Introduction: In addition to the game content, “Resident Evil 3 Remake” even reproduces part of the market environment and reputation of the original version. Capcom is really thoughtful in such a “tactical level” remake.
The third generation officially kicked off Jill’s determination to take revenge on Umbrella Corporation.
At the beginning, the author decided to do something that could be considered unethical, which is to rank the entire “Resident Evil” series of works according to their reputation based on my subjective gaming experience combined with my personal experience of working in and following the gaming industry for many years.
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I can’t help but say it. I’ve just risked my life. Please feel free to do as you please.
The first echelon is guarded by “Resident Evil 2” and “Resident Evil 4”. These two works fundamentally established the “Resident Evil” series’ first-line IP status in the history of games. In addition to being never boring to play, the former is a highly systematic improvement of the horror puzzle game, and the latter is a textbook-level successful transformation work.
The second tier is composed of “Veronica”, “Resident Evil Remake”, “Resident Evil 2 Remake” and “Resident Evil 6”. The reason is that a considerable number of fans of the series are willing to put any of these four works into the first tier, but at the same time, there will be another considerable number of fans of the series who can raise reasonable objections to prevent it from being promoted, but in the final analysis, this is a debate between the “crown” and the “jewel in the crown”.
As for the third tier that is most likely to offend readers, I, who usually choose not to be a bad guy, decided to vote for “Resident Evil 0”, “Resident Evil 3” and “Resident Evil 7”. They are all mainstream works with branch plots, and their system innovation has been controversial. There is an objective gap between the content and completion of the first and second tiers (Note: “Resident Evil 5” has left the group chat).
The most objective attitude towards “Resident Evil 3RE” is to make it clear that its original work is not a classic
So, does the Resident Evil 3 Remake (hereinafter referred to as Resident Evil 3RE), which originally belonged to the third tier of works, have the ability to be promoted after a new look? The following review will try to give a reference answer.
(Another note: Although this is a remake, the plot has been revised and the fate of some specific characters is involved, so this article does not contain spoilers).
1. Sexy sister, cursing online – a successful personality
The original “Resident Evil 3” can be compared to the “Beauty and the Beast” in Raccoon City to a certain extent. The beauty is not only really beautiful, but the beast is also very wild and domineering. After all, flowers from pursuers may be rejected, but missiles fired from rocket launchers cannot (the original words come from Geralt: “Requests may be rejected, but lightning balls cannot”). It is precisely because of this that Jill, who has left a good impression on players in the first generation, has an additional layer of charming sexiness after taking off the team uniform and changing into a tube top tights, a short skirt and long boots. In addition to being beautiful, she has an extra layer of charming sexiness.
I didn’t expect that scars and stains could actually have a beauty effect. It turns out that beautiful people look good in any outfit.
When Resident Evil 3 RE was officially announced, the most satisfying aspect for players was the reasonable restoration and upgrade of Jill’s image. Previously, there was some controversy about Claire’s new image in Resident Evil 2 RE, but since Leon and Ada Wong were a pair of handsome men and beautiful women, Capcom could have food in hand and not panic. In Resident Evil 3 RE, it is no exaggeration to say that Jill’s image shaping even has strategic significance in determining the final sales volume. Judging from the actual results, Jill in Resident Evil 3 RE is definitely qualified to be a hot candidate for the best actress of 2020.
First of all, thanks to the RE engine’s profound attainments in character facial portrayal, whether it is the exquisiteness of the facial features, the delicate texture of the skin, or the various subtle changes in gestures, they are enough to convince the audience. As the battle deepens, Jill’s various scars and stains gradually increase, not only does not detract from her image, but it is extremely appropriate to the apocalyptic atmosphere created by the game, and she looks like a Valkyrie on the battlefield.
Jill didn’t know at the time that her clone would receive the same treatment.
