Resident Evil Code: Veronica

"Haven’t we all played this one before? And didn’t it used to have more features?"

I have some fond memories of the various incarnations of the Resident Evil series. I jumped when the dogs crashed through the windows in the first game. I played through all of the scenarios of the second one. My most vivid memories revolve around the horrifying appearances of the Nemesis in the third game which left me battered and shaken whenever I think about it. Now that I've finished Resident Evil: Code Veronica, a lot can be said about this fourth installment by the fact that the most memorable parts was that one of the villains is a cross-dresser. That's not supposed to happen in a horror game.

Things start off disappointingly enough with an opening cutscene that appears to have been produced by Jerry Bruckheimer considering the massive amount of EXPLOSIONS and GUNFIRE. Eventually we learn that Claire Redfield is on a hunt to find her brother, Chris. For those of you familiar with the series, Claire was the heroine of the Resident Evil 2 and her brother, Chris, was the star of the first game. After a few massive EXPLOSIONS, Claire is captured by the evil Umbrella Corporation and then taken to their secret island prison. So far things sound like a movie only Michael Bay would direct.

After being in her jail cell for a while a kind hearted prison guard, who just happens to be bleeding profusely, lets her out. It turns out that the island has been overrun by *gasp* zombies and other undead creatures! She runs into (and falls for) a Leonardo DiCaprio look-alike who goes by the name of Steve. While the other Resident Evil games gave us gripping (albeit cheesy) stories of betrayal and friendship, Code Veronica gives us a love story that takes things way to seriously. And to borrow a page from Silence of the Lamps, the psychotic villain is also a cross dresser. After such ridiculous events played out I started to yearn to see something interesting happen.

And to my surprise, the game does pick up towards the end. The villainous Wesker rises from his presumed grave and makes a glorious return. Some of you may be concerned about this being a spoiler, but just look at the case and you'll see his face prominently featured. After being MIA for so long it's good to see him back. He's a lot more interesting than the painfully dull good guys. As the greatest musicians of all time once said- “every rose has its thorn” and this holds true with the end of Code Veronica. The tension and momentum reaches high levels as Code Veronica progresses, but then the plot hits a brick wall with its criminally unsatisfying ending. Can the gameplay even pick up the slack?

Not much has changed in the controls since the series' conception. Newbies to the series will find the controls awkward and ineffective at first, but after some practice it will become second nature. For some reason you still can't move and attack at the same time. Characters take forever to turn around so being able to do a quick 180 degrees turn with the touch of two buttons is helpful. There are three different control setups you can use, but no totally customizable control schemes.

Remember those cool features in Resident Evil 3 where you could dodge an attack if you hit a button at the right moment? Do you also remember those neat interactive environments? Both of these features have been inexcusably removed from Code Veronica. Usually sequels are supposed to add more to the series, not take out things that are innovative and fun to use. Avoiding enemies in a small corridor can be a bit of a hassle due to the removal of dodging. Thanks a lot, Capcom.

The one aspect of the gameplay that refuses to die in the series is the fetch quest upon fetch quest that has to be done in order to advance anywhere. What kind of mansion involves you getting all sorts of jewels and keys just to open something like a kitchen cupboard? And why exactly are diaries that are dated to be over 10 years old left laying about when they contain important things such as self destruct codes and safe combinations? The core of the game is reading diaries for clues and finding obscure items lying about. After so many survival horror games, you'd think the genre's leap to 128-bits something would remedy something as boring as this.

But puzzle solving is only part of the game. The other part is ol' fashioned monster killing. The slow-moving zombies are the most prevalent, but also the least deadly. The speedy demon dogs are also back, but how are the new enemies? The “Bandersnatches” are some sort of creature that has the ability to stretch its arms and swing from wall to wall, like Stretch Armstrong or something. They're like something out of a cartoon and not a “survival horror” game. Another new form of enemy is the “hunter cameras.” These cameras emit a light, and if you walk under the light a “Hunter” appears. These beasts are vicious, amphibious monsters with huge claws and insane agility. Stealth is the key to avoiding an encounter with a Hunter. These cameras feel like something out of Metal Gear Solid, however the minor stealth elements break up the otherwise tedious key finding.

So the monsters aren't too groundbreaking, but at least there are some new weapons and upgrades to use. While most of the weapons have been seem in past Resident Evil titles such as the handgun, shotgun and grenade launcher, but the new weapons are unlike anything seen in the series before. Dual pistols are an entertaining addition because of the ability to aim at two separate targets at the same time John Woo-style. There is also two brief moments throughout the game you're given the chance to snipe in a first person view. This isn't nearly as fun as it should be since aiming is way too sensitive, but considering all the innovations from the last game were inexplicably removed it's a welcome breath of fresh air into the series.

The only pseudo-breakthrough in this game is the revamped “zapping system” first seen in limited format in Resident Evil 2. Halfway through the game you switch characters and end up controlling someone besides Claire. Since this character explores a few of the same areas explored by Claire, depending on what you do things might be a little different while playing through as the second character. Some items you forgot to pick up will be accessible to the other character. It really doesn't sound like much but it adds some realism…as much realism as a game featuring zombies and Stretch Armstrong monsters can possibly have.

However, switching characters halfway through the game isn't exactly a good thing since it could actually RUIN THE GAME. If you equip all your weapons on Claire, then you won't be able to use those weapons again while controlling Chris. This means that the second character becomes severely ill-equipped. There is no warning about when to put your items into storage, so you might have to restart the whole game if you didn't make multiple save files. Needless to say, this system can cause a lot of headaches.

As disappointing as the overall game is, the graphic are phenomenal. The pre-rendered static backgrounds from the other Resident Evil games are gone and fully polygonal backgrounds take its place. Everything looks more fluid now and more dramatic camera angles are to be found. The environments aren't as detailed as they were in the past titles, but they get the job done. Smoldering wreckage and ruined buildings are conveyed effectively with lighting effects and everything but on the downside the fog is abundant. The character models are topnotch, and rank up there as some of the best on the Dreamcast. They could almost be mistaken as real-life if it wasn't for the stiff animations. The characters simply look too robotic while running. On the other hand, most of the monsters fare much better. The zombies limp towards you convincingly and the demon dogs sprint around appropriately.

Another part where Code Veronica is consistent with the rest of the series is in its lackluster voice acting. While some characters sound passable, most are downright bad. The cross-dressing villain has such a high pitched giggle that caused me to cringe whenever I heard it. Claire's love interest sounds like a whiny prepubescent boy, which makes it hard to actually care for him. The music fares much better, but most of it is ambience. It does a fine job of maintaining suspense, but the “love theme” is just atrocious. I've heard elevator music with more energy than this garbage.

Though Code Veronica doesn't feature any alternate scenarios like the other games, it does feature a briefly amusing minigame. In this battle mode you run from room to room randomly blasting anything in your path. There's a few different characters that can be unlocked and a gimmicky first-person mode (this brought back unfortunate memories of Resident Evil: Survivor), but little else. It's not a bad way to spend half an hour, I suppose.

What really matters about a survival horror game is if it scared you or not. Newcomers to the series might jump a few times, but veterans have seen everything this game has to offer. Just when things were being spiced up in the series, all the unique features from the last game were inexplicably removed. I advise fans of the past games to borrow it, beat it, and never think about it again. A weekend of Resident Evil: Code Veronica is all you need.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05, Updated 01/18/05