Resident Evil Code: Veronica X

"Though Code Veronica is a worthwhile investment, it's no more than a slight update to the Dreamcast hit."

It's been almost a year and a half between the Dreamcast and Playstation 2 release of Code Veronica and Code Veronica X(respectively), what does the PS2 version have to show for it? Not much.

Graphics
The PS2 has been regarded sometimes as 4x more powerful in almost every category than the Dreamcast, yet the graphics in the game don't even look improved much(if any) over the Dreamcast version. The same circular shadow doesn't help much either. A lot of the areas in the game look flat, especially around the more darker areas of the game. You'll probably see curtain shadows, but with no depth or texture.

However, the game's overall look is still very pleasant. The characters are detailed down to the last pixel and in a lot of cases, the real time cut scenes and in game graphics look better than the rather grainy looking FMVs. Explosions and gas effects that add to the gritty and cautious feel of the game, however, are rather weak and could've used a lot more detail considering how clean and crisp the characters in the game looked.

Audio
The game does a tremendous job with the audio department, detailing everything down to each foot step. Music is seldom a factor in the game, but when it does play, it adds to the dark atmosphere the game presents. Everything from loud gunfire to flesh movement are all very Resident Evil and very real(within the game).

Since RE2, voice acting has never really been a problem in the RE series and it really isn't a problem here. They're believable and bold, with exception of Wesker's voice in the extra cutscenes.

Replay Value
This game is probably the worst in the Replay Department. The game moves at a rather slow pace and to really acquire the hidden characters and infinite powerful weapons takes almost sheer perfection out of the player. The game is often too hard and too fustrating to really play through again and the story isn't really too complex to have to play through a second time to understand.

Gameplay
This formula has worked for 5 years and counting...well, for most fans of course. However for me, it's like liking something a lot for a while, like a dish, and then later end up almost hating it after a good long while...this is where Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X comes in. Since the first game, Resident Evil has used the formula of combining flesh eating zombies in a large and dark atmosphere to provide suspense as a lot of surprises are guaranteed to startle the player at least once. Never knowing what to expect from RE is half the fun, killing what you didn't expect it is the other half...yet somehow, CVX doesn't really bold too well.

The Playstation 2 edition of the Dreamcast hit really is nothing to brag about, it has a better looking cover and comes with a Wesker DVD(if you ask for it) but even that isn't really enough for you to buy the same game over again. The extra ''10 minutes'' of ''never before seen'' footage of Wesker doesn't really do much for the game's story and at times it looks rather cheesy(like Wesker moving like Superman), as if it was just put there without much thought and effort.

Gameplay has been the same old formula, Resident Evil 3, while short, was a lot of fun and had more manuveribility than CVX. In CVX you still dash, aim and shoot, walk, and do the 180 turn. However...Capcom went back to the formula of pressing the action button to move over stairs and the quick dodge feature has been taken out of the game...which makes the game a pain. I don't really understand the point of having to press a button to move over a staircase. This can be really troublesome since sometimes you're low on health and you try to avoid the zombies but only to find yourself killed as you have to stop for a moment and then press(yes, you can't climb the stairs while moving) the action button...giving zombies a chance to chew at you.

The concept of only being able to shoot while standing still is a very unpleasant one. The game would be a lot more fun if you were able to move and shoot at the same time, and since Capcom made the series as real as it can get while staying close to a ''video game'', then why not having some running AND shooting?

The game's camera angles are often atrocious. You can't set them on your own and you are forced to manipulate Claire or Chris or any other character through the area, regardless of whatever debris is blocking your view. This hurts a lot of times as you can get attacked without even knowing it until it happens because you couldn't see your opponent because of the nasty camera angles. What's worst is that sometimes when you have a powerful weapon, the force of the weapon sometimes pushes you back to another camera(often completely different) angle. It's really ridiculous and it's something Capcom should consider to change.

The game itself is hard in most cases, and for the first time in a RE game, you are forced to conserve much of your ammo...I've learned the hard way. You will literally have to restart the game over when you reach the half way point of the game if you do not have the appropriate ammo to get through a certain and familiar character. The way the game is set up, it's really bothersome and doesn't leave you many options to go back and pick up weapons you've missed(if any for that matter). So if you find yourself in a rut, chances are...you will have to restart the game over and conserve ammo...a lot of it. Another gripe about CVX is facing the bosses, you are pretty much forced to take hits because the characters are too slow to move out of the way and you must stand still to fire...so what choice do you have? You must bring a ton of healing items with you to the battle with the bosses(most of the times), and if you don't have the healing items? You might as well start over.

With a title like survival horror, you would expect the formula to be a little more like RE3...more fight and less puzzles. CVX takes the other direction, the reason why the game is so long is because the puzzles are so long and it's because there's usually more than one piece to the puzzle...and each piece is located from one end of the game to another...making you trek most areas at least 10x over...going back and forth until it drives you nuts. So CVX is probably as long as RE3, if it wasn't for all the trouble of going through every area 10x over just for one piece of the puzzle.

Overall
CVX is definitely worth the buy if you never played or owned the Dreamcast version due to it's ''extras'' despite missing modes. The whole formula for CVX is significantly different than it's predecessors, it's a lot more work than fun with less zombies and more puzzles.

However, a first time RE player would probably make a better investment in this game than a veteran RE player since veteran RE players would expect some things CVX doesn't offer while newcomers will never expect the suspense that they will experience.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 09/10/01, Updated 09/10/01