I offend you by playing old games (Resident Evil 3)

Hai Guyz! This is the second of perhaps many semi-reviews of old games. Sure, I did start with the big guns (Goldeneye is kind of an important and popular game), but please bear with me as I talk about games that fall within my rather limited fanboy sphere, namely Resident Evil (and Fire Emblem). Sure, there will be little to no offending going on, at least until I find an old game that is actually mediocre (Don't worry, I have some names in mind), but I think it's a vaguely catchy title.

Anydangways, if you have been on the forums long enough, you know that I am a fan of both the old and the new RE games. However, I don't actually own a Playstation (and I am borrowing a friend's PS2 to play Persona) so I had to get the first three games on platforms other than the one they were developed for. This wasn't a problem with some of the games, as RE1 was ported to the DS and I found the N64 version of RE2. However, Resident Evil 3 for the gamecube is actually hard to find, not to mention expensive. I eventually just gave in and paid $25 for it (which I bought along with Goldeneye) last week. Was it worth the money? READ MORE TO FIND OUT!

IF YOU DON'T CARE ABOUT HOW I FOUND THE GAME, START READING HERE.

Resident Evil 3 has only one scenario and one character, as opposed to the 4 scenario juggernaut of RE2. It added the extremely valuable 180 degree turn to the series, as well as a few weird dodge moves and the gunpowder mechanic that allowed you to create ammo. Oh, and there's a monster man with a rocket launcher who randomly chases you across Raccoon City. He's not very nice. But what do I think of these things?

The single scenario format is ok, there is something to be said about focusing on only one thing. However, I beat it in 3 hours and 40 minutes on my first playthrough, which shows how easy all the puzzles are (except for that frustrating water test puzzle.). The 180 degree turn is helpful, as are the dodge moves and the gunpowder mixing. Yet, by the end of the game I had a crapton of Freeze Rounds and could kill everything in my path with little to no problem. If I recall correctly, Survival Horror is supposed to be about conserving ammo, and if you have 30 freeze rounds and 20 grenade rounds you really don't need to do that. Nemesis however, is a scary dude, and he makes me want to run away in real life.  Not much else needs to be said when that music starts playing and you hear the monster's growl (STARS!). You run. Like a pansy. But he runs faster. The last time Resident Evil made me dread walking around was when there was a crimson head on the other side of the door. So it wins in that respect.

However, the story is weak (even for an RE game) and teh grapikz are not pleasant to look at, but at least the backgrounds and the models are more detailed than the original PS1 game. The music also isn't quite as memorable as some of the other Resident Evil games out there, and the voice acting is definitley not as awesful as RE1 or even 2. It's just kind of bad.

In conclusion (tl;dr), Resident Evil 3 ranks perhaps the lowest of all the classic-style RE games I have played. There's nothing explicitly wrong with it, but the highs aren't as high, and It is shorter. I haven't touched Code Veronica yet, so there still hope to change my mind. Appearently that one is only longer because of all the backtracking, and I hate backtracking. We'll see.

As for now, I am playing Chrono Trigger on the DS, but I don't think I'll finish that any time soon. If any of you reading this blog have an idea of an old game (Old being defined as "Came out before 2002") that I could play and it doesn't cost a bijillion dollars on E-Bay or Amazon (sorry, but that means I'm not doing Planescape:Torment) I would appreciate it. Hopefully someone will read this. The End.