SERIES CONQUERS CLICHÉS
Graphics help you forget yet another zombie apocalypse
Resident Evil 3
Capcom
Available on Playstation 4, Xbox One
I’m typically numb to the cultural fixation with zombies. That said, when the Resident Evil series is at its best I can ignore how cliché the whole zombie-killing enterprise is.
Recently released Resident
Evil 3 is my favourite of the three games because of its brisk pacing and the action’s varied tempo. It wastes no time establishing its zombie-apocalypse scenario. Special agent Jill Valentine, who works for the Raccoon City police department, awakens from a zombie-tinted nightmare only to find herself terrorized by a monstrous assassin — a hulking “bioweapon,” code-named Nemesis, who is dedicated to exterminating any member of the Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.). Jill finds herself on the zombie-overrun streets of Raccoon City where she eventually runs into Carlos Oliveira, a mercenary who works for the Umbrella Corporation.
Carlos’s employer was responsible for the manufacture of the biological agent that turns people into zombies. Carlos, however, is a genial dupe who understands his mission to be a humanitarian one. Although Jill takes an initial dislike to him, the two work together to try to restore Raccoon City’s subway system to help evacuate civilians.
Players alternate between Jill and Carlos. Jill’s sections hew closer to the survival horror template of Resident Evil 2. For most of the first half of the game, Jill must rely on a handgun and shotgun to put down various types of hellish creatures. On the standard difficulty level, ammo isn’t plentiful but it isn’t vexingly scarce either. By contrast, Carlos’s sections are more action-oriented. Because he’s armed with an assault rifle, the developers can throw more foes in his direction.
Progress unfolds by scurrying back and forth across levels, finding an item here that can be used over there. Much of the game’s tension arises from the dread of wondering if you’ll make it back to a save point with the item you need to open another branch of the map. I appreciate how well the level design works to play off the sense of the frustration that comes from smacking into locked doors, and the corresponding delight that comes from finally opening them.
One of my problems with most horror games is that repeated encounters with the same enemy types diminish their possibility to unnerve. Resident Evil 3 does a decent job of introducing new enemies and presenting different variations of Jill’s arch foe, Nemesis. Though I can’t say I found the game to be that scary, I did hope the game’s monstrous bugs, which like to jump on people and inject a colony of parasitical maggots down their throats, wouldn’t crop up in my dreams.
The true star of Resident Evil 3, though, is the superb RE graphics engine. Environments in the game are dramatically lit and brimming with details. Parts of the game, such as the opening in Jill’s apartment, look positively cinematic.