Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

aka: Biohazard 3: Last Escape, Biohazard: Gaiden, RE3
Moby ID: 3321
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Description official descriptions

Resident Evil 3 takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2. The midwestern town of Raccoon City is in ruins, having been overrun with the undead creating T-virus thanks to the wacky hijinks of William Birkin and Umbrella Inc. The player must guide Jill "master of unlocking" Valentine (one of the two main protagonists of the original Resident Evil) out of the city alive. Along the way, Jill will interact with and receive help from (or be hindered by) three Umbrella mercenaries who are also stranded in Raccoon City. Standing in the way of your group's last escape are a horde of flesh-eating zombified citizens, homicidal mutants, and a relentless killing machine known only as Nemesis who is determined to hunt down and kill the survivors of the original Resident Evil, including Jill.

A dramatic improvement over Tyrant/Mr. X/G from the previous games, Nemesis can run (faster than Jill, in fact), use firearms (a rocket launcher), dodge attacks, and even move through doors and from room to room in pursuit of Jill. On top of that he still possesses the nigh indestructibility we've come to know from Umbrella's ultimate bio-weapons.

Like its two predecessors Resident Evil 3 is a third-person action-adventure game with polygonal characters on pre-rendered backgrounds with cinematic camera angles, a technique originally pioneered by Alone in the Dark. Although the game uses the same basic engine and gameplay as the previous games, the gameplay is improved by features such as auto-targeting, a 180 degree spin, and a new dodge move that allows Jill to avoid enemy attacks. Another addition is Jill's ability to create different kinds of ammunition by mixing together three different types of gunpowder found throughout the game. The game include a randomization feature, which changes the location of certain key items and ammo. Another noteworthy feature is that at certain points in the game, Jill is faced with two choices for a situation, each will affect later story, and even the game ending. The zombies have also been made more diverse.

The number of polygons in the character models has also been increased, along with the possible screen resolution and color depth for the PC version (up to 1600 X 1200 at 32 bits, from a maximum of 640 X 480 at 16 bits for Resident Evil 2). Another addition in the PC version is the ability to skip cutscenes as well as the door loading animation.

The PC and Dreamcast versions includes all eight of Jill's possible costumes, as well as the mercenary mini-game Operation Mad Jackal which allows you to play as one of the three Umbrella soldiers. On the Playstation version, these special features must be unlocked by beating the game with a high score.

Spellings

  • Обитель зла 3: Немезис - Russian spelling
  • バイオハザード 3 ラストエスケープ - Japanese spelling
  • 惡靈古堡3 - Chinese spelling (traditional)
  • 生化危机3 - Chinese spelling (simplified)

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Credits (PlayStation version)

137 People (120 developers, 17 thanks) · View all

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 80% (based on 63 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 183 ratings with 9 reviews)

Something New, Something Old, Something Borrowed....

The Good
Resident Evil 3 (Biohazard for PAL gamers) was the last Resident Evil game in the series to be released for the original Sony PlayStation system.

The first game probably helped sell quite a few of the original Sony systems, so it was nice to see that the classic survival horror game got one more chance to shine on the system, which would seen be eclipsed by the then-Next Generation video game console systems.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis has some of the best animation and graphics you are likely to see on the first PlayStation home console system.

All of the game's characters and locations look great. The CGI story sequences are incredible and everything just looks and moves incredibly well and, yes, supernatural terror is everywhere in this game.

The game's got plenty of great-looking zombies and other malevolent monsters to do battle with as well. Fans of the first Resident Evil game will notice some familiar faces and, yes, no review of Resident Evil 3 would be complete without mentioning the Nemesis character.

The Nemesis is -- essentially -- a better designed and tougher version of Mr X. When you try to beat Resident Evil 2 the second time, the mysterious and massive Mr. X character would sometimes appear and attempt to end your game.

Beyond having a better name, Nemesis is not only much faster then Jill Valentine, but also has the ability to open doors. This means going into a different room is not (necessarily) going to keep you safe from the Nemesis.

It is not just the Nemesis character; while the zombies and mutated monsters cannot open doors, they are all much scarier and more aggressive in Resident Evil 3. Thankfully, the improvements found in the third game do not end their.

Resident Evil 3 also features better, tighter, game play mechanics. Jill Valentine can mix ammo, in addition to herbs, to create new weapons. Her ability to quickly turn around and push zombies off of her has been improved upon.

