Reviews

Clock Tower 3 starts real good, and for the most part, it goes that way.

I didn't know much of the Clock Tower franchise before, this seems to be loosely connected to the past entries, so if you're a newcomer like me you can skip the first 2 (or 3?) games and start with this one. I read some reviews that gave a bad score or bad comments to this game mostly because they find it pretty gruesome and horrific, and I understand that at times it can be hard to swallow, but, It's important to note that this game is not aimed for children or people that can be easily offended or triggered, it depicts bad people doing bad things like murder in cold blood and mostly, it's a survival horror game, so if you're one of those persons I suggest that you don't play this game and move on and don't hurt niche videogames just because you don't stand it and can't have an objective opinion, but if you like a good survival horror game, you're on a good track.

Although it's by no means a perfect game it delivers, for the most part, starting with the atmosphere and the music, this game knows what is doing, the stage design is really good and spooky at least for the first half of the game, there are also nice jump scares that are quite effective but don't overstay its welcome, the passing is also great, you can finish it in roughly 7 - 8 hours and you barely felt them, the story is in general good, I didn't love the big twists but they're interesting to say the least, about the story, there is certain character that I hate and went to awkward comic relief to super important character, his writing wasn't good and the actor was also not great, it feels unnecessary and also brokes the immersion.

Gameplay wise, it is kind of a graphic adventure: you explore the environment, find clues and items and with that said items, do a little back tracking and open new areas, the twist is that you have a pursuer on every stage, think of it like a 'Nemesis' enemy, you can run from them but it's kind of tricky, you don't have a health bar, instead you have a panic bac, when it feels up you enter a panic state where your character does things erraticly and can't interact with anything, if you're hit in this state, you'll die, although I find this system pretty great, it also has the main problem of this game: its gameplay, although is not incredibly bad it is stiff for the most part, when you're running away, your character's turns and movement feel sluggish and mechanic, while your pursuer's movement and attack are quite flexible and fast, it works but if it had more refinement it would be better, speaking of the pursuers, they're the bosses of every stage, I won't spoil the fights but even when they keep the stiff controls they can also be very cathartic, since the 2nd fight I was really into destroy the bosses and that feeling never fade away.

As I told you, it's far from a perfect game but it sure is a good one or at least a competent one, it seems that nowadays it's kind of cheap collector's game, if you somehow manage to find it in a good price, go for it, it doesn't seem to be getting cheaper so if you really want to try it go for it as soon as possible.

RE3 had a lot to prove and maintain after the beauty that RE2 was, certainly it's a beast of its own and does things pretty well but there are others that struggle a little.

To me, RE franchise always has been an action-survival horror game with tank controls, with Nemesis they tried to get things to the next level, having a monster stalking you through all the game and be mostly the only boss is a bold move and a welcomed one, it keeps things on the edge for the most part, although in the final stages it can be gimmicky and annoying it never fails to deliver a good dose of adrenaline and tension, this gives you more dynamic and fast fights and that's were they include some dodging mechanics, and my first real problem comes with them, you don't have a dodge button, instead you use buttons that you use to do other things, i.e. when aiming and shooting you dodge with the shooting button, but in order to do that action you need to hit it at the right moment before an enemy attacks, this can be frustrating because sometimes you want to keep shooting not dodging or vice versa and a lot of the time it keeps doing the other thing around, this mechanic helps but because it seems more luck dependant maybe you'll not use it at all, with RE4 they manage to do that pretty well with button prompts on screen, but progress always arrives late I suppose.

Graphically the game looks pretty well, the pre-rendered backgrounds hold up and the 3D models have a lot of charm to it, Jill Valentine and Nemesis specifically looks great, the challenge is also good, I think that this entry may be the hardest of the classic games, it's not impossible but as I told you before it keeps a lot of tension through all the game, the music and atmosphere is also on spot, and I really like that you visit some places from RE2 and gives you a good sense of scale and lore, like: "maybe Claire or Leon went trough here before or after" I liked this feeling a lot. Another thing that didn't hold up that well are the voice acting, they sound like B-movies or worst, and I'm well aware that RE, in general, have this B movie vibe but this doesn't feel intentional, also, the characters aren't that great either, I love Jill but I prefer how she was managed in RE1 remake or Revelations, is not that she is the most well-scripted character but in Nemesis she strikes me a lot like a pretty generic action hero.

RE3 is a prologue of ideas that want to be achieved ahead of its time but fell short and that will culminate with RE4, still, it's a good entry on a franchise that was struggling with its formula and wanted to twist things if only a little, I believe that this is a rare instance where a remake like RE2 2019 would benefit this game and achieve its true potential.