Resident Evil 3 is just two weeks away, but to slake our coronavirus-enhanced bloodlust, Capcom has just released a short demo to play in the interim.
The Resident Evil 3: Raccoon City Demo is free now on PS4, Xbox and PC, and provides an enticing glimpse of 45-minutes of early game action. As the demo begins, Carlos and Jill have just met, and Carlos has brought Jill to a parked subway car to meet Mikhail Victor, a grizzled member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service. From there, players are let loose on the city, invited to explore as Jill, with a pistol in one hand and a flashlight in the other.
It’s a solid chunk of the game; small enough that you won’t feel like you’ve seen too much when you start the full game, but substantial enough that you’ll have a good idea of whether or not this reimagined version of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis is for you. Here are five takeaways from our time with the demo.
If You Played the Resident Evil 2 Remake, You’ll Feel Right at Home
This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but playing Resident Evil 3 feels almost exactly the same as playing Resident Evil 2. Jill’s movement speed, the way the guns handle, the UI for interacting with the world and your inventory — all of it communicates that this game, as much as it is a reimagining of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, is also very much a continuation of the ideas Capcom developed in the Resident Evil 2 remake.
For example, zombies in Resident Evil 3 retain the hard-to-hit shaky shamble of their RE2 counterparts. Headshots, too, often remain ineffective. Instead, you’ll want to aim for your enemies’ legs to bring them to the ground, allowing you to dart around them. About two-thirds of the way through the demo, this kind of crowd control becomes significantly easier.
That’s when you pick up the shotgun and…
The Shotgun Rules
You can tell a lot about a game by how good the shotgun feels, and Resident Evil 3 is no exception. The Resident Evil series has typically prioritized strategic shooting over thoughtless blasting, and that’s still the case this time around. Shotgun ammo is scarce, so you’ll need to be picky with how you use it.
But, with a reticle the size of a cantaloupe (I’m barely exaggerating), using the ammo you do find to obliterate zombies is fast, easy and satisfying. A quick shot to the chest — and, seriously, the reticle is almost as big as their torso — will have most enemies down for the count.
The ‘90s Are In
From the campy movie posters (one, weirdly, is for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis) plastered on the subway walls to the giant Big Boy-like head smiling out at the city from atop a restaurant, Resident Evil 3 genuinely feels like a late ‘90s-set period piece at times. While few game levels will ever feel as perfectly realized as Resident Evil 2’s Raccoon Police Station, the chunk of urban corridors in this demo have personality to spare.
The Writing is Still Bad
At one point, Carlos tells Claire that clearing a path through the flames in a burning alley should be easy for a “tall drink of water like [her]self].” To which Claire replies, “Fuck you.”
Resident Evil 3 continues to widen the gap between the Naughty Dog-esque visual fidelity Capcom is capable with the RE Engine and the laughably bad dialogue that never seems to improve.
Nemesis is Scarier than Mr. X
Capcom is certainly onto something here. While the sections of Resident Evil 2 that had Mr. X loudly stomping around the police station were pulse-pounding, Nemesis evolves the dynamic in an interesting way. While Mr. X was plodding and inevitable, Nemesis is fast and unpredictable. If you see Nemesis at the end of a hallway, the only option is to stand your ground and attempt to dodge at the last second. Running won’t get you anywhere with this speedy mutant, who can close the gap, even from dozens of feet away, in the blink of an eye.
But, Nemesis’ movements are also difficult to predict. In my first attempt at escape, the monster cornered me and killed me. The second time, I lost him in a building and, though taking the same route, easily escaped. Resident Evil 2 felt tailor-made for speedrunners, and I’m curious what the most nimble-fingered among us will be able to manage given the dynamism of Nemesis.
Of course, we’ll find out in a few short weeks.