Resident Evil 3
Developer/publisher Capcom Format PC, PS4 (tested), Xbox One Release Out now
PC, PS4, Xbox One
There’s perhaps no better summary of Resident Evil 3 than a line from the ill-fated Brad Vickers. “It’s like Arklay on steroids!” he yells, referring to the first game’s mansion incident, and he couldn’t be more right. A game that opens on a panicked populace facing a deadly pandemic may not seem conducive to escapist entertainment at present – certainly, zombies have little concept of social distancing – but you’ll hardly have time to think about that. It splits the difference between last year’s Resident Evil 2 remake and Resident Evil 4: as it teases more narrative links to the latter, the constant forward momentum of its action provides more connective tissue across an intense six-hour campaign that tears along at a terrific clip.
It’s not a huge step back, then, just a different flavour of survival horror – one where the evil never lets you take up residence. Though you’ll pay a brief visit to Raccoon City’s police station, and return to earlier areas armed with bolt cutters and a lockpick (thorough players will ensure Jill Valentine really earns the nickname Barry Burton once gave her) this isn’t a place that gives you the room to get properly acquainted with it. Puzzles are at a premium, and there are fewer opportunities to pause for breath. But that all makes sense: quite apart from spending half your time being chased by a mutant that somehow makes a taped-up body bag look like something you’d see on the catwalk during Paris fashion week, you’re in a city that’s about to be flattened by a nuke. Sticking around isn’t an option.
Resident Evil 3 is also a better-written game than its immediate predecessor. It knows exactly how seriously to take itself – which, for the most part, is not very seriously at all. It regularly draws attention to its own ridiculousness: forced to find a way to open a voice-activated door in a hospital, Carlos moans “what kind of sci-fi bullshit is this?” But it’s also smart enough to embrace its innate pulpiness while updating its characters for modern audiences. It’s refreshing that Jill has no interest whatsoever in pursuing any kind of entanglement with her newly mop-haired ally, correcting Carlos with a dismissive “Not your partner.”
Thanks largely to Nemesis, there would be no time even if she did. Though after grabbing Jill’s – and our – attention in a heavily scripted cinematic intro, the headline act disappears for long enough to give other enemies time to shine. The repulsive bugs we encountered during our playthrough at Capcom HQ are no less unpleasant second time around. Zombies, meanwhile, seem harder to subdue – and they’re certainly more numerous than before. Inventory management is more critical than ever: you’ll find yourself weighing up the pros and cons of red herbs versus gunpowder for your last slot while you hear the guttural moan of a lunging zombie.
With a press of the right bumper as they attack you can evade their grasp, though the timing for a perfect dodge – which prompts a brief window of opportunity to line up a headshot – takes some mastering. (Carlos, meanwhile, launches a haymaker which is a handy, if risky, option for crowd control.) It’s easier, oddly, when facing Nemesis, yet his presence consistently forces you to stay on the move, often making you regret that you didn’t finish off a certain zombie that’s now blocking your path as those footsteps stamp closer and closer. As the game wears on, and Nemesis mutates into ever more grotesque forms, it becomes a less frequent threat, instead showing up in sporadic scripted boss encounters. Still, these are entertainingly fraught: regardless of how much ammo you’ve stockpiled, the fights usually finish with Jill clutching her side, having exhausted the contents of her pockets and hip pouches. Besides, his absence coincides with one of the game’s standout setpieces: a hospital lobby siege that doesn’t quite live up to the barn sequence in Shinji Mikami’s series peak, but leaves us equally breathless when the horde finally falls.
There are fewer highlights in the 4v1 multiplayer mode Resistance, at least once its initial novelty has worn off. It’s a totally separate download from the main game, which only makes it feel more disconnected: take out the Umbrella branding and a clutch of familiar faces (and mutated bodies) and it could easily be an entirely different game. Here, four young millennials must survive a deadly experiment set by one of four returning villains, solving puzzles while fending off zombies and dodging traps laid by their host. Though effective communication can help teams reach the later stages, playing as the bad guy is much easier: we find creating one or two bottlenecks in the first area is usually enough to bring down a couple of survivors, or else waste enough time that the second and third objectives are all but impossible. We begin to wonder if easily defeated Survivors might be put off. Tellingly, it often takes as long to find a game playing Mastermind as to finish it; we win our first eight matches within the first stage, the longest lasting a whisker over four minutes.
While it would be unfair to describe Resistance as vestigial – it’s hardly essential, but a decent attempt to try something new – it’s so disparate from the singleplayer game that it’s unlikely to satisfy those who might feel short-changed by the latter. Those who require more incentive to replay a game than to beat their best time, or simply for the pleasure of it, could feel let down by a campaign that’s shorter than Resident Evil 2 and features no alternative scenarios. But it’s not our job to determine an individual’s perception of value, and we’re confident plenty will be happy to start over as soon as the finale has played out. All we can say is that six hours of Resident Evil 3 is just enough – and we’re aware that’s both compliment and curse.
It knows exactly how seriously to take itself – which, for the most part, is not very seriously at all