Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999)

It’s been over two decades since I first played and finished the original Resident Evil 3. That was around 23 years ago, and I suspect the version I played back then was missing the full-motion video cutscenes — I have no memory of them at all. So, I decided to revisit it properly this time.

I consider myself fairly competent at Resident Evil titles, but RE3 is surprisingly punishing. It frequently throws 4–5 zombies at you in consecutive rooms, and even the zombie dogs seem to soak up twice the bullets they used to. While the game tries to balance things by letting you craft your own ammunition, it hardly feels like a fair trade-off.

Another unique element I noticed is the degree of randomization. For example, sometimes Brad runs out of the basement wielding a shotgun — other times, not until you open a door. On one visit to the police station, I encountered four zombies and two red herbs. On another: two dogs and no herbs at all.

As tradition dictates, the STARS locker holds something special, but even this varies. Once, I found a Magnum there; another time, a Grenade Launcher. For those unfamiliar: one of those is clearly more desirable.

I compared the Dreamcast version — enhanced using RetroTink 4K — against the PSX version via RetroArch/SwanStation. Honestly, playing on original hardware just isn't worth it anymore. While color differences might stem from how my capture card handles HDR, the texture clarity and character models rendered at 5x resolution look vastly better on emulator.

Interestingly, the Dreamcast version even features a few updated textures. For instance, a plaque in the police station was relocated slightly between versions.

One cool design feature is how meeting Carlos depends on your route. In my Dreamcast playthrough, I ran into him at the restaurant. On PSX, I tried to avoid Nemesis and headed to the newsroom first — and that’s where Carlos showed up instead, with an entirely different cutscene.

Cutscenes also incorporate early QTE-like choices, years before Shenmue. When Nemesis appears, you’re often given an option: fight, flee, or hide.

The trolley sequence stands out as the only part I vividly remembered from my original playthrough — mostly because of the massive worm boss in the sewers, which gave off strong Alone in the Dark vibes. It’s a gauntlet: evade Nemesis, escape the worm, then face Nemesis again. He’s tanky too — it took an entire Magnum’s worth of ammo plus more to bring him down.

Initially, I found the dogs annoying, but soon realized they no longer have invincibility frames while on the ground — a welcome change.

By the clocktower section, I was stockpiling gunpowder for Magnum rounds and had amassed 48 by then. I’d also obtained both parts of the custom handgun dropped by Nemesis. Despite being called "Eagle," it's a 9mm weapon — not a Desert Eagle — but it boasts a much higher rate of fire and lets you put leftover 9mm ammo to good use.

One cinematic moment really drove home how stripped-down my original version must have been: Nemesis shooting down a helicopter. It's an epic scene I definitely would’ve remembered.

Later, you take control of Carlos, and this part becomes tense fast. Pickups are scarce, so running out of ammo effectively means game over.

The final section, the Factory, is where the game’s design falters a bit. Unlike earlier entries in the series, Resident Evil 3 doesn’t involve much backtracking — unless you get lost. But the Factory forces it, often respawning enemies in areas you’ve already cleared (sometimes more than once). It becomes repetitive, and the unskippable cutscenes before boss fights only add to the frustration.

The final boss encounters introduce some environmental mechanics. In the penultimate fight, Nemesis appears in humanoid form and you can trigger acid valves to damage him — though it’s unclear if that’s essential or just a helpful tactic. At one point, he even loses his head but keeps attacking.

The last fight pits you against a grotesque, frog-like version of Nemesis. Ammo management becomes crucial here. I’ve always said: in Resident Evil, bullets matter more than healing items — you can’t heal a boss to death. This battle reinforces that point. To win, you need to activate a massive railgun and lure Nemesis into its line of fire multiple times.

It took me around 6 hours to complete the game, which is longer than I expected — for comparison, Leon’s Resident Evil 2 scenario took me about 2.5 hours. By the end, I still had plenty of healing items but was low on bullets. This game throws more enemies at you than RE2, and it shows.

Despite some dated mechanics and frustrating moments, Resident Evil 3 (original) still holds up as a fast-paced, combat-heavy survival horror experience. Just be ready to sweat.

This title is a thrilling survival horror classic that builds on the tension and atmosphere of its predecessors, set in a zombie-ravaged Raccoon City, the MC is, yet again, Jill Valentine, trying to escape while being relentlessly pursued by the terrifying Nemesis, a near-invincible bio-weapon that adds constant pressure and fear. The game refines the series' mechanics with improved controls, a dodge move, and the ability to craft ammo, making combat slightly more dynamic. The fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds maintain a cinematic feel, though they can occasionally hinder visibility.

