Don't Play With the Lights Off!

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is the latest in the Resident Evil game series by Capcom. This is the first Resident Evil game that I have played. Overall I was very impressed with this game and I will attempt to write a review worthy of it.

The Story:

In RE3 you play the part of Jill, the heroine of the game. Jill is a member of the special police S.T.A.R.S. unit. Trapped in Racoon City, Jill must escape before the city is completely overwhelmed by zombies or before Nemesis kills her. The city has been overrun by zombies, the result of a catastrophic accident in an Umbrella Lab.

The Umbrella corporation is a pharmaseutical company that also specializes in illegal products. Nemesis is a creation of Umbrella's that is designed to hunt down and kill S.T.A.R.S. members. You must avoid him at all costs as he is very powerful.

Throughout this game you control Jill. You must scour the city for weapons, survival items and evidence of the Umbrella screw up. Your ultimate goal is survival. You will encounter Nemesis quite a few times, but you are always presented with options on how to deal with him. If you have to fight him, make sure you have a weapon on you that packs plenty of punch.

Plenty of weapons are available for you to find. You start off with the basic pistol which isn't that bad of a weapon for fending off the lowly zombies. As the game progresses you'll need something a little more powerful. As you explore Racoon City you will find such weapons as a shotgun, magnum and a grenade launcher. There are three types of ammunition available for the grenade launcher.

One of the neat things about this game is how you can make your own ammunition. You find ammunition canisters throughout the city and you can combine them to form new types of ammunition. For example, you can make flame, ice and acid rounds for your grenade launcher. You will need all the ammo you can carry so good luck finding it.

Game Play

Game play is fairly simple. You have the basic movements, forward, back, left and right and several action buttons. You have commands for drawing your weapon, aiming, changing targets, firing your weapon and opening doors and running.(which you will use quite a lot!)

The game is usually pretty smooth, but sometimes it will bog down when there are a lot of enemies on the screen. You can use a joystick or gamepad, but the keyboard is the most effective way to manage all the controls of the game.

One of the nice things about this game is that it is not just a run around and blow up zombies game. There are several puzzles you must solve at certain points if you wish to advance to the later stages. You must also seek out and learn how to use certain items to help you in your quest for survival.

Graphics

Resident Evil 3 has some really good graphics. The layout of the town is well done and the characters are very well detailed. I give the graphics of this game an 8 out of 10.

Music and Sound Effects

The music in RE3 is excellent. It adds a creepy tone to the game which helps to make it more suspenseful. The sound effects are excellent. The zombies and other enemies all have their own sound effects and the effects of breaking glass, explosions and gunfire are all very well done. In my book, the sound gets a 9 out of 10.

I remember the first time I played this game, it was about 3 am and I had the lights off in my room. While I was walking past a door it exploded outward with a pillar of fire and it sounded like someone had shot a gun off in my room. I must have jumped 3 feet in the air. The sound really adds an interactive element to this game as you may soon find out.

WARNING

This game may not be suitable for some young children. It is very graphic and violent and there is a lot of bloodshed. For example, if you shoot a zombie in the head you see his head explode in a shower of blood and flesh. Also if you are an animal lover you might not like this game as you have to take out dogs that have been infected by the zombie disease.

Overall I think Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is one of the best games out there for the PC. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did. As always, thanks for reading and I welcome your opinions and comments!