Just stay away from this city. You'll lose your life and money!

Remember when Capcom announced that the Resident Evil trilogy would be remade exclusively for the Game Cube? Needless to say that this angered a lot of Playstation owners who were looking forward to playing the series on their PS2. Sure, the first Resident Evil on the Game Cube was a fine example of what the series would look like on a next generation but I got a little worried when both Resident Evil 2 & 3 were released on the same day with no hype. My fears were fully realized when both Resident Evil 2 and this Resident Evil 3 game are actually no different then there older Playstation One originals. A Playstation fanboy may laugh their heads off at this weak attempt to milk the franchise for all its worth while we Game Cube owners are shaking are heads in disappointment.

In the game you play the role of Jill Valentine, one of the original survivors in the second Resident Evil (after part 0 anyway). The game actually takes place just hours after the events in Resident Evil 2. Here you must help Jill get out of the zombie invested Raccoon City but beware of the super mutant named Nemesis who is out to kill you. Unlike the other RE game's before this, you can only play as Jill from the start this time but you can play other characters later on.

OK, I can understand why the story would be the same but why is everything else the same here? Capcom wants me to give up my hard earned 50 bucks for a game that basically the same RE 3 from the original Playstation one!? That's right folks, unlike the first Resident Evil for the Game Cube, this game is a carbon copy of the original PSX from 1999. Other then some minor cleaner looks thanks to the Cube's better resolution, there are no new graphical enhancements, no new zombies or enemies, no new cinemas, no new nothing at all! Anyone expecting a radically new and improved game here are going to be in for a major disappointment, let us just get that right off the bat.

Capcom tried to improved the controls a little bit thanks to the new 180 degree turn move. This new move can help your character move quicker if they are in tight spots. If this sounds familiar then maybe you recognize this tactic from other games? "IT'S CALLED PRESSING THE BUTTON IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION!" This old game still has that awful control system in place but that should come as no surprise because it's a Resident Evil trademark, a stupid trademark by the way. Here's a breakdown of what you have to do if you want to move one of your characters around. To move down you would have to use the Right or Left arrows of the cross pad or analog stick to first turn and then when your character is fully turned around then you can press Up to move your character downward. This is why the new 180 degree is so welcomed here. Confused? If you never played a Resident Evil game before then these clumsy controls will drive you totally crazy.

Resident Evil 3's looks surprisingly similar as well. You control a 3D character on some static backgrounds, so you better get use to this look if you want to be a RE fan. The game still looks good and it really feels like you are really in a ruined city invested with killer zombies and fearsome mutants but you can forget about the fancy effects lighting that you would normally see in Resident Evil CC and Resident Evil Zero GC. The Nemesis creatures looks absolutely gruesome and makes for a great bad guy and all but the characters still look a little blocky in spots and the animation is noticablely lack luster, so don't expect to get anything that's quite good as the first two GC RE games. Again this was the same problem found in Resident Evil 2 on the GC.

The game's music and sound effects still remand the same as well (again no big surprise there). You get the usual realistic gun shots, zombie moans, and occasional there is some heart pounding music when you're in mortal danger. Nothing added, nothing taking away.

Get her Nemesis!
Resident Evil 3 was a good game back in its day but it wasn't a great game because it was more of a side story of Resident Evil 2 and that's not a true sequel in my eyes. Like Resident Evil 2 for the Game Cube this is also a whopping 50 dollars and this is for a game that has not aged very well? Resident Evil 3 also involves a lot of of backtracking and the story just can't compare to the one found in the last game. This is very bad value because the better Resident Evil and Resident Evil 0 on Game Cube are the same price, and in some cases RE1 and RE0 are even cheaper then these two newer ones, how sad is that? Don't let Capcom rip you off, there are cheaper versions out there of the same game.

Resident Evil 3 overall rating: 12/100
Publisher and creator: Capcom
Original release: Feburary 2003

For 1 player only
Rated (M) for Mature
graphics: 3/10
sound: 3/10
game play: 4/10

StarSoldier 2003
http://www.videogames101.com