While the story is straightforward, the pacing is excellent, and the Nemesis encounters elevate the tension. It’s a bit shorter than Resident Evil 2, but its replayability and iconic moments make it a standout entry in the series. I have high nostalgia for this title in particular because I spent way too many hours replaying it with my friends back in the day, and we could never get tired of it because it was a very fun experience. Not that the previous titles were boring, but this one had a higher level of adventure feel, so at the same time, it was easier to skim through it several times without noticing.

One of the best feature in my opinion, coming from the second title, is having multiple playable characters, the sections where you play as Carlos are very fun, it brings up even more replayability since you can achieve his objective in various different ways, not to mention his gameplay is very different if compared to the stock Jill one that you play since the beginning. Another cool addition are the interactive cutscenes, which, yet again, brings up replay value since you can have different out comes depending on your decision.

"Resident Evil 3: Nemesis", lançado originalmente em 1999 para o PlayStation, é uma joia do gênero survival horror que continua a ser lembrada com carinho pelos fãs da série. Desenvolvido pela Capcom, este jogo não só mantém os elementos clássicos de horror e sobrevivência, mas também introduz novas mecânicas e uma narrativa mais intensa que contribuem para sua posição icônica na franquia.

Narrativa e Personagens

A história de "Resident Evil 3" segue Jill Valentine, uma sobrevivente do desastre da mansão no primeiro jogo, enquanto ela tenta escapar de Raccoon City durante um surto zumbi causado pelo T-virus. A narrativa é tensa e cheia de suspense, com Jill enfrentando não apenas hordas de zumbis, mas também a implacável criatura conhecida como Nemesis. Este inimigo persistente adiciona uma camada extra de terror, perseguindo Jill incansavelmente e forçando os jogadores a estarem sempre alertas.

Atmosfera e Ambientação

A ambientação em "Resident Evil 3" é um dos pontos altos do jogo. A cidade de Raccoon City é meticulosamente recriada com uma atmosfera de desespero e caos. Os ambientes sombrios e os efeitos sonoros perturbadores contribuem para uma sensação constante de perigo iminente. Cada local, desde ruas desertas até instalações abandonadas, está repleto de detalhes que aumentam a imersão e o terror.

Jogabilidade e Mecânicas

"Resident Evil 3" introduziu várias inovações de jogabilidade que se tornaram marcas registradas da série. A adição de um sistema de esquiva permitiu maior dinamismo nos combates, dando aos jogadores uma chance de evitar ataques inimigos. A presença constante de Nemesis, que pode aparecer a qualquer momento, cria uma sensação de urgência e tensão que obriga os jogadores a tomarem decisões rápidas. A gestão de recursos, um elemento clássico da série, continua sendo crucial, exigindo que os jogadores utilizem munição e itens de cura com sabedoria.

Gráficos e Áudio

Para a época, "Resident Evil 3" apresentou gráficos impressionantes. Os modelos de personagens e monstros são detalhados, e os ambientes pré-renderizados são belos e atmosféricos. A trilha sonora e os efeitos sonoros desempenham um papel vital na construção da atmosfera de terror. Os gritos dos zumbis, os passos pesados de Nemesis e a música inquietante elevam a tensão e o medo a cada momento do jogo.

Desafios e Dificuldade

O jogo é desafiador, com inimigos variados e puzzles que exigem pensamento crítico. A presença de Nemesis como um perseguidor implacável adiciona uma camada de dificuldade extra, pois os jogadores devem estar sempre preparados para confrontos inesperados. O equilíbrio entre combate, exploração e resolução de quebra-cabeças é bem mantido, proporcionando uma experiência satisfatória e intensa.

Conclusão

"Resident Evil 3: Nemesis" é um clássico do survival horror que ainda ressoa entre os fãs do gênero. Sua combinação de narrativa envolvente, atmosfera aterrorizante, jogabilidade inovadora e desafios intensos fazem dele uma experiência inesquecível. Capcom conseguiu criar um jogo que não só mantém o legado dos títulos anteriores, mas também introduz elementos que redefiniram a série e influenciaram futuros jogos de terror.

Update: 01/31/2026

Just did a replay of the OH Resident Evil 3, and I’m left with some mixed feelings. I love the city’s art design, possibly my favorite pre-rendered backdrops of the original 1-3 / CV. But the game is way too easy, oversupplying you with ammo and save ribbons- making it feel way more like action horror than survival horror. Also, almost all the boss fights just feel janky as hell. Nemesis is great in the city when he’s chasing you, but when you actually fight him he just stun locks you to hell. So it becomes a game of saving up a ton of ammo and heals rather than skill.

