Resident Evil 3 for Windows

Life in a desolate, Zombie filled city, where you and only a few others are still alive. It's up to you to rid the city of these lifeless dead creatures, all while trying to keep yourself alive. As you can obviously tell, this review is about the game "Resident Evil 3,". I plan to inform you of how this game performs, and what I thought of the game myself. With this information, I hope to help you ultimately decide whether you would play the game or not.


Story Plot:

Join Jill Valentine, the heroine and amazing survivor of the notorious disaster at the mansion, as her nightmare continues. After resigning from S.T.A.R.S. Jill now prepares to head out of Raccoon City...but it's not going to be easy. Caught in a town crawling with flesh eating zombies, more than ever she must rely on brute force and cunning to find a way to escape alive. This unique adventure intricately reveals more of Umbrella Corporation's nightmarish plot and picks up just hours before the events from Resident Evil 2.

(Taken from Capcom.com)


Graphics:

Graphics can make or break a game, and Capcom has understood this for the longest. This game does contain some great graphics, but does lack in other areas. The characters are not completely well defined seeing that the facial characteristics are blurred, but the body definitions are pretty much in great shape. Some of the blood in the game shoots out in blocks rather than smooth circular blobs as real blood might.

Also another area that focuses great on graphics is the camera angles. Some of the camera angles can be more a hinderance to your survival, but the camera angles do make the game more realistic. The cameras cannot be moved by you, but they are preset by the software producers.


Realism:

Realism makes a game worth playing, especially when you can actually see yourself in the game. This game focuses on realism of the characters, the buildings, and the mechanics of the game. The blood does not appear to look real mainly because of the blotchy nature of the game, but they make up in other areas. The characters appear to look real until you get a real closeup of their facial features. Then they just look like a circle with a few blurred lines.


Continuity:

Continuity of a video game makes or breaks the game. This game seems to flow for the most part, but can be considered slow. The game definitely moves slower than the Playstation version, and also the characters seem to be a little less fluid.

Also gameplay seems to be slow in comparison to most shoot 'em up type games. The movement of the screen is slow and takes longer than movement like in unreal or duke nukem or half-life. I just with the game moved more fluidly.


Controls:

Since I don't like playing games on a keyboard if I don't have to, I don't. I decided that I would use my Sidewinder Basic Gamepad. It proved to do everything that I needed. I calibrated the 6 keys, and the movements keys to my liking, and everything was ready to go.

With the advantage of the gamepad, I didn't find myself having any trouble navigating around the game, fighting, dodging, and performing actions. I would really recommend using a gamepad, but if you can't you might really find this game having a larger learning curve than could be desired.

Sound:

This is one area I believe Capcom engineers just decided to forget about or something. The game would be so much more realistic if there were more sound effects. Maybe it's due to the music being too loud, but I can't hear any footsteps, any cocking of guns, and gunshots, and destroying of flesh, and burning of flames, or any screams of pain and horror. All I can hear is some sort of eerie music, and an opening door when you decide to enter the door.


Realism:

Sound realism also makes a game. The game leaves some of these areas out. I don't know why they didn't add footsteps, crackling fires, explosions, gunshots, and other small areas that make a game seem more realistic, but they left them out.

The only realistic sounds that I notice are the people talking, and the doors opening. I would hope that the game would have sound effects, but since it doesn't I just decided to turn my computer speakers off, and turn my radio on.


Fun Level:

Everyone's fun level is different. I don't consider this game fun, but rather more intriguing and strategic. I had a hard time learning the concept of the game at first, but after a little bit of time, roughly 30 minutes, I was up and running.

I found myself trying to figure out the next level of the game, and when I figured that level out, then I tried to figure out the next. It was more anticipation that fun, but sometimes fun is anticipation. I believe that if you are into playing gore filled games, and shoot 'em up games, then this will prove to be a fun game, and if you are a fan of Resident Evil 1, and 2, then 3 will keep you just as happy.


Skill Level:

The skill level is another factor in this game. There are two types of levels. Easy and Hard. Of course being a beginner I choose easy to start, and the game seemed to be feasible to beat, but after getting used to game somewhat I got a little cocky. I decided I could play the harder level and do just as good, but I was wrong. The Hard setting is definitely harder and makes the game more of a strategic endeavor. I believe you have to be a certain age to really grasp the concepts and the play the game effectively.


Learning Curve:

Learning curves make a game fun. I love to figure a game out by myself and the greater the learning curve, the more fun I have. I took about 30 minutes exploring the game to figure out the mechanics of the characters, and also the goal of the game. Shooting and jumping took a little and changing weapons, making bullets, and using special items to do certain things. You should find that it won't take an extreme amount of time to figure out the game, and if you read the manual, it really won't take that much time.


Age Group/Level:

Game producers definitely focus on the younger generations to sell their games to. Most of the time adults can't find a lot of time to play the games, but us children can. This game is definitely not a game for a younger audience.

This game is already rated as "M" for Mature Audiences only. This means that children don't need to be playing this game, and I can vouch for that. I don't even like what the game promotes. The game promotes killing of already dead, but re-born zombies.

As a matter of fact, even my parents don't like me playing the game, and I'm 18 years old, and well into the "M" level games. I couldn't believe the amount of gore that is manufactured into this game. The blood level is extremely high, and the usage of weapons can be down right disgusting.

As a final thought I don't recommend this game for anyone under the age of 17, period!