8 out of 8 people found this review helpful.
Better than expected
Date of Review: Jul 20, 2001
The Bottom Line: RE fans will not be disappointed...Guaranteed.
I love the Resident Evil series. That 3rd person view and those camera angles make the game what it is. Why? Because there is much more horror in having to protect a character you have become attached to than having some monster punching at the screen, which is supposed to be you in the first person view. The camera angles insure terror around every corner, as there is no way of knowing what's ahead, unlike the Doom series and its clones, where you can prepare yourself by peeking around corners. I don't recommend RE for kids; the few I've let play threw the control back at me screaming, especially when the relentless NEMESIS appeared. They looked like they were about to wet their pants/panties, bouncing on their seat, yelling at me with pleading eyes to save the female software character as if it were their own mother, having bonded with it so quickly. That said, let's go on to our review.
Hardware: I recommend at least a system as good as mine.
Pentium III 750 Mhz
4200 RPM hard drive
At least 128 MB RAM and 8 MB video RAM
Graphics:
Typically great for RE fans. Resolution can be adjusted, starting from 320x240 all the way up to 1024x768 if your system can take it. My system works well with 640x480 or 800x600. There may be choppiness during scenes where there are multiple zombies or scenes with fire, depending upon the speed of your system of course. Trying to evaluate RE on a system with less than a 233 Pentium II is not giving RE a chance to show its quality, especially if your graphics card is wimpy. RE is a visual treat. The environment looks even more 3D than in previous versions in my opinion. Colors are drab purposely to give that realistic, gloomy look. I wished they could have corrected the slight hesitations between camera angle changes, but at least they give you the option of bypassing all those slow closing door scenes as you enter each room. Good work, Capcom. I enjoyed finding my way through the graveyard (where zombies rise from their graves) and walking the swing bridges and wooded paths found much later in the game, seeing water splash as you walk thru puddles and listening to the rain and faint thunder, which brings us to sound quality...
Sound: As good or better than RE 1 or RE 2. Some who play other games may find the sound quality lacking, but for us RE players it's all good. Some may complain of not hearing footsteps or effects. This is because they did not choose all sound options during the game installation, which is done by checking the appropriate boxes. I heard zombies groaning, thunder and rain, footsteps; the works.
Control: Keyboard manipulation is something I could never get used to, so I used the Gravis USB Gamepad Pro, a Playstation look alike. By RIGHT CLICKING on the correct control areas I could program controller buttons with ease.
Our heroine has learned a trick or two, such as doing a quick about face or dodging a monster attack and auto-aiming at targets; less for you to worry about.
Story: Very chilling and decent storyline. Nemesis can actually chase you from room to room, not like your typical zombie/mutant. Puzzles can be easy to very tedious and frustrating.
I resorted to a free internet walk through by Nathan Norris, who is to be highly commended for his work.
http://db.gamefaqs.com/console/psx/file/resident_evil_3_a_rank.txt
Tip: By choosing a full install I could play without the CD!
Tip: The knife DOES have a use; you can jump on top of a crate and slice zombies in the early stages of the game, saving much ammo.
Resident Evil 3 has completely satisfied my craving for another RE series, and Kudos to Capcom for an excellent job. This is truly RE Heaven.