Still love the city and clock tower though, and the original is miles better than the remake. Just wish it played more like survival horror and less like an action game.

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In the context of the original trilogy, this might be my favorite. Really enjoyed the city, the puzzles were fun and the art style more interesting than 2. Everything up til the clock tower was solid.

In typical RE fashion, everything kinda goes downhill in the second half. The level design and environments just feel like padding and don’t have the same uniqueness and sharp design as the beginning.

Still, I enjoyed it and unlike the original 2, think it’s definitely worth a play. The remake changed just about everything and it’s a totally different game, I much prefer this one.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis - The Last Escape (or whatever you want to call it) is an action-packed sequel rounding out the initial PS1 Resident Evil trilogy with a bang. If I had to rank them, of the first three games, I'd probably put this one last, but that's in no way a knock against it. I've always been pretty obsessed with the first two and it's high praise just to say I find this a plenty-worthy sequel. A lot of that is just due to my general love for the fixed-camera angle 3rd person Survival Horror genre that this game continues to pull off well. However, much like the 2nd game expanded and departed from the previous game's formula, Nemesis (I'll just call it that) yet again goes in a new direction without ever straying too far from the path.

My most recent playthrough this year was my first time playing the game in a long time, basically since I still regularly played it on my PS1 about 20 years ago. I've played a lot of Resident Evil to this point, but this was the game that I have played before, but not in the longest time, of any of them (except maybe Survivor). After being quite pleased with the Seamless HD Project's work on Resident Evil 2 (1998), I tried their HD touch-up of this game and was not disappointed. I have no issue with played with old graphics by any means, but it was really nice seeing these environments in HD for the first time as both a new experience and a way to ease back into this classic. I highly recommend trying it if you're able. I've intentionally tried to include a good number of screenshots to show it off, but their website has good previews too.

So as I was saying, Nemesis does a few things differently from its predecessors. Quite a few features are tweaked, but several fall under the umbrella—pun intended—of giving the game much more of an "action" feel. It's still classic Survival Horror and does not depart entirely from that initial premise, but the intention to make this a faster-paced title is clear from the start. This is most obvious from the titular Nemesis, a massive tyrant-like creature who pursues you throughout the game. Though similar in some ways to Mr. X from the previous game, Nemesis is able to cover a lot of ground quickly and even wields ranged weapons like a rocket launcher, much unlike his lumbering counterpart in RE2. His appearances can vary a lot. I'm not sure offhand if they're quite "random" or if they are affected by the routes and decisions you make but even if it's the latter, there's enough variation to keep you guessing. The addition of a dodge mechanic allows you to deal with threats like Nemesis that come at Jill much more quickly than most enemies in previous games (I bet she wishes she had a dodge button for those damn RE1 hunters). Though it can be unreliable (and risky since you need to time it), you eventually need to get pretty good at it to survive some of the later encounters with Nemesis. Enemies otherwise go down much more quickly with zombies dropping from about four shots and staying down, even on Hard mode. This is of course balanced by the game simply having a ton of enemies, making resource management still important (though in general, of the trilogy, I found this one the easiest in terms of ammo abundance). This makes for a game that is less about counting shots against lumbering foes with plenty of time to make those hard decisions and more about constantly being cornered by multiple threats and having to dodge and blast your way out of tight situations.

The environments of Nemesis are a nice continuation of the series branching into new territories (even if the RPD is re-used briefly). I remember playing RE2 before this game was out and thinking that even though it's a short segment, the run through the streets of Raccoon was a tense and interesting segment that would be awesome to explore more deeply. Clearly the developers thought the same since that's the basic premise of this game. The opening third or so of the game has a pretty expansive map of the Raccoon streets near the RPD to explore while you work to repair the cable car that will carry you to the next part of the game. This offers a welcome glimpse into the quickly deteriorating state of the city as the T-virus-infected residents roam about infecting whoever remains alive to join their ranks. The game progresses to a few more areas including the clock tower—which offers a more classic interior experience more like the previous games—and a spooky park. Each section offers its own unique aesthetic and set of enemies and challenges. Though I found myself wishing each of these sections were just a bit longer, it's a good variety that works to expand the series' gameplay into new directions while feeling fresh.