I thought that Resident Evil 2 had the best controls in the series, when I first played it, but I have to say that Resident Evil 3 managed to improve upon greatness in the game play department.

So, everything about Resident Evil 3 seems to be great, wonderful and cool, right? Well, sadly this title in the franchise does have a few grave (no pun intended) problems.

The Bad
If the better animation, graphics, game play are the "something new" in Resident Evil 3, the problems with the game tend to fall under the "something borrowed" and "something old" headlines.

Resident Evil 3 borrows some ideas seen in Dino Crisis, in an effort to extend the replay value of the game. Someone at Capcom probably knew that going from the massive, two disc Resident Evil 2 game to a one disc sequel was not going to sit well with fans.

To help bump up the replay value, Resident Evil 3 features randomized locations for items -- i.e. ammo, herbs and objects needed to solve puzzles -- and sets up specific "live" opportunities in the game where you must quickly choose from a set of on-screen options.

Where as moving the location of objects in Resident Evil 2 was part of the expanded storyline -- found in attempting to beat the game twice, with a different character -- Resident Evil 3's storyline does not really offer anything new.

While Raccoon City looks great, certain streets and pathways in the game are blocked. This means that you have to take the “long way” to get to and from important locations in Raccoon City.

Initially, this requirement to find 'alternative routes' does make sense and encourages you to explore Raccoon City. After all, the once idyllic Raccoon City has taken a nosedive into glorious, B-movie, anarchy.

Local citizens are no longer burden by “big governments” taxes, rules, regulations or other laws. If gun control ever existed in Raccoon City, it is a safe bet that owning (at least one) gun has become mandatory, unless you are feeling suicidal. Heck, maybe all the Tea Party supporters need to do is find their own Raccoon City. But, I digress.

While the blockades and the like, all make sense, given the recent events, it can make Resident Evil 3 unnecessarily tedious.

Why? Their are actually not too many puzzles in the Raccoon City portion of the game, and it is pretty obvious what sort of object you need to solve the puzzles.

However, too many of the puzzles require you to go back and forth, covering large sections of the city, in order to solve them. So, when you are one side of the city and realize that you need an object located on the other side city, having to take several “long routes” (simply to get from Point 'A', to Point 'B' and back again) is really, really, really tedious. It is also totally unnecessary.

Resident Evil 3 could have easily had a feature built into it where, you could have Jill Valentine open certain manhole covers in order to take some direct, “short cuts” throughout the city.

Some people may actually enjoy the long walks back and forth through Raccoon City (especially if you are on the hunt for herbs or ammo), but most people would probably like the direct route option. This option seems all the more reasonable, when you consider the fact that there is not too much to do in Raccoon City beyond the specific, linear puzzles.

Raccoon City looks great and clearly a significant amount of time went into the city's design, layout and overall look.

The game offers the early signs of the “Open World” and “Sandbox” concepts would be later become quite popular in video games. However, it is more of a whiff then anything else.

Once you scratch the surface, Resident Evil 3 is not really too exploratory or interactive. Maybe Capcom finally reached the hardware limitations of the Sony PlayStation 1 or maybe not enough time was allotted for development.

Whatever the reason, Jill Valentine cannot enter most of the homes, commercial and other buildings you walk (or run) past. For the most part, access to buildings is limited to the ones needed to accomplish very specific goals.

So, while you are free to explore large chunks of Raccoon City, the player cannot really do much in the city outside the standard Resident Evil format of killing monsters, grabbing herbs and ammo and picking up items needed to solve puzzles.

In fact, much of the challenge in Raccoon City is not really figuring out how to solve the puzzles. Much of the challenges involves figuring out how to survive the army of undead and mutated monsters, while taking a series 'scenic routs' back and forth to certain locations.

Once you leave Raccoon City two things will stand out. First, the early whiff of open world and sandbox quickly concepts fade away (leaving a much linear, survival horror game) and the game is almost over.

Jill Valentine is pretty much on her own in Resident Evil 3. While she is a tough soldier (and one of my favorite STARS members), this is a noticeable shift from the number of important (and playable) characters in Resident Evil 2.

Granted, Resident Evil 2 was a massive, two-disc game, but it is hard to avoid the fact the not only is the story shorter in Resident Evil 3, it fails to really keep the player engaged.

