Resident Evil 3 Remake's Carlos Sections Ruin Progression & Momentum
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for Resident Evil 3.
Despite being a controversial entry in the series - especially as a remake - Resident Evil 3 gets a lot right. Its gameplay is fun, its characters are likable, and its story is entertaining, but Resident Evil 3's decision to give Carlos more playtime than the original game ends up harming its progression system's momentum.
Players have argued that the Resident Evil 3 remake's many changes miss what was beloved about the original. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis on the PlayStation was more action-focused than Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2, but the remake takes that focus a step further, going full action-horror. Still, without the historical context, it's arguably a good game on its own - especially for players who don't usually like horror games - but its set piece-based, breakneck pacing certainly has flaws.
One of the biggest problems with Resident Evil 3 is how it incorporates Carlos Oliveira as a playable character. In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Carlos had a brief playable segment after Jill Valentine was infected, searching for a cure for her in the hospital. The remake includes this sequence, but it also hands the original's Raccoon City police station section over to Carlos. In theory, more Carlos isn't inherently a bad thing, but this first section's timing feels more like an unwarranted interruption than a worthy addition.
Resident Evil 3's pacing begins well, with what is essentially a series quick-time events being relieved by the Raccoon City streets, one of the game's most open areas. This is then followed by the more linear substation, a fully mostly linear Nemesis chase, and another, even more linear Nemesis chase, relieved once again by the mostly open sewer section. Carlos' R.P.D. gameplay then begins after a Jill-controlled Nemesis chase, boss fight, and another Nemesis chase. The police station is fairly open, so it should serve to give players another nice chunk of exploration after all those linear bottlenecks, but because players have to switch areas, the satisfaction of exploring is greatly diminished.
Part of what makes Resident Evil 3's twisting level design compelling is the feeling of slowly mastering a location. Players get a feel for the layout of an area, killing monsters and collecting valuable resources along the way. The end of Jill's several Nemesis chase sequences would be the perfect time for players to restock, get their bearings, and master a new location. Instead, they're thrown into the shoes of a different character with a completely different set of weapons and items, essentially resetting the progress they've made gathering materials and ammo.
Seemingly to offset this loss of progress, the police station also feels easier to take on and simpler to navigate than other areas of the game. This is partially the fault of Carlos' assault rifle, which so powerful - and ammo is so plentiful in RE3 - that downing zombies feels more like completing a chore than defeating a threat. It's easy to just fire into a crowd to down the zombies initially, then begin the tedious task of knifing or shooting each one to make sure it's actually dead. The hospital is much better, providing lengthier, more interesting exploration and several intimidating Hunter Beta enemies, while the R.P.D. only throws a few annoying zombie hordes and two lone Lickers at the player.
The most disappointing aspect of this interruption is that, once players get control of Jill again, they're sent right back to playing as Carlos after yet another linear boss fight. Just as they feel like normal progression can resume, control is ripped away again. As mentioned above, this second round of Carlos gameplay in the hospital feels much more satisfying than the first, so keeping this portion of the original game was the right move. But the Resident Evil 3 remake's pacing would have been better if players had retained control of Jill in the R.P.D. and if Carlos' playability remained confined to the hospital.
Resident Evil 3 released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 3, 2020.
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