This review is written from my own perspective who never played the original version released in 1999. Hence, I considered such remake is my novel and very first experience to the epic story segment of Resident Evil 3.


Just finished my first play through on Standard difficulty. As I have completed Resident Evil 2 Remake ("RE2") many times on various difficulties, my feelings after finishing Resident Evil 3 Remake ("RE3") are somewhat unexpected.

Subjectively, there are two contradict flows of emotions emerged in my head after the credit roll:
(i) RE3 is a very promising title and considered as a bright stone for the whole legendary Resident Evil franchise of CAPCOM;
(ii) RE3 was kinda rushed in production and many core values contributing to the excellency of its predecessor RE2 are absent;

In short, I think RE3 is worth-investing your time, the game is generally fun to play and also really challenging. Honestly, albeit the overwhelming of negative reviews swarming everywhere on the internet, I enjoyed every moment of the game in my first play through. Nevertheless, I cannot deny the shortfall of RE3 in comparison with RE2 in the remake family.


To backup my claim, I will only go over all the factors that subject to my own opinions are what have contributed to the shortfall of RE3 in comparison to its predecessor.

1. First thing first: the price tag is unreasonable. I pre-purchased both RE2 as well as RE3 and remember when RE2 was first released on Steam store, its price was accounted to only 3/4 of the current price of RE3. Both games were supposed to be released at the same time (please correct if I were wrong) because they were subject to the same level of production. Thus, their corresponding price should be similar. Nevertheless, the customers have to pay approximately 25% more for RE3 despite this game reuses a lot of assets implemented in RE2. For instance, a majority of R.P.D can be re-discovered in RE3 as well as other locations. In my opinion, the price for RE3 is higher due to the fact that it also comes with multiplayer mode so-called Resident Evil: Resistance.

2. Duration of gameplay is fairly short. Back in RE2, it took me roughly 20 hours to finish the story from both Leon and Claire approaches for both first run and second run. However, it is pretty straightforward in RE3. You play as Jill Valentine for certain sectors, then switch to Carlos for certain sectors as well, then come to the end. The whole process took me about seven (07) hours to complete. The replayability values for RE3 are just for unlocking new overpowered weapons, figures, achievement, concept art and contemplating Jill Valentine in new outfits (not sure about the upcoming DLCs, if any). The urge for you to replay the game instantly from a whole new approach and route is no more. That's why I think it is so frustrating to pay $60 for roughly 07 hours of gameplay.

3. Very poor puzzle design. What makes Resident Evil franchise great is puzzle. However, I barely encountered any challenge as to solving puzzles in RE3. Spoiler alert, the only time I can feel like playing puzzle is the time when Jill Valentine setting up the route for the underground train. So disappointed to accept the fact that puzzle elements were poorly implemented in RE3. The hard times working out solutions for chess plugs, circuit board, dispersal cartridge, etc as appeared in RE2 are completely gone in RE3.

4. Nemesis is terrifying, but scripted. Yes, it is undeniable that Nemesis is much more dangerous and insidious than Tyrant - Mr.X in RE2. However, you will only encounter him in (i) certain scripted scenarios where he will chase and you have to run, perform certain button-pressing sequences to escape, and (ii) during boss fight. It is more quick-time-event driven rather than random ambush and encounter. Such premise, ironically, makes Nemesis become predictable and rest assured that after these scripted scenes, he will disappear. Therefore, the overall ambiance of RE3 is much less scarier than that of RE2. The fear of something indestructible stomping around searching for you randomly is halted in RE3. This mechanism of Nemesis extremely disappoints me, since Mr.X really screwed me many time in R.P.D.

5. Cut contents. I have never played the original Resident Evil 3, it would be unqualified for me to talk about these cut contents. As I read on the internet, the original game offers bunch of interesting contents that I really love to see in RE3. These contents would certainly help to prolong the duration of gameplay and justify the high price of the game. For me, it really upset that I learned about the fact that Capcom cut the second transformation of Nemesis, which makes the game lack one boss fighting phase. Aww!

Excluding the aforementioned, RE3 is a really promising title and offers a lot of enjoyable time, especially during the time of uncertainty amid Covid-19 pandemic. I certainly gonna replay this game many time to seek for more challenges and acquire more unlockables.


Please tolerate any mistake in my review. I barely write any long game review before, thus mistakes are inevitable. I also do not possess substantial knowledge as to Resident Evil franchise and have not played any classical Resident Evil titles on the PS1.

This review was written based on my first play through and also my first experience of Resident Evil 3.