“The outstanding visuals and satisfying gameplay with genuine "Shart in your pants" jumpscares, made for a thrilling experience!"
HOW I PLAYED: I played RE 2 & 3 on PC via Xbox GamePass PC. I was able to run both games at 165fps + with max settings at 1440p. My gaming PC has a Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 32GB DDR5 6000mhz RAM and an RTX 3080. I also played exclusively with the Arctis 7p+ wireless headset, for maximum immersion.
*DISCLAIMER*
I did not play the original games on PS1. The only previous Resident Evil game I have played was the RE4 remake back in 2023.
STORY — 17/20
INTRO
Both RE2 and RE3 quickly establish the story with a cutscene introducing the player character and their motivation. There is a simple "tutorial" that shows you the basic functions of your character included with a nice jump scare moment to get you into the games horror atmosphere.
CUTSCENES
I was impressed by RE2's stunning visuals and Capcom's conservative use of cutscenes. RE3 had a bit more than 2 which did feel a little intrusive at times, but the quality of the cutscenes is amazing in both games and a pleasure to watch.
WORLD BUILDING
World-building in both RE2 and RE3 is mainly achieved through notes and environmental storytelling. These are both methods that I love because they don't feel like I am being sat down and given a bunch of exposition dumps.
OVERALL STORY
I am not sure if they stayed 100% true to the late 90's/00's story, but I found the story for both to be simple, fun and very self aware. The story was lighthearted and perfect for playing with headphones in the dark! I can understand if you purchased RE3 stand alone and felt underwhelmed with that games shorter run time. But playing these as a "double feature" is how I feel they were meant to be played.
GRAPHICS — 20/20
CHARACTER MODELS
The RE Engine really shines in these two games! The main characters look striking, with high fidelity detail in their models. Leon, Claire, Jill, Carlos, Mr. X and Nemesis all look super realistic but with a perfect touch of comic art direction.
ENVIRONMENTS
RE2's opening segment felt repetitive, with much time spent in the police station. But as the game opened up and we ventured deeper into the Umbrella Labs it made me appreciate the change in scenery. RE3 does an excellent job of mixing up the settings your character is in and is much more "fast paced". But when you put them together as a complete experience I was left feeling really satisfied. Each environment from run down city streets to building interiors all looked super high fidelity and had excellent map dressing. This game is filled with small rewards for the player when they explore the games maps.
SPECIAL FX
The particle effects of explosions and fire and even water effects are almost WETA FX quality. These visuals are impressive, especially considering they run on previous generation consoles.
ANIMATIONS
The animations were as real and lifelike while also hitting a balance of enjoyable to control. I appreciate lifelike animations in games but I very much dislike their impedance on gameplay at times. Both RE2 and RE3 have great character animations and include a dodge type for all playable characters which I appreciated.
AUDIO — 17/20
AMBIENCE
I played both games exclusively with wireless headphones. I wanted to maximize my immersion in the games atmosphere and really take in the horror elements. The ambience is incredible and really pushed my adrenaline when I could hear Mr. X's thumping footsteps coming my way. Also just hearing ambient zombie noises and scratching and clawing from clickers and other enemies really added to the "fear level". It really helped a lot of the jump scares to be quite effective on me...
BOSS MUSIC
There really isn't boss music in either RE2 or RE3, there are some climatic moments at the end of some boss fights with the following "finale" esc cutscenes. I felt that this was an appropriate approach to take for this type of game as having traditional boss music might break the horror immersion of these games.
SOUND DESIGN
I had a ton of fun playing this game due to the exceptional sound design! Horror games are all about ambient sounds and being able to hear the slightest crack behind you when an enemy approaches. The sound design was phenomenal, enhancing the horror experience. I genuinely had some "Holy Shit!" moments while playing. Make sure you have a spare pair of clean boxers while playing these games... that's all im saying!
