In an effort to escape the reality of a world that's currently in the grip of a global pandemic, I've elected to spend time with a game that merely deals with a simple epidemic. If only, right? I am of course talking about Resident Evil 3, a remake of the 1999 survival horror classic Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
So far I'm digging Resident Evil 3 a lot. It doesn't quite hit the heights of 2019's superlative Resident Evil 2 remake, but honestly? The original Resi 3 wasn't a patch on the original Resi 2 either, so bonus points for authenticity I guess. This latest remake is also a rather more brisk experience, with more of a focus on action over survival horror elements. Again though, this was the case with the original game, so I'm not too fussed.
There's only one area of Resident Evil 3 that really lets me down, and that's in the way that Capcom has elected to handle the character of Nemesis. In the original game, the monstrous Nemesis was this persistent, slow threat that was always coming for you - or so it seemed. That's pretty much exactly the same case in the remake, except that this new Nemesis is just... kind of lame?
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I don't know for sure if it's any one thing in particular that's reduced the threat of Nemesis in my eyes. I think a large part of it is down to Mr X in the Resident Evil 2 remake. In the 2019 survival horror, Mr X behaved a lot like Nemesis did in the original Resident Evil 3, which is to say that he was an unpredictable, relentless, hulking monster that was always on the prowl for you, ready to chin you if you got too close. It felt like you were being hunted.
There was a lot of talk from Capcom about how Nemesis in the remake would be even more terrifying than Mr X, and it's clear that there were a lot of conversations about how the team could go about making it so that Nemesis wasn't just a repeat of the threat in the Resident Evil 2 remake. That can't have been an easy task, and I appreciate that.
A lot of interviews in the lead up to release suggested that Nemesis would be smarter, faster, more dangerous, and probably better at Scrabble than Mr X. I was intrigued and excited. Also afraid, obviously. Unfortunately, it seems to me that if anything, Nemesis is now nothing more than Mr X lite.
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Every single time I opened a door to see Mr X thundering towards me, a little bit of wee came out. Every time Nemesis appeared? I was fully expecting it. It seems to me that Nemesis is way less dynamic a threat than a lot of us were expecting, and is in fact not that different at all from the standard monsters, only appearing at certain points to chase us around for a bit before Capcom decides the "relentless" mutant assassin needs to go away again and have a lie down.
1999's Resident Evil 3 had to create the feeling that Nemesis could pop up at anytime because he couldn't. This 2020 game surely could have made it so that Nemesis would appear at any time... but didn't. There was even some miscommunication ahead of the remake's launch that Nemesis would be able to bust into save rooms, which I was so into.
I know a lot of people didn't like the idea of that, and I get it... but to really make Nemesis more of a threat than Mr X, Capcom needed to start breaking rules and screwing with our expectations. That's just not what happened, sadly.
To be fair, Mr X only really showed up during the police station sequence of Resident Evil 2 beyond boss battles and a few other short chase sequences... but this was the best part of the game because he could absolutely show up at any point. He was constantly stomping around the building looking for you, ready to chase you down the station's dark and claustrophobic halls.
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While nowhere near as lengthy, we also got this in a couple of fantastic segments in Resident Evil 7, as Jack Baker pursued you through his home. Similarly, Alien: Isolation has showed us how truly terrifying these dynamic threats can be in modern video games. We just don't get that with Nemesis.
When old Nemnem shows up, he chases you with all the spirit of a dad that's been roped into playing tag with his kid. He'll give it some welly for the first five minutes, but after that? He'll give up and let you think you're being chased. I first realized he wasn't quite up to snuff when he smashed through a wall to chase me through the streets of Raccoon City. My heart racing, I rushed into the nearby donut shop and turned, grenade at the ready to blow his ugly face to hell.
Except Nemesis didn't follow me. I'd just watched him smash through a brick wall to surprise me, and here he was unable to pursue me through an unlocked door. Subsequent encounters with him just didn't have the same razzle dazzle when I realised he was clearly afraid of donut shops, I'll be honest with you.
It also doesn't that help that in those sequences where Nemesis does give chase, he's more of a pain in the arse than a horrifying mutant assassin. Every single encounter seemed to go exactly the same for me. I'd start running, and Nemesis would do that weird dash thing to knock me over and get in front of me. You know, that attack that's impossible to avoid because you can't see it coming.
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Once in front of me, Nemesis would either try to punch me or slap me with a tendril. I'd either avoid this or get hit by it. Either way, I'd be able to continue running until he used his dash attack to get in front of me again. Repeat until I finally get to a point where the game decides it's time for him to stop chasing me.
That's not a terrifying game of cat and mouse, it's an irritating chore that turns the main antagonist of a survival horror game into the one thing that completely derails the pace of the entire experience. Nemesis pulls all the tension out of every single situation. Hell, he even manages to make zombies less scary by giving them those weird inflated heads that are supposed to be gross but just strip the zombies of the horrible decayed faces that actually made them scary. How do you make zombies less scary? Jeez.
Basically, Resident Evil 3 is a great game let down by the one thing that could have made it an unforgettable game. So screw you Nemesis, I guess. Mr X was scarier, way more unpredictable, and a snappier dresser. I'm going back to him.
Featured Image Credit: CapcomTopics: Resident Evil 2, Capcom, Resident Evil 3