Jill frequently battles the “Nemesis” – a huge monster that is faster then Jill and able to open doors – in Resident Evil 3, but he does not really add much to the story.

Yes, he is a tough and scary “mini-boss” (for lack of a better term) who keeps popping up in the game, but he does not really offer any sort of tangible story development.

In contrast. Resident Evil 2 had two, huge, min-bosses in the game. One of which had an interesting back story that was a major part of the Resident Evil 2's story.

Yet in Resident Evil 3, the Nemesis min-boss is basically an advanced, better looking version of the silent Mr. X character who appeared when you tried to beat Resident Evil a second time with a different character.

Yes, in Resident Evil 3, Jill Valentine does meet members of an elite military unit in Resident Evil 3, who have been hired by the Umbrella Corporation to locate survivors.

Most of the these soldiers are so obviously“red shirts” (to borrow an old-school, Star Trek term), I was actually surprised that none of the “dead men walking” wore red shirts.

I can accept, even appreciate, the B-dialogue in Resident Evil games, as something of am homage to classic horror and science fiction film.

However, because most of members of this special unit are not really that interesting, important or helpful in the game, an opportunity to add some, much-needed, depth to the Resident Evil 3 storyline is lost.

Instead, when we close the door on Raccoon City, it stays closed, and Jill is joined by only one other member of this – allegedly – topnotch search and rescue squad. When you crash into the last half of the game, the whiff of an open world concept is quickly dashed.

The few remaining locations to explore in the game all look incredible, the hospital in Resident Evil 3 is one of the scariest locations depicted in the entire franchise, but you are kept on a fairly tight, linear track, with only as few, simple, puzzles to accomplish.

By “simple” I mean that – like virtually all of the puzzles in the game – it is obvious what object you need to solve the puzzle. This late in the game, it is not too difficult to find the required object, as you are able to access fewer locations.

Instead, the challenge becomes one of battling the waves of monsters and making the – possible tedious – walk (or run) back and forth to the two points in the game.

Resident Evil 3 does an uneven job of properly balancing the arcade and adventure gaming elements. The game is driven much more by arcade action, then any good adventure gaming puzzles, and the puzzles often get hurt by the requirement to backtrack.

For example, when Jill becomes injured you – as the solider – have to get to the city's hospital (Point 'B'), solve a few puzzles, battle lots and lots of monsters and then backtrack your way to Jill (Point A).

It is slightly less tedious because, this late in the game, you don’t have (as much) space to back track as you did in Raccoon City, but the puzzles in Resident Evil 3 just never seem as fun as they did in Resident Evil 2. In Resident Evil 3, heavily armed, brawns seem to be much, much more important then brains.

Frankly, much of the tedious backtracking seen in Resident Evil 3 and empahsis on the arcade action is similar to what was seen in Resident Evil 1.

The only time a puzzle in Resident Evil 3 is likely to require some serious brains, is the music box puzzle. The musical solution is randomized and it is not easy to try and notice the slight variations that you have to perfectly repeat.

Beyond having a random solution, one of the reasons that the puzzle is tough (insanely so, given most of the puzzles in the game), is because of merely adeqaute quality of the music and sound effects in Resident Evil 3.

Within the Resident Evil franchise, gamers have come to exepct much, much better music and sound effects then what is offered up in Resident Evil 3. It would be a mistake to think that game's music and and sound effects are horrible.

Resident Evil 3 has – mostly – “adequate” music and sound effects. They are no where near as great as they should – be within the Resident Evil video game franchise – and sometimes, such as with the music box puzzle, they end up making things even more tedious.

The Bottom Line
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is the final Resident Evil game to be released for the original Sony PlayStation home system. It offers amazing animation, graphics and game play mechanics. The game is certainly scary, although it does a better job with the arcade action elements of survival horror, then the adventure gaming puzzles. With a few additions and modifications this game could be re-leased as one of the greatest entries in the Resident Evil series.

