BIOHAZARD 3 LAST ESCAPE (バイオハザード3 ラストエスケープ, named RESIDENT EVIL 3 NEMESIS outside of Asia) is the third game in the BIOHAZARD franchise. The story is an escape drama with Jill Valentine as the main character, who was investigating the Umbrella Corporation in Raccoon City. It is set at the same time as BIOHAZARD 2, and serves as both a prequel and sequel to the game by taking place 24 hours before it and then 24 hours after once a certain point is reached in the game. The game features many new gameplay features, the most prominent of which is the introduction of the Nemesis-T Type, a powerful enemy which pursues Jill throughout the entire game.
Plot
After surviving the "Mansion Incident" on July 25, 1998, surviving S.T.A.R.S. members Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Barry Burton and Rebecca Chambers attempted to expose the illegal activities conducted by the Umbrella Corporation at the Spencer Mansion. Their reports and warnings were ignored, as Chief of Police, Brian Irons refused to acknowledge their findings and nobody in the police department believed them. Frustrated, Chris continued his investigation into Umbrella and soon discovered the existence of the "G-Virus", reporting it to his colleagues. Chris and Barry decide to leave for Europe to investigate Umbrella Headquarters, while Jill remains behind to investigate the secret underground Umbrella laboratory beneath the city.
At Umbrella, William Birkin had gained power and influence as the scientist responsible for creating and successfully mass producing the Hunter and Tyrant B.O.W.s. With his success, the power of the American branch gradually increased, forcing the European branch to have to bend to its will. Furthermore, Dr. Birkin's announcement regarding his next evolution in B.O.W. research called the "Creation of G-Creatures" enabled the Chicago branch to assume what essentially amounted to dictatorial control over the corporation.
Alarmed, the European laboratories joined forces and created a variety of successful enhancements to existing B.O.W.s and used the concept in the "Nemesis Project" to enhance the mass produced Tyrant (T-103 Model). The result of this experiment was the Nemesis-T Type, all in an attempt to restrain the growing influence of the American branch. Disturbed by the European "threat" the Chicago branch placed enormous pressure on Dr. Birkin into completing the G-Virus, but this only resulted in increasing his displeasure with the corporation and he began to disagree with executives over the direction of the research, with him desiring to use the virus to create an evolved human race.
Dr. Birkin, who had already become distrustful of the corporation, figured that he would eventually be held responsible for the Mansion Incident that resulted in the leak of sensitive research data. He expected that an elite team of agents would be sent into Raccoon City under the guise of hunting down the surviving members of S.T.A.R.S., with their real motive being to kill him and steal samples of the incomplete G-Virus. Preempting this assault, Dr. Birkin increased the amount of toxic waste generated by his laboratory to such levels that it overwhelmed the Umbrella incineration disposal plant in the city, creating a state of biohazard. The biohazard conditions ended up unleashing the t-Virus, zombifing the employees and researchers working within. The damage didn't stop there and the infection quickly began to spread throughout the city. Successfully holed up within this biohazard zone, Dr. Birkin negotiated with ranking officials within the United States government, requesting protection in exchange for providing the G-Virus and its research data.
As a result of the biohazard, many cases of bizarre murders and monsters appearing in the city slowly began to emerge and a "cannibal disease" began to spread among the citizens, gradually filling the city hospital. The hospital's staff feverishly developed a vaccine against the t-Virus, but were killed before it could be produced. On September 15, Dr. Birkin refused to hand the G-Virus over to Umbrella. In response, CEO and Chairman Oswell E. Spencer permitted his assassination and retrieval of the virus and initiated the "G-Virus Seizure Operation" by giving a secret order to the U.S.S. (Umbrella Security Service), the order being sent by Christine Henry of the France branch. Meanwhile, Umbrella HQ put their private military, the U.B.C.S. (Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service) on standby.
