4.5/5 ★ – Rukey's review of Resident Evil 3.

Focus is rare in AAA games, largely as audience expectations are always more, bigger, longer. This is the most focused game that isn't an indie I've played in a long time. People were down on this remake but I think it nails what I loved about the original, it's got a really bouncy pace, constant action, the banter with Jill and Carlos is funny and it's just having such a great time. While the police station is undebatably the star of RE2 and its remake, this is a whistle stop tour of Raccoon City, with Jill dashing past the devastation brought upon the city's residents and streets. This game opens on the night Raccoon City dies, with Jill only realising how many are infected once she is chased from her apartment. And what an opening that is. Without exaggeration, I think this is the most entertaining opening of any Resident Evil title. I know RE4's tense introduction and village battle is great, likewise arriving at Arklay Mansion in the original, but if we're talking personal preference I love this. After a brief moment where we see the extent of Jill's PTSD, Nemesis bursts through the wall of her flat, still in his wrapper, and attacks. You're chased out into the streets and, spoilers, within minutes of booting the game up Jill has turned the tide of the battle and is driving a car into the monster, knocking both of them off a rooftop. It's fast paced, rollicking action, throwing you face first into an encounter with an implacable foe, a city in flames and an army of the dead. The first thirty minutes of this game has more thrills and spills than some AAA titles that run to 30 or 40 hours, and if you know what's good for you, you buckle up for the ride. This isn't RE2 remake and neither is it the original Nemesis, and there's a very good reason for that. The 1999 original was titled Resident Evil 3: Last Escape in Japan. An escape calls to mind a certain pace, stakes and some kind of forward momentum to evade peril. Combing the city streets collecting puzzle pieces and slipping around the Nemesis isn't an escape, it's exploration. Because of the game engine and conventions around what this series was in 1999, I always felt the original played quite a lot like Resident Evil 2 from 1998. Puzzles, locked doors, finding weapons and secrets. They were the central mechanics of the series at the time, before Capcom had really pushed at the limits of what Resident Evil can be. This is all about pushing forward, looking for a way out. While you can take your time to put every zombie down for good and search every corner, Jill's dodge ability and the panicked pace set by the Nemesis sequences kept me moving forward quickly. Even the Nemesis, much criticised for daring to play differently to Mr. X, is in reality in service of this rhythm and atmosphere. He's not there to build dread, to impede your unravelling of the enclosed police station environment or even to kill you, he's there to set the pace. He was inspired by the Terminator, an enemy so lethal the movie's protagonists couldn't remain in one place with it for more than a few minutes, necessitating the breakneck pace of especially Judgment Day. Capcom and M-Two who were lead studio on this clearly know and love the series, and check off some of its greatest moments across this tight campaign. The short, surprisingly tense first person section in Jill's flat redolent of VII and Village, the over the shoulder action that the Resi 2 remake took from 4, and the cinematic, guided gameplay inspired by the likes of Naughty Dog as well as Carlos' sections which are more traditional environment-untangling are all tools in Capcom's toolkit now. They've been able to craft a far more diverse and immediate experience than they could in 1999, and they do so while distilling everything that makes Resident Evil such a fun experience when it decides to be about action and B-movie spills as much as horror. After the mega-selling but critically scrutinised 5 and 6, this really feels like the company now know how to make an action-focused instalment that bangs from beginning to end. There was a lot of noise made about the length of this, which I somewhat sympathise with as it launched at a more expensive price point than the more extensive and replayable RE2 remake. However, unless you have to play things when they're new it is not an enduring problem (this is why hype and discourse costs you money). It's often 60-70% off 14 months later and you can get it in a bundle with 2. RE6 has lots of filler and flab, lots of waiting around, Capcom took the negative response and have been crafting leaner experiences. Give me this tight, tuned beast of a game any time. At five hours and change to go through once, an hour is a big portion of this game - but you get a lot done in an hour. It's always got something new to show you. There's a lot of environments to get through and a number of boss fights and chase sequences, you travel around the city and battle Umbrella's various nightmares. As someone who likes the feeling of making progress in games I'm playing, I very much appreciated that if the baby was out for a 45-minute nap I could literally get through the police station section comfortably in that time. Another thing I like here, unlike the very drawn out section in RE2 remake, the sewer level is basically three rooms and a couple of corridors. It takes about ten minutes. That is ALL the sewer level I need per game. The boss fights in this are superb - the final tussles in 2 remake are a lot of fun but conceptually the four main clashes with Nemesis go above and beyond. On paper some of them might seem silly, but in execution, in the hands, they are immensely gratifying and offer much of the same blend of concept and escalation of Resi 4's bosses and mini bosses. Also the characters are as good as they've ever been in the series. This is unquestionably the best version of Jill Valentine, a no-nonsense survivor whose quips and independent spirit quickly endear her to the player. Carlos Oliveira has become maybe the best of the big and beefy soldier characters the series has often featured, with his wisecracks bettered only by the Leon of Resi 4. The banter between the two is genuinely good and hits a perfect pitch for the game's tone. Nicholai meanwhile has been reimagined as one of the vilest antagonists Resi has ever had, with another terrific performance carrying the writing to the next level. I can't say enough good things about this game. It's easily one of my favourites in the series, maybe my favourite, and I've been playing these games since the original Nemesis came out in 1999. I'll certainly be back to replay it. Also, with Jill vowing vengeance on Umbrella at the end, I'd love to see them follow this up. Not with more remakes, but perhaps a sequel featuring Jill and Carlos set in the early 2000s that builds towards the events Resi 4's opening cinematic glossed over. There's definitely places to go with a formula and a character dynamic this good. As for M-Two, they clearly know what they're doing. I hope they ignored the moaning about this, and follow their instincts with the remake for RE4.