Resident Evil 3 Remake is, without a shadow of a doubt, the ugly duckling of the modern RE entries. I’d go as far as saying it belongs among some of the series' most mediocre entries as a whole.
The original RE3 was born out of a weird necessity to have more numbered games within the franchise due to the success of RE2. With game director Hideki Kamiya’s original pitch cancelled—one that would see Hunk trying to obtain a sample of the G-Virus—Capcom moved what was being cooked up as a fun little side project with the working name of Resident Evil 1.9 and promoted it to a mainline game, bringing back RE1’s Jill Valentine in the process.
The reception it got, compared to the poor reimagining launched in 2020, which is making its way to the Nintendo Switch 2 this October 16, is the only thing you need to know about which version is superior.
I know I sound particularly harsh, but the reality is simple: yes, the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Resident Evil 3 Remake runs absolutely perfectly. No flaws at all beyond the obvious visual compromises of playing it in handheld mode. My problem with this game is, and forever will be, that it’s simply not worth spending your time with.
To elaborate further on the technical aspect: I’m not Digital Foundry over here, but I can attest to how crisp the game looks while docked. Like I said in my Resident Evil 2 Remake review, it’s almost identical to what you can expect on a PS5 or Xbox Series X|S. And yes, the game runs at a smooth 60 FPS.
That’s all perfectly fine. But now that we have to discuss gameplay and the overall content value of RE3 as a game, things start falling apart. The game itself is a poor adaptation of the original, with rushed development forcing the team at Capcom to cut key content that makes the experience feel bare-bones.
Even if you don’t have the context for what’s missing, you’ll be puzzled by how absurdly short the game is. Sure, playing as Jill Valentine in a new version of her misadventures across Raccoon City is a cute novelty, but that doesn’t justify the fact that you can wrap up the game in one sitting.
The gist of RE3 is that Jill is being hunted by a very powerful tyrant known as Nemesis, as Umbrella is seeking to eliminate every trace of evidence regarding what happened at Spencer Manor. Surviving is the name of the game. Yet, you never feel fully in danger.
Nemesis feels on rails in this game, especially if you compare it to how frightening the presence of Mr. X felt in RE2 Remake. There is no real, tangible sense of urgency because every chase in RE3 is a scripted sequence.
The biggest implementation the game had was a dodge button for Jill, which lets you slip past hordes of zombies with much more ease than in RE2. You do get a taste of what it would’ve felt like to explore Raccoon City, and there are a lot of overlapping events that make RE2 make a bit more sense, which does help that feeling of both games feeling interconnected. But that’s about it.
RE3 doesn’t have replayability; it doesn’t have extra content. In fact, I wouldn’t have been shocked if Capcom decided to sweep this one under the rug by not bringing it to the Switch 2. There’s a reason why this is $10 cheaper than RE2 and $20 cheaper when compared to RE4: it just doesn’t offer anything worthwhile beyond getting a bit of Jill gameplay for her hardcore fanbase, which has been starved for the past decade.
Overall, don’t bother with this one if you haven’t played any of the prior Resident Evil games. It’s okay; it’s not a bad game, it just feels incomplete, and even if you don’t have a point of reference, Resident Evil 3 Remake offers little to no value once you’re done with the insultingly short campaign. If you’re looking to have a full collection of RE games, the price point feels fair enough to not feel completely ripped off.
A review code was provided by the developer.
And that’s it. Stick with us at Gfinityesports.com: your go-to source for all things Resident Evil.