PlayStation · by ETJB (428) · 2014

Something of a disappointment, but nevertheless addictive

The Good
RE3 continues to create the same atmos-fear generated by its predecessors. The first time you play the game, you will feel totally on edge by the time you get to the Train. Zombies burst in from windows and out of abandoned cars. Crows smash through crashed bus windows. Many-armed creatures that I never bothered to learn the names of drop from the ceiling and race to embrace you in their death grip. RE3 also sees the return of the Hunters of the first game, leaping great lengths to swipe your head off. The variety of mutated creatures gives a challenge to even the experienced Resi player. The arsenal has also been up-dated - as have the methods for upgrading weapons. Instead of merely being given add-ons for your weapons, you now have to assemble them from parts dropped by the Nemesis everytime you defeat him. Prizes include two parts for the Desert Eagle handgun, two parts for the M37 shotgun, and infinite ammo (extremely handy). The arsenal now includes your near-useless knife, a Berata pistol, an M35 shotgun, a grenade launcher with four different kinds of ammo (Grenade, Acid, Flame, Freeze), a Magnum, and a fully automatic machine gun. Towards the end stages of the game, it is also possible to add a rocket launcher to your inventory. Also, instead of being handed over infinite weapons upon completion of the game, the lifespan is increased somewhat by the unlockable sub-game, in which you may play as any of the three mercenaries and must get from the Train to the warehouse saveroom, saving as many civilians as possible and killing all varieties of monster in order to earn extra seconds to complete the subgame. Cash is earned each time you play, and the prizes can be used the next time you play by the main game: Infinite Machine Gun, Gattling Gun, or Rocket Launcher, or Infinite ammo. Another plus point of RE3 is the ability to create ammo using the Reloading Tool and various gunpowders. This is an extension of the mixing system used in Dino Crisis, and adds another dimension to the game. Finally, there are more high-resolution FMVs in RE3, adding a cinematic characteristic that makes the game more beautiful. In my opinion anyway.

The Bad
Now for the bad. Although the atmosphere is still fantastic, essentially there is nothing new in this game. The storyline differs little from the previous titles, and the epynonomous character, the Nemesis, is little more than a rehash of the Tyrant-103 of RE2. Where the game differs is also its downfall. RE3 uses "Live Selection", wherein you must make a decision in a set amount of time, or something worse than either option will happen to you. There are several of these, and whilst replaying the game, you may be disappointed to discover that choosing different options does not change the gameplay much. Finally, the difficulty settings are irritating. Choose from Hard or Easy - seems fair enough, doesn't it? Only, in the Easy version, you are given infinite ink ribbon, a fully-loaded machine gun with two extra cartridges, 250 bullets for the Bereta, the Shotgun + 56 shells, the Magnum with 18 bullets, and a full pack-of-three First Aid Sprays. Forgive me for being an action junkie, but where the hell did the action and fun go?! On the other hand, the Hard difficulty is devilishly difficult, and I felt that this didn't allow someone playing it for the first time to have a decent overview of the game.

The Bottom Line
Die-hard Resi fans WILL be disappointed, but if you are new to the series, it may be the best game to start on.

PlayStation · by Gaz Whyte (5) · 2004

Average sequel

The Good
This sequel has some replayability features I liked. The structure is less linear than its predecessors, so you have a wider range of tasks to complete and paths to go through. Also, you get the chance to make choices when you face dangerous situations, and the choices you make will affect the direction of the game. The ammo and goodies you encounter and the type of enemies you face will vary, their distribution in this game is random (but tending to be balanced). Jill's ability to create different kinds of ammunition by mixing different types of gunpowder also adds some versatility.

The graphics are on and off, but overall they are an improvement from the previous games. The scenarios tend to be atmospheric and well drawn, but in some places you see backgrounds that are blurry and artifacts with a pixelated look. Good thing is that the screen resolutions have increased.

The cinematic cutscenes are quite good, energetic and very well done; I was impressed (talk about those facial expressions!).

The sound effects are decent and the voice acting is competent. But the music score, although effective, is less impressive than in the first two games.

Gameplay wise, here we have some improvements too. While the gameplay system and the menu interface from the previous games remains the same, now your character can dodge or escape enemies and turn 180 degrees with these new combo moves. If a zombie grabs you the desperate keyboard tapping becomes actually useful!

The puzzles have a different tendency here. They are not so intrincated but are still challenging. They require you to think a little and not to spend too much time looking for keys and strange artifacts to open doors. This game is a little more action oriented. I approved that.