GAMEPLAY — 29/40
CONTROLS
Switching from tank controls to a modern third-person shooter perspective was a great move. The controls felt fluent and my only gripe was going from walking to running. I wish there was a way to toggle on "always run" as I find pressing L3 cumbersome at times.
MECHANICS
As someone who does NOT play FPS or shooter games, I found the mechanics very forgiving to n00b players like myself. I really liked the cross style favourite items hot bar and the storage mechanic encouraged creative use of space and really made you plan out what items you want to carry on you. I also enjoyed the crafting mechanic and combining items to create consumable items.
PACING
These types of games I would say the pacing is entirely "up to the player"... What I mean by that is it all depends on your ability solve small puzzles that the game presents to you. As someone who struggles with puzzles, I definitely did look up guides or cheat sheets to progress in areas I got stuck. But other than this I felt the games pacing for both RE2 & RE3 was fantastic. I always felt the adrenaline and urgency to move into the next area / room.
UI/UE
The user interface and menus are detailed and clean. Playing on PC with a DualSense controller I found navigation of menu options very fluent. I also appreciated the way the game displayed menu items on screen as it goes for a minimalistic approach so you have maximum immersion in the games horror atmosphere. My ONLY gripe is not having any enemy or boss health bars, I know this is an aesthetic choice but it's nice to know if you are close to killing a boss or if you are doing decent damage.
BOSS QUALITY
This is where the score dipped for me a bit personally. The bosses in both RE2 and RE3 are mostly scripted QTE events with minimal combat. I found with the majority I could just spam the knife and it would totally obliterate the boss to the point where the mandatory QTE and cutscene would kick in. Being a Souls Snob I do wish more games had epic boss battles with unique movesets you had to learn and overcome. I find a lot of games have these "puzzle" type bosses which each have their own gimmick you need to solve.
ENEMY VARIETY
This is a zombie game, the enemies are going to be the same rinse and repeat zombie mobs which are made up of 3-4 different character model designs that do the same move-set. There is a little variety between the 2 games to keep it fresh which I appreciated. I was more taken away with the enemy variety in RE3 than RE2 but that is likely due to the development of 2 not having time to spend on different enemy types. Where in RE3 the game world and major assets are already built, so more enemies could be created.
GAMEPLAY VARIETY
RE2 & RE3 have the core gameplay loop of 3rd person shooter with an inventory management and crafting mechanic. There are also the puzzle elements that the player needs to solve and the QTE events. Although there is variety in gameplay the player doesn't really get a choice of what they want to do. So if you are really fatigued of running away from Mr. X or Nemesis, you really have no options.
Replayability
The incentive to replay RE2 & RE3 remake is to get separate endings and also you have different characters you can playthrough the experiences with. You also get to enter the game with all of your weapons you ended your first playthrough with, so it is fun punishing early game enemies with end game weapons.
OVERALL — 83/100
GREAT
Resident Evil REMAKE 2&3 is a fantastic way to spend a spooky Friday night gaming! The outstanding visuals and satisfying gameplay with genuine "Shart in your pants" jump scares, made for a thrilling experience! I had a TON of fun with these 2 games like a kind of Horror Double Feature. If played separately I can see how RE3 remake would be disappointing. But as a double feature I had a great time with this fun horror experience.
TLDR: 83/100 (GREAT) Resident Evil 2 & 3 Remakes deliver an outstanding horror experience with stunning visuals, engaging gameplay, and effective jump scares. While RE3's shorter runtime might disappoint as a standalone, playing both games together as a double feature is thrilling. With impressive world-building, lifelike animations, and immersive sound design, these remakes are perfect for a spooky gaming night, offering high replayability and overall great fun.
PICK UP RE 2 & 3 REMAKE HERE:
RE2 PS4: https://amzn.to/4cdOJEU
RE2 Xbox: https://amzn.to/4bPWbq1
RE3 PS4: https://amzn.to/3RiEbMF
RE3 Xbox: https://amzn.to/3yTCQpf
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