Opinions.

Hehe now with my vote it's 23/23.
Of course I like RE3, why? there's a lot to say.

- In it, it's my favourite character of all RE series, Carlos.
- It was the first RE that I play in those old good times (99/2000)
- It's the better way to know how Raccoon City it comes to his end.

And a lot of more causes.

I've been replaying the entire Biohazard series for the last month in anticipation for the 15th anniversary and the 8-4 Play podcast that will focus on that subject, so this gave me a chance to give recent evaluations to all the individual games.

About a year ago, I voted for CODE: Veronica and I stand by that vote. In fact, I decided that CODE: Veronica is my favorite traditional Biohazard game for a number of reasons. I did love Biohazard 3 very much when I first played it back in 2000 and still do to this day. I appreciated the city environments, Nemesis was a fantastic and revolutionary enemy for the time, and Jill was a fantastic protagonist: very logical and tough, but still displayed emotion when necessary. The gameplay engine was ahead of every other entry in the series, including the GameCube ones.

Over a decade later, I feel that CODE: Veronica met its potential much better than Biohazard 3 and has aged better as a game. As an adventure, CODE: Veronica's length and scope rivals that of many current-gen games. The game really ties its environment into its adventure and narrative nicely. The prison, palace, private residence, airport and military training facility all served a purpose for the Ashfords and exploring those environments allowed gamers to understand these antagonists better as well as give Claire a true sense of being trapped. Antarctica is the epitome of being trapped for obvious reasons: the temperatures are working against you and you're literally at the bottom of the world.

Admittedly, CODE: Veronica does have some unbelievably flawed characters, but I find this endemic of the entire series with the exception of RE3, which has the sanest cast in the series. In terms of character development, CODE: Veronica is at the top of the series because of Steve. We don't get the same kind of development or transformation that Steve does, and he is the star of one of the best scenes in the series, when he kills his father. Carlos' version of that scene in RE3 was nowhere near as interesting or impacting. I find Steve's development to balance out RE3's sane, but relatively unmemorable cast.

I also often see CODE: Veronica criticized for its frequent backtracking, but I disagree with the argument for several reasons. The individual areas in CV are smaller than the set pieces in the other RE games. On a semi-speed run, you don't spend more than 15 to 20 in a particular area (prison, palace, etc.). I feel that constantly moving around works to the game's advantage because it builds the sense of scale the game's adventure has. In RE3, we spend the first half trying to get a cable car to run. In CV, it's the airplane. There's just no comparison in terms of the sense of accomplishment. Chris' segment on Rockfort Island has been criticized as well, but many of those same people turn around and praise RE2 even though the B Scenarios have you do 85% of what you already did in the A Scenarios. I personally loved how we could retrace many of Claire's steps as Chris, but with a few twists here and there. It solidified the ties Claire and Chris' adventures had, but without repeating anything as RE2 did.

Of course, this post is supposed to compare RE3 and CV (and not RE2), but this leads me to my next point. When you compare RE3 to any other game in the traditional series, whether it's RE1, RE2, CV or even RE0, it's painfully obvious that as an adventure and as a game package, RE3 is half the volume/content. Capcom demonstrated competency in letting two protagonists star in a single RE game, but with RE3, we get only one adventure with one character. There was so much potential in this game for a B scenario starring Carlos. We could have seen what his team went through and what he's up to when Jill's not around. People used to say that RE3 was essentially the third disc of RE2, and they're pretty much right. RE3, while sporting some gameplay improvements, was the least ambitious main entry in the series, something that's still true today. Having been "acculturated" by modern games, RE3's adventure just doesn't hold up so well. It's short and there's not much deviation. But I feel the rest of the RE games still sport meaty adventures, particularly CODE: Veronica.

In terms of elements like horror, CODE: Veronica's spookier, but RE3 has far more tension (and a more advanced combat engine to cope with that). RE3 has better enemies and the best boss in the series, although I do think Nosferatu, Steve and Alexia were quite memorable as well. Nemesis, though, really set the standard for stalker enemies and I give him credit for that. In terms of music, I prefer CV as well. RE3's no slouch, but CV's tunes are so memorable and impacting, made possible by the orchestrated tracks. The quality of both RE2 and CV's scores were driven home by their Darkside Chronicles equivalents.

This post has gone on long enough, but yeah, CV > RE3. And I say that with Jill as my favorite female protagonist and Leon as my favorite male protagonist. I'm not a huge fan of the Redfield siblings, but that doesn't stop me from loving CV.

That's a tough one... I'd say DSC Steve if the scenes with his dad and his death were as good as in the original. I guess it's a tie. :P

My opinion of CV has changed for the better since my replay in Sept or so, but I still feel that RE3 is the better game from a gameplay and survival angle perspective. Yes, its scenario isn't as long and for a good reason: it wasn't even meant to be a numbered game in the series and is a supplement to RE2. To put things into perspective, Capcom wasn't even expecting much from it financially but it sold well.

However, I think that as an adventure, CV is better designed. From that perspective, I think it's actually the best in the series. All of the earlier games are guilty of backtracking, but unlike today's games, you weren't going back to solely shoot more enemies but to move on so it really didn't feel forced at all.

Ultimately though, I don't think any of the games hold up by modern standards but that's not necessarily a bad thing. While not all games are guilty of it, the modern standards make very forgettable games, kind of like an average summer blockbuster. Anything that goes against the molds is becoming increasingly niche or has the backing of a big publisher (like Sony with ND). The slower and methodical designs choices of the pre-RE4 games made the game all the more enjoyable.

Btw CVX, none of CV's music was orchestrated. All of the games up to RE5 had synthesized music but RE1-3 got the orchestral treatment in July 99.. really worth owning that CD.

I love C:VX. It was a great entry in the series and was really where the whole Wesker thing started - even though REmake retconned him to have a bigger role from the beginning.

REmake didn't retcon anything, he had the same role. o.O

CV is still bad.