Resident Evil: Code Veronica
- November 24, 2000 14:47 PM PST
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Capcom embraces the Dreamcast in fine style with Resident Evil: Code Veronica, the latest in the series that created the survival horror genre. Code Veronica easily raises the bar on presentation, but at its heart it's still Resident Evil.
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Brotherly Love
Claire Redfield sure has been busy since the events of Resident Evil 2. She's tracked the Umbrella Corporation all the way to its headquarters in Europe, where she believes they're holding her brother, Chris Redfield (a playable character for the first time since the original RE) hostage. Of course, Umbrella caught her and tossed her into prison. Your job is to lead Claire out of prison, solve all sorts of puzzles, kill hundreds of undead creatures, and come out of it with both Chris and Claire intact. Sound easy?
Well, Capcom has certainly made it easy to look at, and Code Veronica continues the Resident Evil tradition of perfectly spooky sound and music, but deep down this is just an all-new Resident Evil game, with the same enemies (save a few surprises), the same types of puzzles, and the same interface and control structure. Still, an all-new Resident Evil is definitely not a bad thing, and in the case of Veronica, even jaded survival horror vets have a treat ahead of them.
Luscious Decay
Code Veronica looks like no other game of its type. The dynamic backgrounds and highly-detailed characters fill out a perfectly-lit game world with a real sense of dreamlike dread and awe. Roaches scurry up a wall, escaping a decaying corpse. Water flows from a broken gutter as rain pours violently down. For the first time in a Resident Evil game, the backgrounds render on-the-fly, rather than being pre-rendered, allowing the camera to move, swish, pan, and follow Claire as she explores the unknown. The lighting effect generated by Claire's Zippo lighter is possibly the best use of lighting in game history. Veronica is definitely an example for all other Dreamcast games to follow.
Veronica's sound consists of music where you need tension, moans where you need fear, and silence where nothing else would work. Between guns, zombies, alarms, and footsteps, Code Veronica's sound is perfect. The voice acting could use a little work, but that's part of the fun of the series.
As for control, Veronica boasts the same control scheme as the previous versions, made different only by the layout of the Dreamcast controller. The only real addition is the auto-targeting feature when you draw your guns - if the enemy is behind you, Claire will turn and aim behind when you draw your guns. All of the helpful moves from Resident Evil: Nemesis are gone. After you fight a couple of bosses, you'll miss Jill Valentine's dodge and 180-degree backstep. Overall, the controls are fine for wandering about and shooting the occasional zombie, but for bosses and timed segments, they're a bit stodgy.
Maniac Mansion
For any survival horror fan looking for something mind-blowingly gorgeous to play, Code Veronica is all yours. It's everything you've come to expect from Resident Evil, combined with everything you've come to expect from the Dreamcast, and the combination is glorious.
