Retro|Spective 021R: Resident Evil

[Neon Ignition]

Game 03 - Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Arriving the very next year after the hit sequel, the third game returned to the streets of Raccoon City but this time picked up the tale of Jill Valentine as she worked to escape the city, her story straddling the events of the second game. Originally Code Veronica had entered development as the third entry and this as a spin-off but Capcom quickly retuned this to be the third entry sensing the better marketability of the option. However, the third game was a more action based and shorter affair that brought with it some disappointment after the grand expansion of the second game.






Did RE3 get its teeth into you?

[wakka]

My understanding with this game is that Sony had an exclusivity deal that ensured all numbered sequels would only be on PlayStation consoles. Therefore Nemesis became Resi 3, even though it's clearly just a side story to 2 as opposed to the much meatier CV.

I haven't written in this thread yet but I love Resi 1 and 2 very much indeed. 3 is fun but the weakest by far. Nemesis himself is a worse retread of Mr X and the game is simpler, shorter, and only has a single scenario. It's still Resi though, so it's still fun.

[nakamura]

Resi 2 is amazing. I don't get the comments that it's similar to the first, all games are like that nowadays, especially sequels.

Resi 2 took what was amazing about the original and expanded It greatly. So many ways to play it with so much variety within its design. It gave you reasons to replay it with more things to see and how the character scenarios interacted was so cool!

[Neon Ignition]

To a degree, at the time, I preferred RE3 to RE2. I think it being a simpler, shorter experience but in many ways very similar made it more digestible which is interesting as I felt the opposite with the recent remakes

[Dogg Thang]

I thought RE3 was pretty smart in the way it connected with RE2 while offering a different experience. I felt like Nemesis generally worked better than Mr X in 2 and I liked that it was a slightly tighter experience. On a recent (okay maybe 5 years ago) replay of 1, 2 and 3, I did find 3 didn't quite land as well as I remembered and it largely came down to having a little more focus on action and yet the game system isn't quite designed well enough for it. Things that happened in the first two games, such as difficulty aiming and enemies off screen, became more of a regular occurrence in 3 while the atmosphere took a little bit of a hit in favour of more active combat.

Still a good game though.

[QualityChimp]

I didn't play RE3 at the time, but picked it up years after after wondering why after loving the first 2, but I can barely remember a thing about it. I have the remake to play, but needed a break after playing through 2.

[Atticus]

I skipped Resi 3 back in the day … just had no interest in it. But playing the remake recently I loved it. Complements 2 perfectly. Love all the locations and the tight structure. I didn’t care how long it took to complete … I loved every second and I can’t say that about all games. And as soon as I completed it I dived back in for more.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 04 - Resident Evil: Survivor
This was the first spin-off to appear for the franchise, moving action to a first person view and in some countries carrying GunCon support. Players moved freely meaning this was a rare off-rails light gun game in effect. The game had you play a character caught in the blast from the original games ending and crashing onto a nearby island that is overrun with zombies. With no memory of who you are you try to escape. The game received quite low scores but went on to receive several sequels.








How well did you Survive the first Resi Spin-Off?

[Dogg Thang]

I never played any of these and they didn't seem in any way attractive to me, as much as I loved the main games.

[nakamura]

Survivor was actually a really good game. Decent graphics and solid control, lots of variety in endings too.

[Asura]

I loved Gun Survivor, but you really needed the special gun made for it. That gun had a d-pad on the back so you had more control. Playing it with the GCon was a bit frustrating (though at least you could play it).

Resident Evil 3 had a problem, in that its parry system was too good. I remember a section in the middle of the game where I'd mastered it; Jill was in an alleyway with ~3 of the dogs and I was able to stay alive, dodging all their attacks ad infinitum. Like I was totally safe. It killed the sense of danger. That being said, if I didn't do that, it was fun, and I remember enjoying the various Nemesis fights.

Have Capcom ever explained why they needed to abandon the first version of Resi2 and start over? Just I've seen screenshots of it over the years and can see it uses many of the same locations.

[wakka]

[MENTION=5941]Asura[/MENTION] I didn't know Gun Survivor had its own lightgun! I've just tried to wrangle it on Google but can't find it - you don't know what the official name was do you?

Also, re: Resi 1.5, I have read that the team basically didn't think it was good enough. Which doesn't give us much to go on but there it is.

[Asura]

@Asura I didn't know Gun Survivor had its own lightgun! I've just tried to wrangle it on Google but can't find it - you don't know what the official name was do you?

Weirdly I'm struggling to look it up - but I remember it extremely well; it was physically modelled in the Beretta M92f, and came in packaging that also had the game logo on it.

EDIT: Also I'm not googling anymore because after a few rounds I'm worried I'm gonna end up on a list

[wakka]

Damn. Seems rare, can't find it at all either. Intriguing.

[SuperDanX]

I loved Gun Survivor, but you really needed the special gun made for it. That gun had a d-pad on the back so you had more control. Playing it with the GCon was a bit frustrating (though at least you could play it).

Resident Evil 3 had a problem, in that its parry system was too good. I remember a section in the middle of the game where I'd mastered it; Jill was in an alleyway with ~3 of the dogs and I was able to stay alive, dodging all their attacks ad infinitum. Like I was totally safe. It killed the sense of danger. That being said, if I didn't do that, it was fun, and I remember enjoying the various Nemesis fights.

Have Capcom ever explained why they needed to abandon the first version of Resi2 and start over? Just I've seen screenshots of it over the years and can see it uses many of the same locations.

you're thinking of the resident evil ps1 joypad. Had a gun grip.