When I first encountered Nemesis, the giant biological weapon sent by the Umbrella Corporation to hunt and kill the protagonist Jill Valentine in "Resident Evil 3," I felt my heart pounding. It was a towering mass of ugly muscles that moved surprisingly fast, latched on with slimy tentacles, and could even use weapons such as a giant rocket launcher.

In the remake of "Resident Evil 2," it is fairly easy to escape from the Tyrant. Wait for a gap to form and slip through it. However, running alone will not save you from Nemesis. Nemesis relentlessly stalks the zombie-infested streets of Raccoon City, always seeming to be one step ahead of you. Seeing something that big and scary move so quickly is truly unsettling.

At this point I thought "Resident Evil 3" was going to be a long, tense game of cat and mouse with dynamic, unpredictable enemies. But, sadly, that is not the case. Not only is the initial confrontation with Nemesis more scripted than it appears, it is essentially a one-shot set piece. And for the rest of the game, the creature is relegated to cutscenes and mediocre boss fights.

Replaying the first encounter, one will notice that Nemesis always appears in the same place at the same time. The reason Nemesis seems to be one step ahead of you is that it is literally set to spawn when you reach a certain spot in the level. I wasn't expecting "Alien: Isolation" level reactive AI, but at least you'll have something to chew on. The game is also middling, and unfortunately, so is the rest of the game.

The streets of Raccoon City have a very different feel than the claustrophobic hallways, polished floors, creepy statues, and grand corridors of the police station in Resident Evil 2. Here, there are several wide, open spaces connected by alleys, apartment complexes, and sewer tunnels. The streets are lit by neon signs and look more like Las Vegas than small-town America, but cool to look at. I like how they occasionally use the wide open spaces to reposition the zombies, luring them in on one staircase and having them escape on another.

Raccoon City is a nice change of pace, but it's short-lived. This is especially true of Spencer Memorial Hospital, which we visit at the end of the day. Compared to the visually striking and architecturally rich buildings of RPD, this maze of similar corridors and wards is completely forgettable. It is somehow less interesting to look at than the hospital in the original game.

Come to think of it, this is a remake of "Resident Evil 3" in the loosest sense of the word. The plot, locations, and characters are somewhat similar, but in other respects it is different enough to be a completely new game. Even though there is a scene in which the exterior of a clock tower appears, the entire location, including the clock tower, is missing. In addition, scenes in which the action stops and decisions must be made that affect the storyline are completely cut out.

Resident Evil is at its best when you are lost in a complex, labyrinthine space, making maps in your mind as you play, solving puzzles and finding keys to unlock vast spaces. Resident Evil 3, however, has none of that; in fact, it is breathtakingly linear. I was frequently led down predetermined paths to the next cutscene, the story was wasted to the point of non-existence, the characters were flimsy, and I forgot more than once what I was doing and why I was doing it.

However, I like how it connects to "Resident Evil 2". The story takes place 24 hours before Leon and Claire arrive in Raccoon City, where they witness events that add to the backstory of the events seen in the previous film. There are some fun set pieces, including a fraught and chaotic siege that looks like something out of a classic zombie movie, and a boulder chase that is a darkly amusing homage to "Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Ark of the Covenant."

But what about the combat? One of the most surprising things about the "Resident Evil 2" remake is that it once again makes plodding zombies exciting. Its undead were brilliantly physical and clumsy, tripping over each other, tumbling down stairs, and flipping over like comical rags. In this film, however, the zombies seem strangely detached from their surroundings, and shooting them gives no satisfaction. It is as if the physics governing them have been drastically reduced or removed altogether.

They barely react to the limp and rattling assault rifle (a new weapon), and even pistol popping them is lacking the crunchy feedback that made Resident Evil 2's combat so enjoyable. At least the shotgun still packs a punch. This loss of fidelity may be a trade-off for more zombies on screen, but it wasn't worth it. Thanks to the removal of the system from "Resident Evil 2" of using wooden planks to block windows and manage the flow, there are fewer ways to deal with the zombies. Why so little in such a high-profile sequel? It's puzzling.

And before you know it, it's over. In Resident Evil 3, there is little opportunity to take your time and savor something before it takes a sharp turn into the next storyline. Not that there's anything wrong with short games, but the pacing in this one feels sluggish, like just when you're starting to get comfortable, you're rushed into the next place before the idea has fully taken shape. The gorgeous production values fail to mask how rushed and unambitious the game is, and the end result is an extremely shallow game.

After the imaginative and tradition-defying "Resident Evil 7" and the brilliantly polished and playable "Resident Evil 2," this is a huge leap for the series. Nemesis is a futile entity, rendered impotent by a chronic lack of purpose. There are few puzzles and few opportunities to go off the beaten path.

Resident Evil 3 is essentially a chain of actions, strung together by a paper-thin story and too many cutscenes. This is the direction the series has taken since Resident Evil 4, and after some serious straying, it ended up with the awful Resident Evil 6."