When it rains, it pours.
Umbrella Corp: redefining unregulated capitalism, one city
at a time
For anyone who hasn’t been following along, I’ve basically been using the last week as a platform to discuss my thoughts on the Resident Evil 3 remake, in all of it’s monstrous glory. The whole thing started as a send up to my regularly reoccurring replay of the title, which usually starts on September 28th, in conjunction with the start of the game itself, and Jill Valentine’s last ditch efforts to escape Raccoon City. I alternate years it seems, between my autumn getaways located in Silent Hill and RC, depending on where the time shares happen to be cheaper any given year.
Cratering infrastructure has Racoon City real estate at rock
bottom prices, you see
I ended up writing “The Save Rooms” as a moment of respite, which aligned quite well with the theme of the article itself. The write up happened as a result of what would appear to be some sort of trepidation in writing my final thoughts on the RE3 remake, inspite of having played through the game a couple of times in as many days. I think I’m so used to focusing on “meatball writing”, the fast and dirty approach to get the job done, that the act has left larger scale pieces outside of my regularly flexed muscles. Though I honestly don’t like content that is gargantuan in scope, whether it be video essays or think pieces. The internet works best in small bite delights, I find.
So sayeth the memes
So yeah, I’m going to finally Frankenstein my thoughts together, involving some of the pieces I’ve already written, and finalize my reckonings on the RE3 remake, before getting back to headlines as usual on ATE, as dwelling on Raccoon City much longer will likely leave me in a similarly devastated state as the city itself. To wit; and in reiteration: I do think the game feeling as if it is “speedrunning” itself, in terms of story structure and pacing, does butcher some of the finer elements of what made the original RE3 something special. As noted, Brad’s involvement is too minimal, you meet Carlos too quickly, and Nemesis’ debut is far too sudden, with no build up of suspense at all before his big reveal. I know the new remakes are trying a balancing act of maintaining the old school feel of survival horror, while trying to keep the gas pedal pressed down in the vein of RE4, but the first third of the game feels way too compacted narratively speaking to be seen as an improvement, which is further impacted by the remakes lack of branching choices during the non-present live selection outcomes that made the original that much more fleshed out.
The meter maid situation in Raccoon City is completely out of
control
In reference to recalling my next point of interest, I mentioned a disappointment in the re-canonization of events for the RE3 remake, which is definitely more of a preference thumbs down on my behalf than a complete necessity in making the game a better experience. The series has this weird mix of leaning on the background lore to prop it up, while also playing fast and loose with the story elements at the same time. On some level: I get it. People came here to shoot zombies, not read books, but the amount the fanbase seems to care about finer details, and the small care the devs look like they’re trying to put into background stuff is apparent, but it does feel like the bare minimum to check a box. You also have to consider, between originals, remakes, additional content etc, just how much regular and expanded canon exists, the amount of info you could play with, and or the expansion of it in beefing up the story elements of RE3 would go a long way, but alas, nothing of the sort can be said for the remake. With the way they do nothing to add new elements, but on top of that, take away old ones by remixing the game so much, I feel as if we are left with a reduction of points of interests involving the S.T.A.R.S member and Raccoon City in general during it’s final days, and we’re all worse off for it.
We even lost Carlos’ accent in the remake , dammit!
We of course have the gameplay to talk about, which there is plenty to discuss, acknowledging I have only registered complaints with what the title doesn’t have thus far, but the absences are too brutally obvious not to mention (a little more on that later, even). The RE3 remake definitely has a lot of thanks to give to the RE2 remake which proceeded it, as the game makes use of the Re Engine that made 2 look so damn good and feel so nice to control in, so both aesthetically speaking and from a control standpoint the RE3 remake passes muster with luster. The audio design is a bit touch and go, as the gun effects fail to carry any weight, and the new OST kind of seems to just blend in instead of standout and accentuate the experience, save for the old audio cues they use from the original interspersed throughout the experience, which is telling, I think.
Can’t go wrong with a save room theme
Obviously, the RE3 Remake has moved on as the series has, and therefore tank controls are a thing of the past. Aiming, shooting, moving, dodging throughout the environment, all feel non-challenging, which is what you want to hear with any game, especially one where you’ll be fighting for your life on a regular basis. The series has expanded in terms of difficulty both ways: there are plenty of options to make the game both easier and harder, though the baseline difficulty level honestly feels maybe a bit too generous, as auto saves, excessive ammo, and even just regular save points, which felt like they were almost every other room, makes this feel like a very user friendly survival horror experience. One can of course pump up the difficulty and or go for some of the more limiting trophies to spice up your experience, (S rank, no healing, playing on Inferno), but I still feel as if the core gameplay involving Nemesis himself should be far more tense and challenging, given the supposed nature of the beast.
Nemesis always did take laser tag a little too seriously
For all it lacks, and as noted, the amount it does lack feels ample, (no Mercenaries, guys? so brutal), there is plenty of still “good enough” gameplay to get down on here. I think as a remake, Resident Evil 3 fails quite significantly, in basically bringing nothing new to the table, and even taking a lot of what worked off of the table in the process. This is underlined in stark contrast to just how much work they seemed to put into the RE2 remake to make it really feel like a complete reinvention of a classic game, which is an amazing feat. The RE3 remake is a pale shadow in comparison to it’s predecessor, both in terms as a follow up to the RE2 remake, and in reference to it’s original outing. It lacks greatness, but doesn’t skimp on the fun, and acts as a respectable salute to the end of Raccoon City.
~Pashford
Active Time Event 