Resident Evil 3

Genre: Third-Person Graphic Adventure / Horror Game

Players: 1

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Review:

After the brilliant remake of Resident Evil 2 in 2019, 2020 brought us a remake of Resident Evil 3 on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One that followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, but didn’t quite have the same impact. This is in part because the Resident Evil 2 remake kinda’ stole its thunder and so Resident Evil 3 was far less surprising, but also because I think many would agree that even back when the original game was released in 1999, Resident Evil 3 just wasn’t quite as good as Resident Evil 2. That’s not to say there isn’t some enjoyment to be had here though, and with a port to Nintendo Switch 2 in 2026, Nintendo fans can finally get their hands on this superb remake.

And let’s be clear, this is a good remake, remaining largely faithful to the story and overall premise of Resident Evil 3 while bringing the game fully into 3D (as opposed to the original’s 3D characters on pre-rendered backgrounds), with this release not only updating the game’s graphics, but its dialogue and controls, much in the same way the remake of Resident Evil 2 did.

What’s more, this port to Nintendo Switch is also excellent, though not without its flaws. It lacks the raytracing of the PlayStation 5 release of the game, the mostly-solid 60FPS framerates do briefly drop a little in some places, and some enemies at a distance have their framerates reduced, but overall this game is still a visual treat on Nintendo Switch 2, with extremely detailed environments, excellent character models, and outstanding lighting and shadows.

I should note that there appear to be no attempts to make use of features unique to Nintendo Switch 2 here – no gyroscopic motion controls, no Mouse Mode controls, or anything like that. This version of the game seems more or less on par with other versions (or at least the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions).

When it comes to the gameplay, Resident Evil 3 feels in some ways like a retread of the ideas we were presented in Resident Evil 2, with this game’s centerpiece villain, Nemesis, clearly an expansion of the prior game’s Mr. X/Tyrant enemy character, put front and center right from the game’s start, with the game opening with protagonist Jill Valentine being hunted by and barely escaping the massive beast. It’s a great start, but I do feel like the game gets bogged down by other issues not long after.

Taking place in the streets and surrounding buildings of Raccoon City as Jill tries to prepare an escape route out of the city, players will trot back and forth grabbing key items, solving puzzles, and evading or fighting back zombies while trying to conserve ammunition and supplies. Much of this is similar to what we saw in Resident Evil 2, but this game is a bit more combat-focused, and the level design seems more splayed out due to the wider area the game covers.

For me, this made it pretty frustrating early on when I couldn’t figure out just where the game wanted me to go, and felt like I was running around in circles trying to figure it out, all while either taking zombie bites or draining ammo. Even with the added quality-of-life features this game carries over from the Resident Evil 2 remake, I still feel like this is a more frustrating experience that does a poorer job signposting.

There’s another complaint to be made here too. The original release of this game included a multiplayer mode, Resident Evil: Resistance, purportedly in place of features cut from the original game. Unfortunately, this port to Nintendo Switch 2 does not have this multiplayer mode, and when combined with its shorter play time than the previous game (Resident Evil 3 takes an estimated 6 hours to complete compared to Resident Evil 2, and lacks 2’s dual character campaigns), it makes this game an overall slighter experience – so much so that it’s $10 cheaper than both the Resident Evil 2 remake and the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Despite my criticisms, Resident Evil 3 is still a solid Horror game, well worth seeking out for fans of the franchise. But this game simply is not on par with the games that came both before and after it, and if you’re expecting the same wow factor that we got with the Resident Evil 2 remake, you will be disappointed. However, if you lower those expectations and are just looking for a superb modern remake of a good classic Horror game, Resident Evil 3 should satisfy that desire.

tl;dr – Resident Evil 3 is a Graphic Adventure Horror game, with this release on Nintendo Switch 2 of the game’s 2020 remake looking and playing just as good as it did in that initial release. That said, this game isn’t nearly as well-crafted as its predecessor, and fans expecting the same sort of impact will be disappointed. However, if you’re just looking for a top-notch remake of a solid classic Horror game, I think you’ll be satisfied with what you get here.

Grade: B

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