and just for good measure he can GET OVER HERE you too.

If you’re not familiar with the story, Nemesis takes place immediately before and after the events of Resident Evil 2. Jill Valentine, one of the protags from RE1, is still grappling with the events of Arklay Mountains. Raccoon City is overrun with zombies thanks to the nefarious Umbrella Corp’s ‘accidental’ release of the T-Virus. It’s time to blow town. There’s just one (big-ass) problem…

As harrowing as the Nemesis encounters are, they’re too few and far between. Where RE2’s Tyrant had a bad habit of showing up at somewhat random times, Nemesis is pretty much restricted to boss battles. Talk about a huge waste of a great villain. 

Otherwise, this is standard, revamped Resident Evil fare. Jill and Carlos (Umbrella Special Forces) race through various parts of Raccoon City shooting, or avoiding, a very limited number of undead monsters.

The hunters are back.Both gamma and beta hunters are back, but they lack the same presence they held in the original game. They’ll usually pop up in front you in just enough time for you to do something about them. Gone are the omnipotent footsteps that alert you that they’re around, but you have no idea where until they either swallow you whole or decapitate you. The former still happens–quickly if you’re not prepared–but the latter has been toned down to a slit throat. Maybe decapitation was too much. With their horrific atmosphere removed, RE3 falls back to trying to overwhelm you with numbers. That trick gets old fast. Other than hunters and parasitic insects, the enemies have little variation. Again, the parasites offer a new way to die but are only seen once.

Resident Evil 3 holds a lot of nostalgic value for the old-heads like me, but little appeal to Gen Z. This is not a sixty dollar game by any stretch. But you can add it to your PS4 collection right now for about twenty-seven bucks and for that, it’s worth the return.

Thanks for reading.

Avery K. Tingle is a retired hellraiser and current author living in the beautiful Pacific Northwest. He writes Battle Scifi/Fantasy (Star Wars meets Street Fighter) that’s currently available on Amazon, Kobo, Barnes& Noble, and most other major retailers. Let’s Connect!
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