"A great game-- but what if you wanted more than just Resident Evil on Dreamcast?"

No matter how negative I may seem at any point during this review, let me
say up front that Resident Evil: Code Veronica is a great game. If you've
been interested in buying it from the screen shots and previews you've seen
in magazines or read on web sites, there's no real reason for you to read
on-- go out and buy it right now.

Of course, if you've never cared for the RE series, this isn't going to
convert you, no matter how overly enthusiastic virtually every review
you've read on this game may seem.

I won't bore you with a wordy plot summary; go look at an FAQ of the
game located on this very site. Claire's been captured while attempting to
infiltrate Umbrella, and when she's imprisoned she's shortly thereafter
mysteriously released after the base has been “taken over”. Chaos insues,
lots of zombies wander around, you run across a little brat named Steve,
and you'll be introduced to some very, very irritating villians named the
Ashfords who are millionare twins and run the joint. Suffice it to say that
it's tense and full of surprises-- notice I said “surprises” and not “scares”. I
was interested as hell-- I was at the edge of my seat. But then, Metal Gear
Solid had a similar affect on me and there were absolutely no scares there.

Obviously the graphics are fantastic. Perhaps even moreso than the
fantastic character modelling (although not CG quality... in fact, not quite
even Soul Caliber quality) is the atmosphere of the thing. RE:CV's so tense
you could cut the air with a bow gun, and it really helps you immerse you
in its world. Of course, that is, if you can get past the fact that, though in
full 3D, the game still uses fixed camera angles, like all the other RE
games. This isn't too big a deal in terms of the way it looks, though, as
absolutely nothing visually will deter you from getting a kick out of it... the
FMVs just make it even prettier. The cinemas whether in-game or not,
feature fantastic, lifelike animation... the in-game movements (that aren't
motion captured) are somewhat clunkier, just as they've always been.
Claire and Chris stand still with an ineffable stiffness despite the fact that
this baby's 128 bit. When you turn from a standing posistion Claire's legs
barely move (and with your gun out they don't move) making her look
more like a mannequin than a living person at times. However, although
stiff animation is now patently RE, Claire is given lots of personality not
seen before. For example, when you walk into a room and there's
something of interest (like say, a dead body), Claire will turn and look at it.
There's a lot of nuance to be absorbed. This game looks stunningly
gorgeous-- people who've never been fans of the series might play all the
way through just to see the next gorgeous locale.

Although I've heard a lot about the sound-- and I should say that the
sounds are VERY crisp and always add to the mood (one of my favorite
scenes has no music whatsoever, just mosquitos repeatedly hitting a lamp
light)... you're not going to find anything surprising. Zombies moan with
that RE zombie moaning sound that never impressed me-- ooh, sounds like
actors moaning into a mike, with no distortion or effects at all. Zombies
shuffle back and forth repeatedly. The footstep sound affects sound
synthetic. And the vocal acting, while possibly a high for the series, is still
barely acceptable. They're better acted, but they emote constantly and
sound as if they're dubs of an anime-- which is to say it won't grate on
your nerves, but it doesn't sound believable. The music has a way of
constantly adding the absolutely perfect mood... and the fact that this is on
GD-ROM means that almost everything you can imagine will make a
sound, so you're totally immersed. Just don't expect anything beyond what
you would expect from a 128 bit RE.

Gameplay is where I think the game faults. Firstly, the fixed camera angles
have got to go. The programmers made it that way to limit what you see
around you, making so there's more fright. Yeah, well, free camera
movement is something Silent Hill allowed a year ago, and that game was
frightening as hell. It had a nice comination of a changeable camera and
fixed camera posistions-- while making sure you couldn't see more than the
programmers wanted you to see, it also made sure you didn't run right
smack into a bad guy. In all survival horror games, you do not want to get
close to the enemy, and you need to shoot them from as far away as
possible. But if you can't actually tell if you're hitting anything, then what
the hell good is it? I can't tell you how many times I stood there shooting,
my target off-screen, and having no idea whether I was doing any good.
Some monsters barely make any noise when they're around you (the
zombie with the stretchy arms in particular) so you can't even tell it's there
until it's already beat the hell out of you. That and the fact that despite this
being the fourth in the RE series, the controls still suck. I admit to not
being an accomplished RE vet, but it's not as if I'm a newbie, and I'm still
running right into zombies when I'm trying to run away. When you lock on
to an enemy you don't stay locked on as it moves about, and this causes
you to shoot into the empty air if you're not careful-- and don't even get
me started on trying pathetically to shoot those damn dogs (you have to
aim low.. but aiming low means you can't shoot more than two feet in
front of you). You still can't carry more than a five year old with a tiny
backpack, and you're forced to constantly go back and forth from your
current posistion to the nearest save spot when you come across puzzles
you have the missing item to. But beyond all that, it just hasn't changed
much, period. When I first began the game, I was really exhilerated-- and
then, a mere four screens later I wandered into a gate that told me I needed
the “gold crest key” or something like that, and I was filled with a feeling
of “Here we go again”. Despite the overwhelming hyperbole and the hype
surrounding this game, it just hasn't changed much. It's as pretty as
anything else on the Dreamcast-- even prettier in most cases-- but I've been
finding keys for contrived puzzles for years now, I want something more.

Furthermore, I've read someplace that it might just be too scary to play
with during extended amounts of time with no light. As I mentioned before,
this game is intense. But the scares are just like they always were. When
you're near a big window, you just know a zombie's going to come
bursting through. When you're near a ditch, you know zombies are going
to jump up from there. Etc, etc. If you've played an RE game before... in
fact a survival horror game at all, then you know what to expect. Frankly,
zombies have never scared me. The slow moving, moaning zombies that
trudge... very... slowly... towards you in this game emphasize that. And the
timing of the cut-scene scares are almost cliche. You'll jump in your seat
every now and then. But heck, while running along a trail in Tomb Raider
and having a tiger jump out at me from the side gives me a good scare, too.
The scariest things to me were when I'd run back and forth along the same
path a hundred times unmolested, and suddenly on the 101st time having
zombies there and running right into them. That gave me a jolt. But having
a zombie jump out of a window-- been there, done that.

It's got the Battle Mode, I'll give it that, but in terms of replayability, this
one is like all the other Survival Horror games you've played. Yeah, you'll
want to play through this game again and again, to get a feel of that great
plot again... just like you did in other adventure type games like Metal Gear
Solid. But scares are funny in that they only work once-- and I didn't
particularly find this game scary.

Should you own it? If you're into this sort of thing, of course. Why
wouldn't you? It's beautiful, and it does what RE does best just as well.. if
not better than the previous REs. But this isn't the game that's going to
convert a non-believer, like I'd hoped. Everything that is here is rock solid
(besides the control)-- it's just that there's nothing different. If you don't
find the idea of roaming around not being able to see twenty feet in front of
you because of dumb camera angles, running smack into zombies when
you're distinctly trying to run away, and finding key after key after key to
solve contrived puzzles, this isn't going to change your mind. If you've
played an RE game and you got a kick out of it-- this is the best the series
has to offer, hands down. And I'm definitely glad I bought it. But is it
worth all the hype? No. From reading the various reviews from different
sources, I'd've thought Resident Evil: Code Veronica was the Second
Coming. It's not. It's just a very well made Resident Evil.

Graphics: 10 Sound: 9 Gameplay: 8 Replayability: 7 Fun: 8.5

Overall: (an average) 8.5

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/00, Updated 04/15/00