Resident Evil Code: Veronica

"One of the best RE games yet..."

Capcom has done it again. They haven't had such an innovative RE game since RE2. I mean, RE3 looked and played exactly like RE2 mostly, RE3 just displayed more zombies on screen at once. RE:CV makes the jump from the blurry prerendered backgrounds of the previous titles to full realtime environments. Not only do the the real time envioronments look awesome, they let the game do more with camera angles and such. some old faces come back here, claire, chris, and not to spoil anything, someone from the origional RE you wern't expecting...

Here's a quick breakdown:

Graphics-10/10- I honestly have never seen such a beautiful looking game on the DC. In the previous RE games, I hated the cut scenes, but in RE:CV I look forward to them, the detail in the characters faces is just amazing... The fact the backgrounds are now rendered entirely in real time as opposed to pre rendered, which makes for cool swooping camera angles. (think Dino Crisis)

Sound-8/10- no complaints here... the music is spooky, and suits the mood. The sound effects are standard RE fare: the grunts and groans of the zombies are just what appears to be recycled from the other games.

Scare factor-8/10- It hasent been since the first RE back in '95 a game freaked me out so much...

Control-7/10- No BIG complaints, it just takes a bit of getting used to for people who played the PSX REs. basicaly, the cancel and accept/check buttons have been flip-flopped. the option of using the analog joystick or the Directional pad is a nice feature.

Gameplay-9/10- RE:CV brings back two selectable characters, a lot nicer than being stuck with Jill like you were in RE3. Chris is probably my fave playable character in the RE games, and it is nice to see him make a comeback in RE:CV. I still want them to do something with barry...

Replay value-7/10-all the extras you know and maybe love, battle mode, infinite ammo, etc.

Gore factor- 7/10- lots of it here.

On another RE related note: HELP ME CONVINCE CAPCOM TO DO THE FIRST RE FOR DREAMCAST! I hear they are thinking about it, but are unsure. If all us RE fans unite, we can convince them I bet. I mean, they did RE2 and RE3 for Dreamcast, why not RE1? think what they could add... give us the TRUE DIRECTORS CUT not the terrible psx directors cut (which as you remember, was the exact same game), an art gallery, make barry, wesker, rebecca all playable with seperate story lines, and i think it'd be especially cool to see the game ditch the prerendered backgrounds and jump to real time...

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/31/01, Updated 01/31/01