Hello, everyone, and welcome to the second episode? No, not an episode, this isn’t a podcast! Well, that’s a great start again, isn’t it? Jesus H. Christ. Actually, why do people give Jesus a middle name, and what the hell does it stand for? I’d like to think it’s a proper old-man English name, like Harold, ya know, for sh*ts and giggles. Bloody hell. I am really sorry, everyone, this is a bigger shambles than last week! Right, let’s try this again shall we? Not that it’s your fault it has gone tits up after six words! Hello, everyone, and welcome back (there we go) to the Saturday Sandbox, your weekly dive into a bunch of absolute nonsense with video games mentioned occasionally. I know, it is a shock that I am allowed to carry on with this complete mess, but with all the events going on in the world at the minute, I like to think I’m slipping under the radar. Sort of like a senseless ninja.
So what is on the agenda this week? Well, I think we all need a bit of distraction from what’s going on around the world. It is a testing time, something a lot of us have never had to experience. So let us dive into some deep discussions about video games. That is why you are here at the end of the day, isn’t it? Can’t really think of any other reason why you’d want to put yourself through this nonsense.
So, last week we touched on why Infinite Warfare is a hidden gem in the Call of Duty franchise, and that got me thinking! If Infinite Warfare is a hidden gem, then let’s talk about the upcoming Resident Evil 3 and how Nemesis is a far more terrifying protagonist than Mr. X. What’s that? What has that got to do with hidden gems? Well, nothing, but see, this is how my brain works. It will overthink one subject before then swiftly moving onto something completely different. It’s fun, most of the ti….some of the ti…..it happens.
Right, once again, let us try and get back on topic. Those were some banging chocolate bars back in the day. I am pretty sure they aren’t around anymore, can’t say I’ve noticed them on my daily chocolate bar shopping. I could Google it, I suppose, but that does involve loading up a web page, I tell you what, you do it for me and let me know, cheers. DAMMIT!!!
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis! Yes, let’s back on topi…No, you’ve done this already! Let’s get… back to it, there we go. Resident Evil 2’s Mr. X was a frightening enemy to contend with, but when you look back on it, he was rather easy to either run away or hide from. X would stomp around so loud that you could hear him from floors above or below you, depending on where he was. Even if he did spot you, he would lumber around so much that it didn’t take long to lose him. That became more difficult if Leon or Claire were injured and they too lumbered around, but generally you could escape from his clutches a lot easier than toilet paper does into Karen’s already filled trolley. Nemesis, however, is a different beast altogether, and simply running away does not do the trick anymore.
Nemesis, a creature synonymous with Resident Evil. His distinctive look will always make a gamer shiver in fear, well, that could also be down to the window I have left open, but I am far too comfortable to move and close it. Anyway, this is a fear shiver, because Nemesis is bloody scary! This version of Nemesis looks to be ready to give us many heart attacks in a month’s time when Resident Evil 3 is released. The main difference between Nemesis and Mr. X is the speed in which they both move. Spot X at the top of a corridor, you pretty much have a 90% chance (if you’re not in danger health) of getting away from him. Spot Nemesis knocking around near you? Get prepared to have a fight on your hands. You will fail in your attempt to run away from him a lot more than you’ll be successful. Capcom did have to change this, it would have been a bit dull if both monsters behaved exactly the same. This doesn’t make it any less intimidating though, when Nemesis is charging at you with such speed and ferocity, you’d think he was Karen running towards the last bit of pasta on the shelf. Yeah, I know I used that joke already, but it was funny, to me, anyway.
There was a horrible rumour at the beginning of the month that Nemesis could break into save rooms, but thankfully, Capcom aren’t that evil and have not allowed the big dude to break into those rooms while we are retrieving an otter statue from the chest, which we need to take to a pond, to grab a beetle key that would unlock a door where a broken shotgun is. Speaking of weapons, this is another aspect that puts Nemesis and X apart: Nemesis can use weapons. This will create fun little battles when you have no choice but to fight the monster, but it is just something else in his arsenal he can choose to kill you with if he gets bored of repeatedly throwing you around or kills with boredom by showing you his photo collection from when he went on holiday on the diesel decks. Wait, is that Nemesis or Red Dwarf?
The other is the shoulder camera introduced in Resident Evil 2 that will also make these encounters feel a lot more epic and personal than they did in the original Resident Evil 3 with the fixed camera. As we know, having freedom of aiming wasn’t always the better option in Resident Evil 2 because you would see the monsters coming at you that would cause you to panic and miss a shot. Imagine trying to aim your weapon as Nemesis runs towards you. It’s going to take stone cold killers not be intimidated by that sight! Still, it’ll be a laugh, won’t it?