How long should this kind of behavior be supported? How many times are players going to allow Capcom to release the same games over and over again, whether they have updated graphics and gameplay or not? It didn't begin with Resident Evil 3, of course, as anyone who was an avid gamer in the early 1990s will know from the many, many different iterations of Street Fighter II. Capcom has been doing this for decades, and everyone just lets them. However, when the end result is something as entertaining and slick as the most recent version of Resident Evil 3, it almost makes up for it. Almost, but not quite.
When Resident Evil 2 came out in February of 2019, it was a stark contrast to the way Capcom had treated their Resident Evil remakes in the past. No longer were just the graphics updated, but the camera and the controls had been tweaked and adjusted as well. Resident Evil 2 in 2019 was a Resident Evil game with the full weight of Resident Evil 4's legacy sitting on top of it, and the vast difference between the original and the end result made for an experience unique and interesting enough to easily justify its own existence. All of the same changes have been made to Resident Evil 3, but the simple existence of last year's RE2 makes this newer title feel less unique, less special, than it should.
Resident Evil 3 is a good game, but it's not bringing many new things to the table. The main difference between last year's Resident Evil and this year's Resident Evil is the different types of monsters that the characters face, and the reintroduction of the Nemesis creature which chases the player around levels in much the same way as Mr. X in Resident Evil 2. Unlike Mr. X, however, Nemesis can be a very deadly adversary if not properly avoided, much like another monster found in Resident Evil 3's sewers who has the ability to swallow players whole if they get too close, regardless of how much health they have or how long it's been since they saved the game at a typewriter.
Comparisons to Resident Evil 2 are not unwarranted; the game basically forces it upon players when they return them to the same police station they thoroughly explored last year. Capcom smartly doesn't ask them to retread the exact same puzzles (emphasized by one character commenting "Hey, look at this weird f***ing door over here!" when coming across a Spade Key door) but it still feels like unnecessary backtracking, something which will likely be stronger for those players who recently replayed the previous title in anticipation of Resident Evil 3's release. Thankfully, Resident Evil 3 retains the stellar graphical quality of 2019's Resident Evil 2 and the recently released RE3 demo, with zombie heads and body parts exploding in grotesque juiciness when shot. The environments, both new and old alike, are beautifully detailed and appropriately deteriorated, and Resident Evil character models have never looked more life-like.
Resident Evil 3 is not a hard game on its normal difficulty setting (although more intense settings do exist) but there are moments where the game becomes frustrating. Much of this is centered around inventory management, a staple mechanic of the Resident Evil series, and although extra hip pouch inventory slots do still exist players will likely find their pockets overflowing quite often. However, there's an easy solution to this problem: Shoot more zombies. Enemies in Resident Evil 3 feel like they take more damage than they did in RE2, and it takes at least four solid shots to the head with the game's starting pistol to drop one zombie. As ammo can only be stacked so high in the game's inventory before taking up another precious slot, and with the plethora of both craftable and discoverable bullets in the environment, there's no reason to hoard ammunition like in some survival horror titles.
For players who do find Resident Evil 3's gameplay challenging, the game offers an easier "Assist" mode (and isn't afraid to shove it in the player's face if they die more than twice to a boss, either) which not only lowers the difficulty but gives players access to an assault rifle from the very start of the game. While likely unnecessary for many, it's a nice thing to include for those players who aren't good at dodging around shambling corpses or running away from Nemesis, two things they will spend much of their time in Resident Evil 3 doing.
There is also very little of what could be classified as "hidden" or "off the beaten path" areas in Resident Evil 3. Despite the fairly open street area of RE3's demo and deceptively large locations like Raccoon City's hospital, much of the game is spent following a path clearly laid out by the developers. Environmental gatekeeping, such as forcing the player to find a keycard to advance to the next area, is commonplace to the point of becoming instantly predictable upon the moment of entering a new location, and players who are hoping for more cerebral puzzles may be left slightly wanting, at least for much of the early game. Players looking to exercise their creativity can at least spend time thinking about where the Capcom developers have shoved all of the little breakable toy bobbleheads which, just like in the Resident Evil 3 demo, can be shot or stabbed and are hidden throughout the game's entire story.
The story of Resident Evil 3 is where the game really shines, partly due to the incredibly well-designed character models but also thanks to the game's writing and its delivery by the actors, two areas where the Resident Evil franchise has never truly excelled in. The series has always been caught between wanting to be scary horror games but also wanting to include action movie set-pieces and ridiculous, off-the-wall ideas, and this juxtaposition has led to wild swings in tonality throughout the franchise's existence. Resident Evil 4 was arguably the game which handled this balance the best, deciding to lean more into the campy, silly aspects while still taking the general plot seriously, but Resident Evil 3 may have it beat. All of the actors in Resident Evil 3 deliver fantastic performances, but it's the way the game's main duo interacts with each other which truly drives the story home.
The two main protagonists of Resident Evil 3, Jill Valentine and Carlos Oliveira, have more chemistry in one in-game radio call than Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield displayed in the entirety of Resident Evil 2. When Leon and Claire were standing on opposite sides of the police station gate in the rain, players could tell Capcom was trying to present the two characters as cute, perhaps even slightly crushing on each other, but the execution of the moment fell flat, mostly because it wasn't properly set up beforehand but also because of the actors, their dialog, and their delivery. In Resident Evil 3, however, Jill and Carlos form a bond which grows over time in a believable and enjoyable manner, despite the ridiculous and dangerous situations they find themselves in.
Resident Evil 3 is more of the same, but that's not necessarily a bad thing; it's just nothing new. Players who enjoyed Resident Evil 2 will enjoy this, and people who haven't played Resident Evil 3 since it was on the original PlayStation will undoubtedly be amazed at the amount of time, effort, and care put in to making the environments and characters look so much more realistic than they remember. Raccoon City, and the characters who inhabit it, has never looked better, and fans looking for the quintessential Resident Evil story need look no further than Resident Evil 3... just don't be surprised when the game isn't very surprising.
Resident Evil 3 releases on April 3, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A PS4 code was provided to Screen Rant for the purposes of this review.