Resident Evil Code: Veronica

"Finally The Game That Makes Me Proud To Own The Dreamcast!"

Introduction
First off this is my first review ever. While I'm not the Resident Evil Master, I do manage to know what's going on in the whole RE timeline, may it be. I have managed to complete the game this morning, and I am quite impressed...However...it is in my human nature to find fault with the smallest details.

Graphics
I would be lying if I said that these aren't the finest graphics I have seen todate. Even better than Soul Calibur. It's things like this that make me fear what games will look like in a few years. Character expressions, simple stuff like spoons and forks sitting on a table, the Zombies dismembered faces, every last object I can think of is gorgeous. Simply amazing, and if the opening video doesn't grasp you, call out your name and say ''PLAY ME'' then you have to be a zombie yourself! Even my mother, who hates videogames, ''Rots your brain,'' she says, sat down and watched me play for about 2 hours. The whole time she was making remarks like, ''Isn't that something.'' (It was almost anoying). Graphic lovers will own this one! The FMV's will amaze you!
But remember graphics only enhance...

Gameplay
Resident Evil, in my opinion, has always been about the Gameplay. Weather it's on the Playstation, Nintendo 64, or in this case Dreamcast, it will always be a clasic. And the 4th installment does not disapoint! The puzzles for the most part are fun, but probably wont end up frustrating you. And the depth is great. Plus the makers of the popular videogaming series have thrown in a few new features that make the game more fun. Now you are actually required to check an object (a brefcase for example) to reveal something else within the item you have just picked up. In the previous Resident Evil's I didn't enjoy the little bio's they had for the weapons and various items. Now I actually enjoy reading up on what the item I have just picked up is. You can even find clues to puzzles within the bios (sometimes making the puzzle VERY obivious).
Another feature that Capcom has added that makes the game more fun, is now you can fire two weapons, at two different targets simultaneously. Twice the Carnage! Twice the Blood!

Play Control
By far the section in this review with the most up's and down's is the controls. If you never played Resident Evil before then you may not have much difficulties. But I think Veterans, or at least N64 players might have some problems. In this day an age, I wouldn't think that play control would be much problem, seeing how most games let you customize the controls to your liking, however RE has always suffered negatively from play control. Not so much that it will make you put down the controller and play something else mind you, but it does take some getting use to. I originally wanted to have my control stick to be similar to that of Resident Evil 2 for the N64's. So that pushing the stick halve way up causes you to walk, and when pushed to further your character runs. However dreamcast doesn't have this. In addition they give you afew sets of modified controls to chose from, however the one change I wanted wasn't in their list of three. I would have like to have liked the A button to have been my Action/Confirm button, and the X button to be my Dash/Cancle. However...there is a new option to instantly turn your Character around by pressing Down and the Cancle, and it will end up saving you from many Zombie snackfests! My final gripe with the controls was the L button. You use it to change targets. I found myself one to many times shoting the wrong target by pressing the L button. In some rare cases it would kill me! Althought it does seem to redeem itself buy giving you the option to shot an threat that you didn't know was in the area. All and all, this is the only area that RE Code: Veronica suffers in, and can easily be overlooked.

Sound
I was abit shocked at how much the voice acting had improved over the rest of the series. Although afew characters leave alot to be desired in the terms of voice acting, the rest kept true to the series. I think they even kept the same voice acters from the other RE's. So the voices have there up's and down's. But the music and sounds are absolutly awesome! From the sound of the acid rounds pouring it's way into the chest of some unlucky critter, to the chimes of the amazing music box, this game's got it all. Please remember though that there isn't alot of music due to the fact that this is a horror game. And horror is a dish best served silent!

Satisfaction/Replay Value
Overall I would definetly recommend this game to anyone who has ever played Resident Evil. It has all your old favorite characters and MORE! I recently purchased the Sega Dreamcast and at first was a little doubtful of my purchase, but now that this glorious game has come upon me I will never again question my purchase. The story line is engrossing and will leave you wanting more! If you thought Soul Calibur was the reason to own the Dreamcast, think again. Plus it's very deep. I was using a Walkthru and it still took me over 12 hours! Plus just when you think you have shelved the game new modes of play are granted to you. And within those new play modes, more secret stuff can be unlocked!

Summery
The only thing that could have made this game better would have been the online mode. Originally Capcom was going to add the modem into play, so that you could download cool new weapons that you can't get otherwise. Hardcore fans of the series will love this one, the best yet! But newbies may want to have a Walkthru handy just in case! IT'S THE REASON TO OWN THE DREAMCAST!!!

*Please note though that I haven't played RE3 yet, so when compared to the other RE's, I don't include this game!*

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/15/00, Updated 04/15/00