Resident Evil 3

The remake of Resident Evil 3 is always being pulled in two different directions. The original release (conveniently subtitled Nemesis for differentiation purposes) shifted slightly away from horror and towards action. This was an ill-advised choice while the controls could be charitably considered suited to tight corridors and fixed camera angles, but it’s perfectly agreeable now that we’re using the intuitive third-person shooter setup of the RE2 remake. The improved controls also extend to the dodge maneuver, which now works 50% of the time instead of 20. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to offset the frequency of enemies that can stunlock the protagonist to death or just outright kill them in one hit. Plus, the modern AAA understanding of linear action games has reduced a lot of formerly organic gameplay into scripted sequences and quick-time events. Speaking of which, large sections of the original game have been cut, but others have been added or expanded upon.

There are two aspects that escape the ubiquitous quality tug-of-war. On the positive side are the visuals, whose environments and animations look consistently incredible. The narrative, on the other hand, is purely negative. Nemesis was the point where the franchise’s stories graduated from B movie stupidity to regular stupidity, and the remake doubles down on that with characters’ actions now regularly contradicting their motivations, and new major plotlines that end unceremoniously to keep the canon intact. But at least this frustratingly pointless narrative is now delivered with competent voice acting!