Then, in the orthodox works of the series where Jill appeared, namely the first generation and “Resident Evil 5”, due to game design and drama reasons, she more or less has some tool person attributes (especially in the fifth generation, which is really miserable, so both “Resident Evil 5 Director’s Edition” and the later “Revelation” are trying to get some back for Jill). Since the third generation has invested most of its resources in Jill, it is natural to show her three-dimensional character dimension from life to battle. The series of cutscenes in the game include both delicate inner drama when living alone and explosive action drama of a quasi-professional. For this reason, the director also specially used the classic composition that Japanese robot animation is proud of.
Classic Style
Finally, the Mandarin dubbing was given. “Resident Evil 3RE” interspersed a lot of swear words in Jill’s lines, which were naturally included in the corresponding Chinese voice pack. I know that in the minds of some “fundamentalist” players, Chinese dubbing is not something that can be accepted (the needs and reasons of players are necessary and reasonable. I personally don’t like the “Wanwan accent” in some games. In contrast, the fan group’s pickyness in this regard is called “stereotyped academic school”). However, the Chinese voice of the characters in “Resident Evil 3RE” basically achieved a level of harmony. When sister Jill burst into Mandarin swear words in the face of crisis, in the words of the media, it was-“full score for the live broadcast effect.”
The texture of the hair is a flaw in the modeling, and it looks very “lumpy”
2. The most important thing is that flash of tenderness – a heavy bet on the combat system
The dodge system is the core combat system module of the original Resident Evil 3. Looking back, Resident Evil 2 had a high degree of completion and a large amount of content with its horror puzzles and dual protagonists, and the DC version of Veronica was eyeing it with its greatly evolved graphics. It was really difficult to keep players on the PS platform for a while with this non-revolutionary system within a limited cost. The actual effect was quite satisfactory. In the end, the dodge system and Jill became the most common keywords when players talked about Resident Evil 3 in the next 20 years.
This adds an extra set of effects to the emergency evasion
“Resident Evil 3RE” naturally inherits this iconic system, but similar to “Resident Evil 2RE”, when the over-the-shoulder perspective replaces the original third-person fixed perspective, the action game’s sense of presence is significantly enhanced, which also gives the dodge system room to “counter each move”.
When facing special enemies, players need targeted practice
The most soulful part of the avoidance system is the “emergency avoidance” that emphasizes the instantaneous judgment skill. “Resident Evil 3RE” focuses its main energy here. After the player seizes the opportunity and inputs the command accurately, in addition to dodging the enemy’s attack without injury, pressing the aiming key immediately can also trigger a special effect similar to bullet time. If an attack is made at this time, the system will automatically judge it as a direct attack on the enemy’s weakness. In other words, “Resident Evil 3RE” has developed the originally relatively passively triggered life-saving skills into an offensive and defensive combo.
Shooting directly can solve most problems, but emergency evasion is obviously more handsome
From the actual experience of playing, this operation of “Resident Evil 3RE” is similar to the instant counterattack of “Resident Evil 6” in normal and lower difficulties because the penalty for failure is small – for example, the probability of elite enemies such as hunters using one-hit kills is not very high. As long as you practice (get) and practice (hit) repeatedly according to the types of enemies and attack methods, it will be easier to master it correctly, and the sense of pleasure after success will come uninvited and continuous. When it comes to expert and nightmare difficulties, as the enemy’s strength on both offense and defense increases significantly, implementing weak point strikes has become a kind of “rigid need”, which further highlights the importance of emergency avoidance. Combined with the arrangement of enemies in the scene, which one will attack from a distance first and which one will get close to lure the enemy to counterattack becomes a very particular matter. The concentration of walking on the edge of life and death and keeping a close eye on every pre-attack swing of the enemy may remind some old fans of Tianzun of the high-difficulty “Phantom Devil Warrior” on the first generation XBOX console.
In some specific boss battles, you can even play in the MHX Bushido style
In order to make the entire system more enjoyable to watch, “Resident Evil 3RE” not only designed separate emergency evasion action modules for Jill and Carlos, but also when the character holds a dagger, he will perform special attack actions. For example, if Jill is equipped with a flame knife purchased in the store after completing the game once, then after executing the emergency evasion command, he will use Ken’s “Flame Rising Dragon Fist”.
