A New Era

Fear the evil of… UMBRELLA

Capcom plays around with the timeline a little bit for Resident Evil 3. You see, RE3 takes place just after the original Resident Evil. Our heroine, Jill Valentine, finds herself in Raccoon City just before the events that compose Resident Evil 2. The oh-so-evil Umbrella corporation's (insert evil music here) genetically engineered virus has tumbled into the streets, and you know what this means - lots of zombies, brains, and guns.

This is worse.

Raccoon City, nice place, wouldn't want to live there.

Although the situation is a generally bad state of affairs for the populace of Raccoon City, it's good news for us as we are the ones who get to romp through the undead hordes. Your main foe is Nemesis, an intelligent undead creation who is intent on stopping you from exposing the evil that is Umbrella.

Capcom recently released the RE3 demo for the PC. The full PlayStation release is a month away and we are already seeing hints that the launch dates for both platforms will be much closer than past RE games. The most notable improvement for us PC types is that the game offers resolutions up to 2048x1536 and 32-bit color. We can't say that the game is terribly playable at this resolution, but it's perfectly stable at the more popular 1024x768 setting.

Posing in our police getup.

Being accosted by flaming zombies!

Explore the desperate depths of… Raccoon City!

Capcom has made several gameplay changes to RE3, and they are showcased in the demo. The most distinct change of RE3 is the setting itself. RE and RE2 both took place in closed environments. The original had its monstrous mansion in the woods, and the sequel had a corrupted police station.

RE3 takes place throughout the entirety of Raccoon City. Even in the demo we are privy to a game that spans dozens of city blocks. Capcom has promised numerous environments for you to stumble through and cover with blood. Abandoned tunnels and buildings alike will be yours to explore through (and search for precious ammo).

Pinned down

Clearing a path

You are also given some new options in control as well. Our favorite addition is the option to do a quick, 180-degree spin. Let's say that you're walking backwards as a zombie is heading towards you. If the zombie gets too close, and you need to run, simply tap the run button as you are walking backwards and you will do a quick spin, which then allows you to run at full speed away from the lumbering monstrosity screaming for your brains. In a game with so little room for error, it's good to have such a useful option when dozens of hulking undead are about to overwhelm you.

The evil UMBRELLA

You can't be too sure with these zombie types.