The U.S. government, keen in acquiring Umbrella's top scientist along with the G-Virus and its research data, had quickly agreed to send in a team of U.S. Army Special Forces to extradite Dr. Birkin and take him into custody. They bring with them the developmental "Demon Sword of Paracelsus", a magnetic rail cannon, as a fail-safe against any potential "G" organisms. Intelligence on the Umbrella facilities was leaked to the government via their spies in the company, however among these types of people were double agents that served Umbrella. On September 23, the Special Forces invaded via the underground freight train route, but went up the lift to the incineration disposal plant far from the underground laboratory as there was no intelligence of the actual facility, due to misinformation from Umbrella agents. As a result, the U.S.S. was able to gain total control of the laboratory and Dr. Birkin was fatally wounded, and the G-Virus stolen. Dr. Birkin injected himself with the virus and became the first "G" organism, killing the U.S.S. teams and causing a large-scale leak of the t-Virus in the sewer.
The virus quickly spread throughout the city through rodents and insects, causing a massive outbreak in addition to the previous biohazard caused by Dr. Birkin. A massive influx of Zombies was caused as a result of a football match being held at the city stadium on September 24. At the executive order of the President, marshal law was declared and a blockade was erected around the city by the U.S. Army and National Guard, but there was a considerable number of civilians who escaped beforehand. Many were caught in the security network of the Army and National Guard and those detained for examination received quarantine treatment depending on the level. One of the fleeing citizens was Mayor Michael Warren, who left his daughter behind and escaped into the custody of U.S. forces.
As the biohazard reached increasingly dangerous levels, the corporation enacted a plot to send in their "surveillance agents" to carry out secret objectives within the city, including assassination, retrieval and destruction of samples and data left in medical facilities and laboratories, the field survey of mutant creatures and virus contaminated organisms, including Zombies, and reports of combat records before the annihilation of the U.B.C.S., which would be sacrificed to obtain combat data. In addition to being administered superior virus antibodies, a relay base for many escape means and outside communication was secretly arranged by Umbrella agents which infiltrated the city beforehand.
On September 26, Umbrella deployed its entire 120-man U.B.C.S. into Raccoon City under the pretense of rescuing civilians. In the event that the extradition of Dr. Birkin failed, the U.S. military had a plan in place to destroy the entirety of Raccoon City, but in an attempt to buy time Umbrella leaked video feeds of the U.B.C.S. operating within the city, promoting a "humane rescue mission" to the public. This tactic succeeded and enough valuable time was bought to later allow an U.S.S. agent (HUNK) to successfully recover a sample of the G-Virus before the city was destroyed.
By September 28, the entire city was overwhelmed by Zombie creatures and other irregular mutants infected with the t-Virus. Jill commits herself to making her last escape from the city. Caught in the chaos, she narrowly escapes a group of Zombies and finds herself in a warehouse with a civilian named Dario Rosso, who ignores her pleas to escape and seals himself inside a container. Forced to leave him, Jill makes her way through the streets and alleys of the city. She finds S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team pilot Brad Vickers being attacked, and upon saving him, she asks about what the police are doing and is told that they were no match for the creatures. He warns her of something that will kill both of them and regrets joining S.T.A.R.S., and leaves.
Jill makes her way to the R.P.D. (Raccoon Police Department) and is followed by a wounded Brad. Before they can enter, a large black-clad humanoid creature drops from above and attacks Brad, killing him. The creature is "Nemesis-T Type", a prototype B.O.W. deployed to the city by the European branch of Umbrella for combat performance analysis, with the sole objective of eliminating the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members. It turns its attention to Jill, who flees into the R.P.D. She makes her way to the S.T.A.R.S. office and retrieves her lock-pick, and happens to intercept a garbled radio transmission. She eventually meets Carlos Oliveira, and the two are attacked by the Nemesis-T again. After escaping, Carlos reveals that he is a member of the U.B.C.S., which angers Jill. Carlos explains that they are just mercenaries and have no loyalty to the company, and believe they are just there to rescue civilians. He offers Jill to join them before departing.
After going through Raccoon City Hall and finding a cable car where three surviving U.B.C.S. members have taken refuge, Jill decides to work together with them. Hesitant after learning that Jill is a member of S.T.A.R.S., Sergeant Nicholai Zinoviev eventually gives in and states that their current objective is to reach the St. Michael's Clock Tower in order to signal a rescue helicopter waiting in the outskirts. Nicholai, one of Umbrella's "surveillance agents", is aware of the Nemesis-T's objective and does not want to interfere with it, risking infection or death. To prevent incurring its wrath, he fakes his death and disappears to continue his objectives. In the process, he begins to kill all other surveillance agents in order to receive a larger payment from Umbrella.