The flame sword of the Tibetan national teacher Jiumozhi is not the same
The reason why this system is called a “heavy bet” in the title is not only because of its ingenious design and playability, but also because after playing the entire game repeatedly, I found that this is actually the biggest highlight of the gameplay and system of this game. Other things such as the process, level design, and enemy types, which were not outstanding in the original version, have been further downgraded to a level that affects the gaming experience and the cost-effectiveness of the product.
The limb amputation in Resident Evil 2RE has been retained in this game
3. Short, flat and fast – short process, flat scene and fast clearance
The troubles brought by the three words “short, flat, and fast” may be enough to support many male health products, but as a highly anticipated game, it must try every means to avoid it. As a result, “Resident Evil 3RE” accidentally did all three, fearing that it would miss any of them, but it did not consider the feelings of the players at all.
U1S1, Jill had a unique charm back then
One of the important reasons why the reputation of the original “Resident Evil 3” declined at that time was that after players had the experience of playing the two-player inner and outer levels of the second generation, they felt that the one-stop process of the third generation was “not enough”. For this reason, the developers at the time also used a “live selection” system similar to the plot branching option, as well as a mercenary mode that challenged level evaluations and exchanged for various rewards to fill the overall game content.
Carlos got a lot of opportunities to perform this time, and he made good use of them.
Although Resident Evil 3RE maintains the “fine decoration” level of last year’s Resident Evil 2RE in scene modeling and detail depiction, the iconic clock tower and park scenes in the original work have been deleted from the process, and the waste treatment plant has been simplified to a considerable extent. However, the hospital scene has been promoted to the “main lineup”. Not only has a modern hospital with complete facilities and explorable rooms been built, but the inherent advantages of the scene have also been integrated with the horror atmosphere. With action throughout the game, it still conveys enough horror, which is a highlight of this remake.
The bell tower reduced to a textual description
In this way, of course, the newly added content is not as much as the deleted content. It usually takes about 5 hours to go through the game once. This is “short”. The originally short process has been simplified, and the coherence and logic have been severed. Each large scene is a “one-way street” with no return. The whole game does not look like an AVG, but more like an ACT with clear chapters. This is “flat”. The tracker who appeared “randomly” in the original version has become a fixed boss in “Resident Evil 3RE”. He will appear when it is his turn, and he will rest on the bench the rest of the time. All the various maneuvers that were made to prevent his appearance in the past have disappeared, and the process is just about clearing monsters and rushing on the road. This is “fast”.
The hospital scene is full of old-fashioned “flavor”
Capcom is certainly aware of this problem. Resistance, which was bundled with Resident Evil 3RE, was first criticized and then praised by the player community because of a series of publicity and promotion operations. Everyone half-jokingly said, “Even if this mode is just for fun, as a side dish for Resident Evil 3RE, at least it can be worth the money for a fat otaku’s Happy Meal, hahaha” – in the end, it’s hard to say whether Resistance is a side dish, but the purpose of “for fun” was definitely not achieved, because an online multiplayer game that can’t get in a queue even after ten minutes of waiting online (for this type of game, lack of popularity is a “terminal illness”), with no friends around to play with, and which has many imperfections in its design, is unlikely to make players laugh, let alone enrich the game content.
Fortunately, “Resident Evil 3RE” has two tricks up its sleeve, so that players who bought the game as soon as possible will not become “starting warriors”.
Either make a solid “Outbreak” or don’t be so clever and do some online multiplayer game.
4. High Difficulty and Brushing – Three Weeks is the “Minimum Consumption”
How to convince players to keep going in a game that has deleted some of the original scenes, removed the mercenary mode, has no plot branches, the included online game has a dismal start, and has only a 5-hour process?
The answer lies in accumulating resources and upgrading equipment to complete a series of difficult challenges preset in the game.