The game also features a new branching story feature. Throughout your adventure, you'll often get to choose between two options for reacting to a given scenario, such as the classic "fight with the monster" or "enter the police station" during your first Nemesis encounter. These don't always have super long-reaching effects, but they can grant rewards or advantages for one option over the other. Additionally, the order you do things in the game can trigger different cutscenes and character interactions. While few actions reshape the ending in unique ways, there's a good deal of variability to be found here in addition to Nemesis' appearances out of nowhere at times. Even if you know the game quite well, you can run into some interesting differences on a new playthrough by just doing things a little differently. Perhaps the biggest disappointment often cited with the game is that unlike its predecessors, it is the first game of the series to start the trend of only having one character's game to play through with a campaign that's only a little longer than each playthrough in the other games (though you do get to control Carlos for a bit). However, this variability does a lot to make up for the overall shorter length and add more replayability.

The story itself is a little hit or miss, though mostly works for what it is. Much of the cast is the newly-introduced members of a unit of UBCS, Umbrella's mercenary forces each possessing varying knowledge as to their employer's [resident] evil deeds. You'd think the fact a pharmaceutical company keeps mercenaries on its payroll at all would be a red flag, but alas. Their dire circumstances force Jill to cooperate with this team despite the fact they are working for her enemy, in ignorance or not. While the UBCS members aren't always the most interesting characters in their own right, the game does a lot to keep the story constantly developing in a cinematic manner with a good balance of cutscenes and character interactions, primarily with Carlos and Nikolai. Even if this group doesn't have a lot of dimensions to them, the inherent conflict of uneasy cooperation—especially for Jill who's already been betrayed before—is an engaging plotline to follow.

As far as why the game's good, I actually don't have a lot to say that isn't evident from the above. While the previous games have a lot of great atmospheric tension and the emergent fear of having limited resources you have to use to avoid dying and being forced to restart at your last typewriter (which of course also requires limited resources to use), Nemesis is able to keep you on edge in some of the same ways, while adding a new dimension of terror in never knowing when Nemesis is going to be charging down the corridor right for you. Additionally, the game's generally more dynamic boss fights add a much more interesting combat mechanic than the bosses in previous games which generally amount to shooting, scooting when they're about to attack, shooting, repeat. While the dodge feels a little clumsy, it helps to flesh the action out as well. Even if there's only one campaign, it's paced just as well as those in the previous games, constantly encouraging exploration of new evocative areas, despite the threats that simultaneously discourage it. About my only major complaint is that I wish there were a harder difficulty to up the tension a touch more. Funnily, at the start you can only choose between "Easy" and "Hard" with no middle option. I went with Hard but despite the naming convention, I felt the game was rarely challenging other than perhaps the dreaded Clock Tower fight and this was just another name for "Normal." Still, the game feels tense, resource abundance or not, so this wasn't a deal-breaker.

I opened by noting that this was my least favorite of the first three RE games. But if I had to guess, it's probably the one I played the most back in the day. Despite its departures from the formula to this point, there's so much about Nemesis that is so iconic and memorable for me. It's been long enough that while I certainly remember certain parts very distinctly, I didn't remember much in the way of routes to take or how to progress through the game too well, so I got to experience the joy of feeling like I was playing a "fresh" playthrough of a beloved game all over again. Given that the remake changed so much of the mapping and general direction the game goes, funnily my biggest guide was from playing Resident Evil 3: The Board Game a year or so ago. While I'll admit, I didn't get near the same fear factor from Nemesis himself, it was still a thrilling playthrough and I'm happy to say it held up quite well. It's a real shame that the classic version of this and Resident Evil 2 (1998) still haven't been made readily available on modern hardware.

My other Resident Evil reviews:

• Resident Evil (1996) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 (1998) - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor - ★★★
• Resident Evil: Survivor 2 – Code Veronica - ★★
• Resident Evil Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 2 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 3 Remake - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 VR - ★★★★★
• Resident Evil 4 Remake - ★★★★★

Just a year after Resident Evil 2, Capcom released the sequel, which had a complicated development. Originally thought of as a spin-off that would expand the city of Raccoon City briefly seen in the previous game, you can feel all these problems and changes in plans through your adventure.

The main settling this time is Raccoon City itself. You will explore lots of streets and buildings instead of a big one, and while the streets are really fun and innovative at first, you quickly notice they don't have much to show, and the real content is inside the buildings, which usually have 1-3 floors and less than 10 rooms. This change of scenario isn't a bad thing per se, but in my opinion, it feels a lot more generic and less special than the Spencer Mansion and the Raccoon Police Department.

The streets also get annoying when you realize the bigger emphasis on action (pretty obvious with the intro scene full of bullets and explosions) means the amount of enemies is way bigger. You can find 5-6 zombies in a single hallway, with barely any space to avoid, so unless you master the dodge mechanic, which is awkward and hard to understand, you'll be forced to save bullets or sacrifice some health to go through them.