Jill and Carlos activate the cable car and make their way to the clock tower, however, the Nemesis-T bursts into the cable car and begins to attack them. Jill is forced into the other compartment while Mikhail battles the Nemesis-T. After running out of ammunition, Mikhail commits suicide using a grenade to blow up the compartment, knocking the Nemesis-T onto the streets. As the cable car approaches the clock tower, the brake system fails to work and goes out of control before crashing into the clock tower. Jill and Carlos reunite inside and ring the bell, signalling the helicopter. However, the helicopter is shot down by a rocket launched by the Nemesis-T, which then infects Jill with the t-Virus. In the ensuing fight, the Nemesis-T suffers substantial damage and collapses in a fire. Jill falls unconscious and is taken into the chapel by Carlos.
On September 29, the events of BIOHAZARD 2 take place. The military forces quarantining Raccoon City retreated after facing attacks from the zombies. Since the majority of the citizens had been confirmed dead, the military decided to quickly back off to prevent any unnecessary casualties. Under this relaxed state, a helicopter transports several mass-produced Tyrants into the city. After one T is dropped into the police station to recover the G-Virus from the pendant of Sherry Birkin, the remaining five are dropped at the incineration disposal plant in order to engage the U.S. Special Forces originally sent to rescue Dr. Birkin still in the city. Without using the rail cannon, both parties incur heavy casualties in the battle until all Tyrants are eventually killed, and the surviving soldiers are killed in the nearby hospital.
On the night of October 1, Jill wakes up. Carlos sets off to the Raccoon General Hospital in order to find some way to stop her infection. He learns of Nicholai's true intentions and synthesizes a vaccine against the virus, narrowly escaping the destruction of the hospital due to bombs planted by Nicholai. Carlos encounters the Nemesis-T, now mutated, and manages to administer the vaccine to Jill. He splits up with her again, learning from another surveillance agent that the city will be destroyed at dawn by a missile. Jill makes her way through Raccoon Park and encounters Nicholai, who explains his objective of collecting combat data, but flees after the appearance of the "Grave Digger". Jill manages to kill the creature and makes her way to a seemingly abandoned factory: the Umbrella Incineration Disposal Plant P-12A that the virus leaked from several months ago.
In the plant, Carlos learns of the city's impending destruction from a dying surveillance agent and relays this to Jill, who encounters the Nemesis-T again and defeats it with the use of acid, causing the loss of much of its body. The creature is dropped into the dissolving pool. Jill makes her way through the plant and is confronted by Nicholai in a helicopter, who proclaims that Jill has a bounty on her head he wishes to collect and begins shooting. After avoiding being killed, she and Carlos lament the loss of the only helicopter that could allow them to escape. The plant enters Emergency Level D and Carlos picks up a radio call from Barry Burton, who had commandeered a civilian helicopter and slipped into Raccoon City airspace in order to rescue Jill.
Reaching the hangar at the back of the plant, Jill finds the corpses of the U.S. Army Special Forces and the Tyrants. At that moment, the remains of the Nemesis-T burst through the roof and begin to feed on a Tyrant, allowing it to regenerate. It turns into a large, indescribable creature and pursues Jill, who activates the rail-gun and manages to obliterate it. She reunites with Carlos and they are rescued by Barry. The city is completely wiped off the map, and news of the destruction is broadcast by the mass media.
After the incident, Jill travelled to Europe and on December 27, discovers an empty hideout belonging to Chris Redfield. She swears that she will reunite with him, as they swore on an alliance together against Umbrella. Meanwhile, Chris has left to rescue his sister Claire Redfield from Rockfort Island, and Umbrella has since blamed the incident in Raccoon City on Dr. Birkin.
Gameplay
The primary new gameplay feature is Nemesis-T, a recurring enemy that appears many times throughout the game. He can run, use a rocket launcher as a weapon, dodge incoming fire, and is capable of pursuing the player from one area to the next. A variety of encounters are possible, with some being mandatory, and some varying in nature and location based on choices made by the player. Even if defeated in combat, Nemesis will inevitably continue pursuit.
