More Like Resident Evil 2.5 !!! ( some secrets spoiled )

User Rating: 8.9 | BioHazard 3: Last Escape DC
Concept: In Resident Evil 3, the story is a bit confusing. This game let's you meet up with the heroine from the first Resident Evil, Jill Valentine. It follows her story on her trying to escape Raccoon City. The reason why RE 3 is confusing in terms of story, is because it takes place before and after the events of Resident Evil 2 ( crazy Capcom storyline ). That's why I titled this review as Resident Evil 2.5 because in terms of story, that's what it should be called. Capcom decided to make this a flat out sequal because it has features that a sequal would have like, better gameplay, new enemies and weapons, and better graphics. The story of the game is, after surviving that horrible incident up in the Mansion ( see my Resident Evil review ), Chris, Jill, and the remaining survivors told their stories of the mansion, to the Raccoon City police department. No one, including the chief of the Raccoon City police department, believed them. After Chris did some research on umbrella he found out about a more powerful G-virus and thought it was umbrella all over again. Him and Barry went to Europe to do more investigation on umbrella and Jill decided to stay in Racoon City a bit longer. But then it happened again. There were reports of a rapid skin disease spreading through out Racoon City. But it was really the G, and T-virus. It snuck up on Racoon City like a plague and once again took the lives of innocent civilians. After staying a bit longer in Raccoon City, Jill recognized the danger that was slowly rising in Raccoon City and decided to leave. This time around, Jill is being hunted down by a relentless new monster called Nemesis. Nemesis job is to destroy all S.T.A.R.S members. That's why everytime you see him, he keeps saying S.T.A.R.S . As for Jill, she knew this was her last chance and if she was going to leave, know would be a good time. She knew this was her last escape.

Gameplay: Once again, your character controls like a tank. If you've played all or most of the Resident Evil's before RE 4, you shouldn't be surprised. Like I stated in the concept, the gameplay did improve a little bit. There is now a 180 degree turn you can do since your character turns around slowly. So, turning around and running away from enemies just got safer. Another new element in the gameplay is, the ability to dodge your enemies attacks. When you draw your weapon and press the attack button right when an enemy is about to harm you, Jill wil dodge the enemies attack. This doesn't work all the time however, as timing has to be just right. Theres also a button to aim at exploding objects( drums with exploding fuel, dynamite on the wall, exploding lamps, etc. ). This may not sound important at first but, it is. The reason being is because instead of aiming at an enemy and then turning your weapon towards the exploding object, you can save time by aiming at the object emediately. When making gunpowder, the controls are great as well. The gameplay hasn't extremely been improved but the changes Capcom made are noticable. The changes in gameplay mainly made Resident Evil a bit safer as it is less likely for you to be attacked ( only if your quick enough with the controls ).

Graphics: The graphics are obviously better than the playstation version but again, the dreamcasts abilities weren't even reached. It didn't even look like Capcom tried to tap into the abilities of the dreamcast. The graphics are still great though just don't expect any Resident Evil Code: Veronica like graphics. If you've played RE 2 for dreamcast, you'll have an idea of how the graphics are. The dreamcasts high resolution takes more effect on here so the graphics look a bit better than the graphics in RE 2 for the dreamcast.The graphics are still justable to this day however. You also have to remember that this is a classic so you shouldn't be expecting to much from this game in this department. ( for more, see my playstation review )

Sound: The usual Resident Evil sounds. In other words, one of the things that will scare you the most in this game is the scary sounds each monster makes. In the city you can hear screams of people and moans of zombies in the distance. From the sounds you here in the city, you can really tell that the city is over runned by zombies and other monsters. The sounds Nemesis makes are truly scary. Again Capcom has done a nice job at finding the right music for the right situation. The music you hear when Nemesis is close by is real scary. The music in other boss fights are great to. When you look at where your fighting the boss and then listen to the music, you can see for yourself that the music fits the environment nicely. You can also hear every sound in the game clearly. The sound of the weapons are nicely done as well. You can even hear the drops of water from a distance when it rolls of a building. That hints that it rained earlier in the game. In the intro movie ( for those of you who have played this game before ), if you remembered, it was raining. That makes sense as to why you hear water dropping as you run through the city. Pretty realistic. If you don't know what i'm talking about, then play this game and pay attention closely to the intro movie at the start of the game. Then listen out for water dropping in the city streets. Then you'll see what I'm talking about. Just one of the many examples of excellent sounds you'll hear in this game.

Replay Value: There is a mercenary mode for you to play. There you can unlock new weapons and specials for the main game next time you play. The new weapons and specials you can unlock makes the game really fun. On top of that, you can choose different live selections ( life or death choices in the game ) that can alter the game. So there are multiple endings as well. You can also unlock epilogues which are follow up stories to some Resident Evil characters of the past. These stories basically shows you where each character in the RE series, are after you've beaten Resident Evil 3. You unlock one epilogue each time you beat the game so you'll have your hands full.

Entertainment: This game is what you'd expect from Resident Evil in this department. The action picks up then goes down and then picks up again and then goes down and so on and so forth. The only reason the action is like that though is because there are many puzzles and when it comes time to solving most of them, the action gets boring. You'll still be on the edge of your seat however, because you'll never know when Nemesis will appear out of no where. Since he's hunting you down. A majority of the time, you'll be surprised when Nemesis shows up and chances are, you won't be ready for him. So Nemesis will keep you awake through most of the game.

Overall: Overall this game is considered a classic so you should be coming back to it every know and then. This is a great game but now I wouldn't suggest buying it right away. If you've never played this game before, you'll be surprised mainly because of Nemesis. This game also provides decent replay value as well. Once you unlock the extras, you can have fun with all the various weapons throughout the game. This game also has some nice new intresting features for an RE sequal.I would suggest you either buy it or at least check it out because after all, even classics deserve some attention. Capcom has once again made an excellent sequal. Once again though, I was a bit dissapointed considering that this game was on the dreamcast.