This could work if the gameplay wasn't almost the same as the second game, with the addition of the dodge mechanic and quick turn, which can be useful against single enemies, but don't work that well with hordes, so it feels like the game is forcing you to waste resources instead of thinking strategically to traverse across the zombies, which is even worse when sometimes zombies respawn or appear through cars and windows, which is more annoying than scary.

Talking about things that are more annoying than scary, Nemesis has a cool design and is a lot more involved in the story than Mr. X in RE2, but because the game is so short, it feels like Nemesis appears every 5 minutes, which becomes more of a nuance than a terrifying presence. Still, I liked defeating him every time he appeared, which is challenging and rewarding, and he even gives you special items if you are playing in Hard Mode. These battles are optional, but in my opinion, you are missing some of the most intense parts of the game if you always escape, and the final battle is satisfactory after suffering through him so many times while slowly becoming more and more powerful until a few bullets of the Magnum could stop him as soon as he appeared.

Another huge difference from the previous entries is the lack of two routes. The only playable character is Jill (and Carlos for a short time), and as soon as you finish the game you already experienced the whole story. Some elements can vary, like a part where you can meet Carlos at the restaurant or The Raccoon Press, as well as the choices you make at the live selections, which are a rudimentary version of the QTE/choice systems that would become so popular 10 years later. However, they are so few and far between that I doubt you'll want to replay the game just to watch these differences.

To compensate for this, the game is way longer than a single route from RE1/RE2, and I think that makes the pacing worse. When you finish the Clock Tower you would think the game will be over soon, but you still need to explore a whole park, defeat a boss and meet Nemesis a couple of times more. Nothing wrong with having more content, and that's what you would expect from a sequel, but I think the pacing and exploration could have been better if some parts of the story were implemented better, as Clock Tower feels out of place, and fixing the train takes so long that you would expect it was the endgame goal, not the midgame one.

Still, this is far from a bad video game. The gameplay is the best one of the original trilogy, thanks to the new mechanics. Nemesis, while annoying, is still a staple of the franchise for a good reason, and you won't find an antagonist so prominent and threatening in the other games again. You get to know more about Umbrella and Raccoon City, which is always appreciated and makes the world of Resident Evil even more complex and interesting. The puzzles are harder and more original than anything you can find in RE1/RE2, and I actually had to use my brain in some of them, instead of just using an item in a specific place to get a key. And the ending is the perfect conclusion for Raccoon City and makes it pretty clear that the horror aspects are over and now the focus is cool action scenes, which will be even more apparent in the following sequels.

The real problem with RE3 is that the previous games were so good and masterfully crafted that any flaw you can find here will feel even worse than you would expect, but you will still have a really good time if you enjoy killing zombies and fighting against Umbrella Corp, so I can understand perfectly why so many people consider this their favorite classic Resident Evil game. And when the weakest part of a trilogy is still an excellent piece of media, you know you are experiencing a masterpiece.

Resident evil 3 Nemesis is a 1999 survival horror game.Capcom, the producer and distributor of the game, did a great job.The story of the game is as follows.Zombie outbreak starts in raccoon city.A character named Jill Valentine decides to escape from Raccoon city.The gameplay is as follows.in this game consisting of 6 parts, you are trying to kill zombies and pass.The music of the game is beautiful.The graphics of the game are not bad.My rating for the game: 10/10 (y) Good games to everyone 🙂

Having just played REmake and Resi 2, I have to say that so far this is my least favorite Resident Evil game so far.

I don't think that the original RE control/gameplay scheme works well for such an action packed game, and the over reliance on a flawed dodge system made some of the game and most of the bosses frustrating. They assigned the quick turn move to a single button in the GC version (the one I played), so I don't see why they couldn't make the same for the dodge move.

Backtracking was also made more tedious due to the more linear level design on the first portion of the game, and it's an overall less spooky experience than the last entries. I didn't feel that fear of what's around the next corner very much while playing this game.

Still, it's Resi and it's good. The atmosphere is there, the backgrounds look amazing and to be able to fully explore Racoon City is awesome. The addition of the Nemesis was very nice and made the game more tense, improving on RE 2's Mr. X.

Feeling a light 7 on this one. On to Resident Evil 4! Playing these games lately have been very escapist and cathartic experiences that are helping me to cope with the fact that a fascist is about to be elected in my country (Brazil). Se você está lendo isso vote 13 pelo amor de Deus.