And "Nemesis", well, he is the big bad guy. An improved version of the Tyrant monster, this big boy is faster, nastier and with enough intelligence to mouth the word "Stars"… and to chase the hell out of you. "Nemesis" will appear during the game in several situations, and while he is normally easy to avoid, it's advisable that you learn to kick his ass, because when he dies he leaves some nice goodies for you to pick up (which is quite an incentive).

The Bad
Thing is, after the first installment the suspense and the style has gone trite. The plot is not very involving. The script is lazy. The characters have no interesting personalities, they lack development (and not to mention, good one liners). The voice acting is acceptable, but in no means superb (not much to do with such shallow characters anyway).

It lacks originality. I mean, nothing that much new under the sun here. We have a familiar game engine and the same camera annoyances that pissed me off in the previous games. The enemies, aside from the main bosses, are not very innovative nor too much of a challenge. The zombies are weak and their AI is uneven, they are not as threating as they used to be. The weapons are almost the same, not much of a new toy to kick some zombie ass here.

And what happened with the lickers? Those were bad asses.

You will find some annoyances. This game sometimes feels rushed and messy. In the PC version, while playing a game, if you want to quit and load a saved game, you have to let your character die or quit the game entirely (the F9 key now quits the game instantly!) and then run it again just to access the main menu. And the 15 second prologue that opens every time you load a game is unnecessary and is non-skipable. The controls for the new moves are uneven; for example, the dodging is confusing and sometimes difficult to perform correctly, which makes the game harder than it deserves. The little bugs here and there can actually freeze the game in certain parts.

The Bottom Line
Worth trying if you liked the previous games.

Windows · by Czar Husk Qi (27) · 2009

[ View all 9 player reviews ]

Trivia

Book

A book adaptation of this game was published under the same name in 2000, the fifth in Pocket Books' Resident Evil series, written by S.D. Perry. The novel featured a preface by Perry stating that it was not canon with her other novels, as changes she had made in the previous novels would have prevented Resident Evil 3 from taking place.

Development

Resident Evil 3 began as BIOHAZARD Gaiden, a side story based around escaping Raccoon City. When the PS2 was announced Hideki Kamiya's BIOHAZARD 3 was changed to a PS2 title and renamed to BIOHAZARD 4 (This would later become Devil May Cry), while BIOHAZARD Gaiden was renamed to BIOHAZARD 3 and given a more important place in the overall Resident Evil story. Jill and the Nemesis were added to the game after this point.

German index

On May 31, 2000, the English version of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was put on the infamous German index by the BPjS. For more information about what this means and to see a list of games sharing the same fate, take a look here: BPjS/BPjM indexed games.

German version

In the German version, there are a number of changes (the cutscenes are not affected): * Zombie blood was coloured green * Killed enemies disappear almost instantly * Limbs can't be cut off and heads don't explode * In the Mercenary mode, unlocked after beating the game, no time bonus is rewarded for kills (except for animals). This makes it impossible to get a good ranking and unlock bonus content

A detailed list of changes can be found on schnittberichte.com (German).

Movie

Carlos Oliveira, Nicholai Ginovef, Jill Valentine, and the Nemesis can be seen in the film Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Carlos, Jill, and The Nemesis are mostly the same as their game counterparts, but Nicholai was rewritten from a scheming combat veteran into a greenhorn with a hear of gold.

Sales

According to publisher Capcom, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis has sold 3.5 million copies worldwide since its initial release (as of June 30, 2016).

Title

Producer Shinji Mikami was originally against calling this game Biohazard 3. He felt that Biohazard Code: Veronica, which advanced the story more than this game did, was the "true Biohazard 3" and that Biohazard 3 should've been called Biohazard 1.9.

-Source IMDB.com

Information also contributed by Emepol, NightKid32, Pseudo_Intellectual and Xoleras

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Kasey Chang.

PS Vita added by GTramp. PlayStation 3 added by Shaun Dunham. GameCube added by Kartanym. PSP added by Sciere. Dreamcast, PlayStation added by Matthew Bailey.

Additional contributors: Alan Chan, Matthew Bailey, Unicorn Lynx, John Chaser, tarmo888, Foxhack, Xoleras, DreinIX, —-, Paulus18950, CalaisianMindthief, Patrick Bregger, Lain Crowley, Victor Vance.

Game added February 13, 2001. Last modified March 20, 2024.