The game incorporates a dodge move that allows the player to quickly avoid enemy attacks by pressing at the right time. Stair climbing is also streamlined: whereas in previous titles characters were required to press the action button to ascend or descend a staircase, this game allows the player to use a staircase by walking directly onto it. The "quick 180 degree turn" was introduced in this game, and would become a mainstay of the series.
The game features a new ammunition creation system, in which new ammunition can be created from different varieties of gunpowder and the use of a cartridge reloading tool, or by combining gunpowder directly with standard grenade rounds to generate different types of rounds for the grenade launcher. For the first time in the series, explosive objects are now present in certain areas. Taking the form of oil drums on the ground or bundles of an unspecified explosive material affixed to a wall, firing on these objects causes them to explode, damaging or destroying nearby enemies. Certain elements of the environment are also destructible and can damage enemies if shot, including hanging planks and light bulbs. The game also incorporates a randomization feature that varies the placement of items and enemies, although sometimes the placement is determined by the paths and choices taken by the player. Puzzles are also either completely randomized or have their solutions selected from a pre-determined list.
At certain points in the game, the player will enter Live Selection Mode, in which they are prompted to choose between one of two possible actions. The choice of action affects the direction of the game and story, including which ending the player receives. Each selection has a time limit, with the consequence for going over the limit being either Jill taking damage or instant death. Upon completing the main game, the player is rewarded with a mini-game called "THE MERCENARIES OPERATION MAD JACKAL" and a number of alternate costumes for Jill, with more costumes being awarded for a higher ranked completion of the main game. Also unlockable are eight "Epilogue Files", each detailing the activities of a different character following the events of the game. The Epilogue Files are unlocked individually and sequentially at the end of each successful playthrough of the main game.
"THE MERCENARIES OPERATION MAD JACKAL" is a mini-game featuring three playable characters which range in difficulty, from Carlos, Mikhail, or Nicholai, the three U.B.C.S. members that appear in the main game. Each character possesses a different inventory, causing drastically different strategies for survival with each character. The objective of the game is ostensibly to run from the cable car to the warehouse office (two locations in the main game) within a limited amount of time; however, the starting time limit given is insufficient to actually perform this task directly, and the player must continuously receive time bonuses by performing certain actions in order to complete the mission. Eliminating enemies yields a time bonus, with increasing bonuses for multiple kills in a short time span. There are also six hostages to be saved, with each hostage saved rewarding the player with additional ammunition or healing items, as well as a time bonus. Additionally, six "hidden areas" of the map reward the player with an increasing time bonus for each one found. The story behind the mini-game is that it is a game show hosted by Umbrella to VIPs.
Development
Development began in 1998, and was initially a small spin-off unrelated to the main series called "BIOHAZARD Gaiden". In 1998, FLAGSHIP's lead scenario writer Noboru Sugimura was busy working on BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica and other FLAGSHIP scenario writers were preoccupied with biohazard 0. The team led by Hideki Kamiya, the director of BIOHAZARD 2, was already working on the next title in the series, "BIOHAZARD 3". The game was set on a luxury cruise liner with a general plot where HUNK was attempting to bring back a sample of the G-Virus.
The BH3 directed by Hideki Kamiya was unrelated to "LAST ESCAPE", which was known as "BIOHAZARD Gaiden" at the time. The director of "Gaiden" was Kazuhiro Aoyama, a game designer who was responsible for the designing the levels in BIO1 and BIO2. The rest of the team, with the exception of the programmers and sound crew, was comprised of newly hired staff. In place of FLAGSHIP, newcomer Yasuhisa Kawamura was chosen to write the scenario and assist Aoyama in designing the game. Kawamura had applied to CAPCOM through an ad in a video game magazine entitled "BIOHAZARD NEXT PROJECT", and was hired in August 1998 for his experience working under Yukito Kishiro assisting in the creation of the manga series "Battle Angel Alita" for two and a half years, despite not having worked on video games.
