Resident Evil 3 (2020) • Nemesis Doesn’t Get the Stars He Was After
Alright, strap in. Boy, do I have some words. It is well known that I am the biggest fanboy of the series, and that I am deeply familiar with the series origins, its values, evolution, lore, you name it. Not only was I blown away by the heights of the recent Resident Evil 2 remake, but I was floored by the announcement that its sequel, Resident Evil 3, had been in development for even longer than 2 and that it would be releasing a mere year later using the same game engine. While it might have been my fault to hold such high expectation after the success of 2, and the promising trailers of 3, I came out of my run with Jill and Nemesis sorely disappointed.
Jill’s face no longer looks like a sandwich
Personally, I love PS1 graphics. But there is certainly no denying how exciting it is to see such popular characters of the franchise, and in gaming, be reimagined in breathtaking HD. Graphics and assets have all been vastly improved compared to the original on this contemporary gen console, and given such vibrancy by the addition of stellar lighting designs and detailed textures to really cement the denizens (human or otherwise) in reality. Adjacently, the world of Raccoon City oozes personality with the ability to deeply detail its setting. With the inclusion of in-world advertisements for movies, restaurants and drugs, as well as making sure that the world pops with details like hastily boarded up doors, flaming cars, and ransacked shop interiors, Raccoon City truly feels like an interconnected, living, breathing world. It is a great pleasure to roam iconic locales that were once two-dimensional backgrounds in vivd three-dimensions and is probably the strongest asset of the game.
Master of lockpicking
The strongest draw of the original games were their similarity to a giant-escape-room. The entire game was a puzzle, items were to be collected to gather new items to access new areas to pick locks in to gather more items to complete more puzzles to move to new areas until you were done. Yes, that exists in some capacity in this game with its collectable key items that access new areas, but their collection requires no intelligent action as the key objective is consistently updated by the game and obviously pointed out to the player in-game. The campaign itself might as well be completely linear. In fact, the scope of Raccoon City is an illusion this time round. Areas are so often barred by ‘rubble’ that any option to travel off the beaten path is lost. The entire map is dramatically scaled down from the sprawling and interesting original, and characters don’t even travel to each new area – they’re brought there through cutscene and sequestered off from any place they’d been to before. What this makes for is a title more focused on action than it is on adventure, something at odds with the core of the game built on a foundation of exploration and survival horror. Its laurels are combat, which is just as engaging and tense as its predecessor, but I fail to give it merit since its predecssor implemented these functions and this title only introduced a vaguely overpowered dodge mechanic. And it has less diversity in weaponary this time around.
A story REimagined
I struggle to consider this game a remake. There are so many changes to the original game that it barely resembles itself anymore. A remake ought to take the strongest qualities of the original and enhance it further with modern technologies, use the opportunity to rework its shortcomings, and alter the game’s story enough to generate intrigue and add story elements that only serve to thicken the plot. This title does none of those things, except giving Carlos a hunky makeover and more of a personality. Not only is the game focused on running and gunning enemies (so many herbs and ammo boxes this time, and autosaves?), but this game wants you to be done with it as quickly as possible. Even with careful exploration on hardcore difficulty, this game was finished in five hours. The remake cuts so many iconic areas from the original (clock tower, park, factory) which means it cuts story, and gives you nothing but sly references to those missing pieces. In fact, the story is somehow simpler and less dense than the original (which makes no sense considering how limited memory was back then and this is a next gen console) and offers no secondary run through, no alternate ending, or even an additional game mode. It’s better to think of this game as a ‘what if’ scenario, because it is absolutely ludicrous that Jill wouldn’t go back to the Raccoon Police Department on a night like this – the best part of the original game, I might add.
Nemesis, the nemesis to my enjoyment of this game
The posterboy of villainy in the series – Nemesis, a gaming icon. With the superb redesign of Mr X in Resident Evil 2 who brought a newfound sense of terror and anxiety to the game with his brutish stalking presence, the hype for Nemesis (a character known for being worth at least three Mr X’s in terms of power) was palpable. Nemesis was the original stalking boss, and he had the capability to run after the character, follow them through doors, fire missiles at them, and kill you in one go – even back in 1999. Cut to today, and the potential for Nemesis is squandered by relegating his presence in the game to setpieces. Nemesis appears in cinematics and primarily as the only boss figure in the game (R.I.P. Gravedigger). There are small sections in the game where he does his usual chasing of the player, but since the game is so short and the map so linear, these encounters are small and rare. He won’t even go through doors. The buff he was given to surpass the might of Mr X was a tentacle he can now use to drag you back to his feet (that is given no warning for you to be able to dodge) and a dash mechanic where he can basically teleport in front of you. Neither of these design choices feel earnt, and feel like a cheap way to keep you face to face with the beast. Also, his iconic ‘STARS’ line is barely audible.
C Ranking
Look, as a game, it is good. As a Resident Evil game, it is good (even though it feels like a DLC to Resident Evil 2). But as a remake of a Resident Evil game, it is not good. It is unfortunate that this game feels rushed and feels as though its designers completely missed where the worth of the original title lied. It is worth the run through (although not for the price tag, maybe wait a couple of months), and is certainly an enjoyable game packed with challenge, but feels incomplete. There is also an additional game bundled called Resistance, but this is an online multiplayer shooter that holds no influence over the experience of the main game. If you’re looking for the true Nemesis experience, play Resident Evil 2, or better yet play the original game, because you won’t find it here. Two and a half Cthulhus out of five. For my take on the predecessor, read here.
(2.5 / 5)
Sometimes life gets in the way. Maybe you watched the episodes the nights they came out, but then you got your stomach tattooed so you didn’t have the energy to type on your computer, and then you had to work nonstop for six days straight and housesit 20 miles out of town, and then you got into a hit-and-run car accident with your boyfriend (luckily you’re both okay but really very angry at the asshole that just drove away), etc. etc.. March has been a lot, but I finally rolled up my sleeves, made time for my computer and stopped procrastinating the job of writing my final review on HBO’s The Last of Us.
Here we will cover the final events of Joel and Ellie’s saga. Both episodes were directed by Ali Abassi and written by Craig Mazin and, in episode 9, Neil Druckmann. The adaptation continued to cover the story elements of the game, leaving out and/or changing most of the fighting and action scenes. This change is especially noticeable in episode 9, “Look for the Light,” but we’ll get to that in a minute. Let’s first do a recap of episode 8, “When We Are in Need.”
“When We Are in Need”
Ellie is on the hunt for food and comes across a deer, which she shoots down almost effortlessly. It is in this moment that she meets a preacher named David (Scott Shepherd) and his partner, James (Troy Baker, (Joel’s voice actor in the video games)). After a moment of hostility towards the stranger, Ellie agrees to give the deer to David in exchange for penicillin. Shortly after giving Joel the medication, Ellie has to leave again to deter David’s religious crew from hunting her and Joel. It turns out Joel killed a few of David’s men, and the preacher is out for revenge.
The religious group captures Ellie and puts her in a cell, where she discovers David has been feed them human remains. Meanwhile, Joel finally awakes and is stable enough to escape the house and search for Ellie. He tortures two men into disclosing her location, but he is almost too late. David places Ellie on a butcher block and is just about to chop her up when she narrowly escapes. The two fight until she finally has the advantage and takes him down, bludgeoning him to death with an insurmountable fury of vengeance.
“Look for the Light”
Episode 9 begins with a flashback of Ellie’s pregnant mother, Anna (Ashley Johnson, (Ellie’s voice actor in the video games). An infected bit Anna just moments before she gave birth to Ellie. Moments pass, and Marlene finds the two in a pool of blood. She is forced to take the baby and kill her friend. Fast forward 14 years, and Joel and Ellie are almost done with their journey. They finally made it to Utah. Ellie, still processing everything that happened with David, is sad and somber. Joel tries his best to cheer her up, but nothing seems to work.
Suddenly, the youth sees something and runs off to get a better look. Joel chases her until he stops and stares in awe. The camera pans from him to Ellie inches away from a giraffe. She is her old self again, cracking jokes and asking a myriad of questions. Later on, when Joel reveals that he tried to kill himself after Sarah’s death, Ellie provides him as much comfort as she can. But the fact that Joel can trust her enough to reveal such a secret means is a comfort on its own. He asks Ellie to read some puns to lighten the mood, but his moment is interrupted when a group of Fireflies knock them out.
Joel wakes up in a hospital to see Marleen, who informs him that the doctors are preparing Ellie for surgery to remove the part of her brain that makes her immune. This procedure, however, will result in Ellie’s death. No matter how hard Joel fights, Marlene won’t budge. She instead has two Firefly soldiers escort Joel out of the hospital, but he kills them and everyone else until he finds the surgery room, where he murders the doctor in cold blood. He escapes with an unconscious Ellie and makes it as far as the parking garage until Marlene stops them. The camera cuts to Joel driving a car with Ellie in the backseat.
The End
Ellie wakes up and asks Joel what happens. While he lies to her that there is no cure, the camera flickers back to the parking garage scene with Marlene. He shoots her once. After listening to her begs and pleas, he kills her with a final shot.
The duo have to walk the last few miles to Tommy’s town. At the top of a waterfall, they get a spectacular view of their new home, their new futures. Before making the final trek, Ellie tells Joel about her past and how she saw her best friend die. This lead to watching Tess, Sam and Henry die because of the disease. The fact that they all had to go through such gruesome deaths, only for there not to be a cure, is too much for Ellie to handle. She makes Joel swear that he is telling the truth, and in a beat, he does.
Series Verdict
HBO’s The Last of Us is a remarkable video game adaptation that deserves all the high praise it has received the past few months. From the set design and effects to the filming, screenwriting and acting, the show is a peak example of how to do an adaptation well. It is heart-throbbing and terrifying.
A few issues with HBO’s adaptation is how much they excluded the game play scenes. Despite the world being filled with infected, they were rarely on screen. This is disappointing, especially because it increases the stakes and so much of Joel and Ellie’s relationship builds in these fight scenes. The biggest disappointment was in episode 9, in which the show completely cut out the game’s highway scene. Furthermore, there are numerous creative weapons the show could have included to illustrate Joel and Ellie’s means of survival, from molotov cocktails and nail bombs to the beloved shotgun and its shorty companion.
Despite these small quibbles, the show is arguably one of the best American video game adaptations out there. Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey were the perfect casting choices for Joel and Ellie, as was the casting for all the other characters.
It will be exciting to see where Neil Druckmann and Craig Mazin take The Last of Us 2. I hope they will include more gameplay (aka a little more violence), more screen time for infected, and some creative liberties with the original story while also sticking to the heart of it. We will just have to wait and see what they come up with. Until we meet again, don’t forgot to read about the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
(4 / 5)
Asobo Studios A Plague Tale series consisting of Innocence (2019) and Requiem (2022) has been out for a while. Weirdly enough, I struggled to put my thoughts into words about these games until now. The way I see it, it’s impossible to talk about one without the other, so let’s dive in, shall we?
Plot and characters
The story of A Plague Tale games takes loose inspiration from the Black Plague times with a touch of the Hundred Years’ War. Amicia and Hugo are siblings on the run from soldiers while also fighting off infected rats, meeting allies along the way. A huge theme of Innocence is Amicia finding a solution for Hugo’s long-term sickness. As one would suspect, it turns out to be connected to the plague itself. Amicia also goes from being a disconnected older sister to his biggest protector throughout the game.
Hugo himself is more or less an annoying kid who wants his mother. This is frankly a realistic characterization as he actually speaks and acts as a child would act. Granted, him essentially walking into the Pope’s trap is frustrating but the climax needed to be set up somehow. I also enjoyed Lucas’s character as an alchemist apprentice as he proved to be one of the more consistent helpers to the duo.
While Innocence ends on a hopeful note, with the characters on the verge of starting over somewhere new and the plague contained, Requiem shows this was a fake out. The sequel really puts Amicia through her paces. Her character is broken both physically and mentally to the point where she is barely recognizable. Hugo is more mature, although his insistence on this magical island that will fix the Macula issue is an immediate red flag. It’s not surprising the supposed safe haven turns into hell quite quickly.
The generational curse where the protector and carrier story repeats itself means a tragic ending for our protagonists. This means it can feel fruitless to play the two installments as the whole point of Amecia’s journey is to protect Hugo at all costs, which proves to be impossible. Was it because of certain choices they made or just extremely unfortunate circumstances? Either way, I felt horrible for them both while playing Requiem, so at least it invoked a strong emotion in me.
Gameplay
The series is a third-person stealth adventure with survival horror elements. Innocence has a clear-cut mechanic that relies on Amicia sneaking past or distracting threats with a certain number of puzzles to get past the rats. She is also extremely vulnerable, dying from one enemy hit, forcing the player to start all over. This is something Requiem updates, adding the opportunity for you to recover by running away from the enemy.
It can be frustrating to have to restart a whole section because of one mistake. However, it does make the player think methodically about what the best approach is. I found the challenges a tad repetitive which stopped me from binge-playing the game, but that’s just my opinion.
Overall thoughts
After taking this time to digest my feelings towards A Plague Tale games, I can still vouch for the amazing experience. The historical aspects are endearing, and the graphics are beautiful, as is the score. The scriptwriters knew what kind of emotional punches would hit the players just right and the voice actors really gave it all. It’s obvious a lot of love went into this project and I am grateful to have played it.
Regardless, there were certain aspects of the story that for me personally, did not sit right. I am not a massive fan of a tragedy that ends, well, in tragedy, especially with hints history will repeat itself again. The entire concept of the ‘greater good’ and the main characters sacrificing their happiness has been done before and while I can understand why they went that way, it also left me feeling a bit empty.
(4 / 5)
The Last of Us series is winding down with only three episodes left. Directed by Liza Johnson and written by Neil Druckmann, “Left Behind” adapts the video game’s DLC story of the same name. Ellie and Joel are hiding out in a basement, and Joel is suffering greatly from his stabbing. He orders Ellie to go back to Tommy and leave him behind, but she’s reluctant. The episode cuts to a flashback of the events that happened before Ellie and Joel met, thus beginning the sweet, tragic backstory of our young protagonist.
First Love
Ellie is stuck in a FEDRA boarding school in Boston. Her best friend and roommate, Riley, ran away a few weeks back and Ellie has been grieving the loss. She gets into fights with classmates and even sends one girl to the infirmary to get 15 stitches. Everything changes when Riley suddenly returns and reveals she joined the Fireflies, the organization FEDRA is training students to fight and kill.
Ellie disapproves of her friend’s choices, but there isn’t anything she can say that will change Riley’s mind. However, as a sort of apology for leaving without saying goodbye, Riley asks Ellie to sneak out for a few hours and join her on a little adventure. Ellie reluctantly agrees.
The two sneak into an abandoned mall that was once used to hoard infected. Now it is filled with wonders and surprises beyond the youths’ wildest dreams. The girls connect like they haven’t been separated for weeks, and their chemistry is sweet and wholesome. Riley gives Ellie an array of gifts, from a photo booth and carousel ride to an arcade with Mortal Kombat and a brand new pun book.
All Good Things End
The evening comes to a halt when Riley reveals the Fireflies are sending her to the Atlanta base and this is her last night in Boston. Ellie is furious and runs away, fully intended on returning back to her dorm room. But she only gets so far before caving into her feelings and running back to Riley. They reunite in a Halloween store, where they wear goofy wolf and clown masks (replicas of the game’s masks) and dance to Etta James’ “I Got You Babe.” They share a kiss and the moment is so delicate.
Everything is perfect until it’s not.
An infected emerges into the store and attacks the girls. Riley shoots it and Ellie stabs it to death, but neither are unscathed. The clicker bit both of them. At the moment, any and all hope has been destroyed.
The Verdict
HBO’s “Left Behind” is the show’s truest adaptation of the video game thus far. The show cuts out the parts of the video game where Ellie roams through a mall and evades hunters as she searches for a first aid kit for Joel. Instead, The Last of Us focuses on Ellie’s history with her best friend and first love, Riley.
Just as Bella Ramsey is the perfect casting for Ellie, Storm Reid is perfect as Riley. The actors’ chemistry maintains the game’s charm; their portrayal of teenagers after an apocalyptic pandemic is pure and authentic. For the first time, Ellie and Riley can act like the kids they are, not the soldiers every adult is training them to be. It is endearing to see their relationship come to life.
Ellie’s backstory mirrors Joel’s in that it emphasizes their experiences of loss and grief. The pair have formed a connection they cannot lose. It is because of this that, at the end of “Left Behind,” Ellie goes against Joel’s wishes and stays with him to help him heal. She had to leave one friend behind before and she refuses to do it again.
“Left Behind” deserves five out of five Cthulhu.
(5 / 5)
There are only just a few episodes left in The Last of Us. Episode 8 releases Sunday, March 5, where we should expect to meet the notorious cult leader, Dave. Until then, check out the other shows and games we’re loving here at HauntedMTL.