Because I have been playing COD16 recently, I feel more familiar with “Gunsmith”.
Resident Evil 3RE has set up a “record” system similar to mileage data collection, which lists dozens of tasks for the purpose of achieving relevant data, such as killing enemies XXX times with each weapon, completing various collections, clearing levels with specific conditions, etc., and exchanging corresponding points according to the difficulty of the task. After that, when you clear the game at any difficulty, the store option will be opened, and you can use the points earned in the record to buy unlimited ammunition, flame knives, classic pistols, coins that increase attack power, and other items that players who are familiar with the multi-round rules of the Resident Evil series like to see.
As a collection of Easter egg items for the series’ traditional performing arts
Here is a slight off-topic complaint: The most discouraging thing about the Resident Evil 3RE store shelves is that there is only one Jill costume, the original STAR uniform. You should know that the DC console Resident Evil 3 ported version already had 8 interchangeable costumes. It’s rare to have such an outstanding heroine, and it’s a game that requires multiple rounds, so why can’t there be more costumes for players? Thinking of the recent “Persona 5 Royal” selling the Velvet Room high-difficulty battle separately, when did the remakes and enhanced versions of works with this secondary consumption nature lose even the minimum sincerity?
It’s a pity that the diverse costumes of the previous ported version were not fully retained in the RE version.
Back to the point, “Resident Evil 3RE” relies on multiple rounds and reward systems to complete a cyclical gameplay closed loop: after entering the game, the player first has a purpose to brush the various data in the recording system, then uses the reward points to buy powerful weapons and equipment, and finally uses the powerful weapons and equipment to challenge the difficult content in the recording system (also unlocking trophies/achievements). The special design of the combat system and store weapons in “Resident Evil 3RE” has been intentionally made, which to a certain extent guarantees the fun of players improving their operations and thinking about configurations in the process. For example, the “Thunder” weapon, apart from its pleasing appearance with a strong folk sci-fi color, has a core feature that it does great damage when hitting weak points. If it is normally used as a firearm to aim and shoot, the output is weak. However, if the emergency evasion is successfully launched and the aiming action is entered, because the aiming weakness will be automatically determined, this weapon is equivalent to becoming a melee weapon through the player’s operation. As the difficulty of the game challenge continues to increase, using a configuration that suits you to defeat those enemies like floods and beasts is a very positive positive feedback for this game.
What are you looking at? If you keep looking at me, I’ll blow your head off.
However, this game is really a “love-hate, sunshine-then-gloom” game: the game process is short, and multi-level challenges are used to increase the number of repeated play times. After too many times, it feels a bit boring, because after the difficulty is increased, the enemy’s moves and even the logic of passing moves will change greatly, avoiding the feeling of repetition. If you really feel repetitive, you can change the configuration yourself. If you are tired of using firearms, use the flame knife to play the “Onimusha style”, and if you are tired of close combat, switch to the rocket launcher to bombard (but after a certain difficulty, the rocket launcher can’t help you). When the process is as familiar as your own neighborhood, you can specifically study where to repeatedly brush zombies in order to efficiently achieve the number of enemy kills, or check for leaks and collectibles. However, when all these are done, there is really nothing to play except hoping that the “Resistance” mode will be able to turn over one day.
Conclusion: What else can we expect after the disappointing results?
I believe that it is not difficult to find hundreds of players among the fans of the series who will say “I understand Resident Evil better than Capcom”. In their hearts, Resident Evil 3RE must have many better ways than the current one, such as retaining all the original processes, strengthening the mercenary mode, increasing the types of Jill’s costumes and weapons, not deleting certain powerful monsters casually, maintaining the random appearance of the tracker, and saving effort on the online mode that has never been successful in the series, etc. … At least this way it will be more worthy of the initial price of more than 400 (especially at this time, everyone’s wallets are not rich).
I hope that if Capcom decides to use this engine to remake “Resident Evil 0” and “Veronica” in the future, it can consider the reasonable basic demands of the player community a little, and be more sincere and less speculative.