"Gaiden" was intended to be a small scale game made in a short time span. This meant that even though the scenario writer Kawamura was new, it was deemed that he would be capable of handling the scenario. However, the course of the series development began to change mid-1998 when the teams received word about the impending transition to the new PlayStation 2. The Kamiya-directed BH3 was targeted for the PlayStation 1. By the time the game launched, the market would have shifted towards the PS2. Furthermore, the PS2 was a powerful system and without sufficient time for development, the "BIOHAZARD quality" that was expected would not be achievable.
Forced to make a change in plans, Yoshiki Okamoto, general manager of development, announced that "BIOHAZARD Gaiden was going to become the last numbered release in the BIOHAZARD series for the PlayStation 1". From that moment on, "Gaiden" was no longer just a side-story, but part of the official plot line, and was renamed "BIOHAZARD 1.9", also colloquially known as "BIOHAZARD 2.1". Kamiya's team was forced to go back to the drawing board to make a new game for the PS2. The decision was made to promote the "Gaiden" team into the new BIOHAZARD 3 team and the staff size was significantly increased to 50 staff members in order to work towards a launch on the PS1. This allowed them to release a BIOHAZARD game on a consistent schedule while providing Kamiya's team enough time to concentrate on the capabilities of the PS2. Kamiya's team was reorganized into a new BIOHAZARD 4 team, and was tasked with creating the game for the PS2.
Upon creating BH3, Kawamura made a decision to reinterpret the plot line of BH2, and created a background story where Dr. William Birkin gradually fell out of favor with the Chicago branch of Umbrella Corp. Fearing assassination, he holes up in the biohazard conditions of Raccoon City and plots an "escape" to the safety and protection of the United States government. To tie the story closer with the previous games, he wanted to have Jill infiltrate Umbrella Corp's laboratory from BH2 and cross paths with Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong and Dr. Birkin, but had to give up, as it would end up affecting the original plot too much.
During development, Aoyama, the director, called over the scenario writer Kawamura and said, "So, I heard you liked The 4th Survivor. I want you to make me a mini-game that is better than the one that I created". Aoyama was responsible for designing The 4th Survivor, and wanted a superior mini-game for BH3. With this in mind, Kawamura came up with "THE MERCENARIES OPERATION MAD JACKAL".
Three months before the game's release, the title was changed again to "BIOHAZARD 3 LAST ESCAPE", which general manager Okamoto later explained as a means of keeping the titles of the first three games on the PS1 console consistent.
The game was released on September 22, 1999. In October 1999, a large portion of the BH3 team, including Yasuhisa Kawamura, became part of the newly-formed CAPCOM Production Studio 4 to work on BH4. This BH4 project eventually changed directions and finally saw completion as the game "Devil May Cry" while work began on another BH4 dubbed "Hallucination", and a controversial development cycle would ensue which would not see release until 2005.
Versions
PlayStation
The standard version of the game.
PC
The PC version features enhanced 3D character model graphics and higher resolutions. This version also allows the player to choose Jill's outfit in the main game from the start without going to the boutique, and include two additional outfits not present in the PlayStation version. THE MERCENARIES mini-game is also available right from the start and had the added feature of allowing players to post their top scores online on CAPCOM's official website (this function has since been discontinued). Two subsequent notable releases of this version include the "Xplosiv" version, which does not contain THE MERCENARIES, and the "Sourcenext" version optimized for Windows XP, which features further enhanced graphics and uncompressed FMVs featured on a single DVD.
Dreamcast
The Dreamcast version is almost identical to the Windows PC version. Accordingly, it features enhanced 3D character model graphics and the extra outfits and THE MERCENARIES mini-game available from the start. Visually, the environment backgrounds are also higher resolution. This version also utilizes the Dreamcast VMU (Visual Memory Unit) by displaying the characters' health status.
GameCube
The GameCube version is a port of the original PlayStation version with none of the added features of the prior two ports, such as the extra costumes and unlocked content from the start. However, it does feature an increased frame rate of 60 for FMV movies and enhanced 3D character model graphics, although the quality of the FMVs is poor.
PlayStation Network
The original PlayStation version of the game was optimized for the PSN, rendering it playable on the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable.