Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X

The Good
Although Code Veronica has been available on the Dreamcast for over a year now, most gamers will be treating it as a new title because few have played the original. Conversion wise the game looks almost identical to its Dreamcast counterpart which, seeing as it looked so damn good then, means that it's still pretty good now. The gameplay is pure Resident Evil through and through which means you'll either love it or hate it by now. Code Veronicas biggest strength over the others is that everything is entirely in 3D which means cameras are no longer fixed. They can track you around corners and down corridors for added tension. The game is the biggest RE yet and takes over 10 hours to finish. Audio is fantastic. You'll want a beefy stereo rig for this one so you can appreciate the awesome music and eerie effects.

The Bad
The controls are still a bit iffy but if you're used to them by now then there's no reason to be put off. The biggest disappointment will come for Dreamcast veterans hoping for some new material in this game. The new material consists of 3 new cutscenes involving Wesker which add to his own development and to some loose ends left in the original version of CV. While they are good, they don't serve as enough to warrant a purchase if you already have the DC game and in some ways, the game flows a little more awkwardly with them than without. The game itself contains no new sections and is the same one us converts played over a year ago. The other changes are so minor they are not worth mentioning but I'd like to know why they bothered to make Steves haircut look different? He looks even sillier now.

The Bottom Line
Code Veronica X is a fantastic game and one no survival horror fan should be without. Except perhaps for players who already have Code Veronica on Dreamcast, the new material is simply not enough to warrant a purchase of this aswell.

The Good
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X is a pretty deep adventure game. The best part being is that there is no shortage of stuff to do or places to explore. The game heavily encourages you to step outside your normal zone of thinking in order to figure out how to get from one part to the next. Often times the solution to a puzzle involves more then pulling switches or box pushing (although both exist in the game) and the game can really challenge your brain.

Veronica X tells a pretty unique story and you don't really have to play the previous Resident Evils to get a kick out of it. The characters are a very unique bag and they all are very interesting to look at (Claire Redfield looks especially beautiful). The game does a pretty good job telling a story with the few characters it uses and really gives you that "you're all alone and nobody can help you" kind of feel, which is probably what this game was going for (since it is survival horror).

Finally, while the graphics are falling behind the times, they are still really... uh... graphic. Blood covers nearly every wall while bits of zombie are scatter everywhere, but it is done subtly enough for you to not expect anything will go wrong. The zombies and bosses are still gross and scary enough to make you feel uncomfortable playing this game after midnight in dark house. And the sound (though brief) is very haunting, and again, will really be harmful to sleeping patterns if played after midnight.

The Bad
Resident Evil: Code Veronica X features a lot, and I mean A LOT of backtracking (meaning going to previous locations in the game to further the game along). Several times I would not know if I was making progress or if I was just doing stuff for the heck of it. Many times I would have to go several places just find the one item I needed to unlock a door. For every one thing you need to do there are 50 other things you have to do first and without any objective list or any type of lead to go on the game just becomes a mindless wanderer. Often times I felt like I was in a giant box, having to go constantly back and forth between locations and feeling like I was going nowhere (those who are frustration prone will be quick to get a walk through, and by then the game starts to become boring- even Capcom put a 900 number hot line right on the disk itself).

The zombies themselves can start to become very annoying (although still pretty scary at the same time). Since Claire can only aim at the floor, middle, or at the sky, hitting a zombie in the head is next impossible (which is supposed to be the best way to kill them). Since head shots are extremely hard to pull off, Claire has to waste nearly all bullets in her inventory to finish off one zombie and since zombies always attack in groups, this can lead to really bad spots.

Often times the game uses past mistakes to screw players over. Not knowing weather or not to keep guns or conserve ammo will lead to some really frustrating moments and since the only other weapon that doesn't use ammo (the knife) doesn't kill zombies you will become more angry then scared. Health is also a rare item although it isn't as important since most basic enemies don't do a ton of damage but when you desperately need it is when it's least available. And since Claire can only hold a limited number of items (ever heard of a backpack Ms. Redfield?) it makes it even harder to determine what items are important or not. And while the controls are tank-like and a little slow they will start to wear on you pretty quickly.

The Bottom Line
Though graphically appealing, interesting to watch, and a few times scary, Code Veronica X is strictly for the most hardcore gamers who can think 5 counties outside the box and are able to put up with loads of backtracking.

While walkthroughs are available, they just make the game boring and dull and take the control right out of your hands.

The Good
Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, in my opinion, is one of the best entries in the Resident Evil series. Even with the original RE Code: Veronica on the Dreamcast, I still thought highly of this game. I've bought this game about a total of four times now. I bought my first copy back in 2000 for my Dreamcast, then a year later I had gone back to buy the newer, slightly remixed copy for my PlayStation 2 (Code: Veronica X), six years later I would buy it once again in the Essentials box set (again for my PlayStation 2), and now I've just bought the most recent HD re-release from the PSN store. Before I go on any further, I just want to let you know that this review is for the HD release - not for 'Code Veronica: X' itself. I wasn't surprised to find that not much else has changed from previous console releases. However I must admit that Code: Veronica X looks a bit smoother in its new HD presentation, but its age is still very visible within some points in the game - but what else is to be expected from a video game from 2000/2001? It seems that only the gameplay itself has been remastered in 720p HD - I'll elaborate on this in the 'bad' section. The colors are deeper and darker in this new HD release. When compared to the older PS2 release, Code: Veronica X looks much less saturated in this new release. Skin tones look a bit lighter in the HD version, but I see this as an improvement as I believe all of the characters looked a bit pink in earlier versions. The audio seems to be more or less remastered, I really can't tell. It does sound good, though, which is why I'll leave this in the 'good' section. As far as I can tell, nothing new has been changed too much in this HD release, with the exception of one very annoying modification - which I'll again elaborate in the 'bad' section.

The Bad
As I said earlier, this re-release looks like they only remastered the gameplay itself. FMVs - not in-game cut scenes - are bombarded with pixels in what appears to be SD. Again, I understand this game is from 2000/2001, but I just cannot help and wonder why Capcom didn't try to remaster these scenes. Perhaps these FMVs really are remastered and this is the best that they will look, but I hardly doubt that. These scenes may even be too old to look good in high definition anyway. That one modification I mentioned above applies to one small part of the game - the Tyrant battle within the Cargo plane. It is no longer possible to run past the Tyrant without being attacked or killed. He swoops his arm over you once you get too near him. This new modification can be extremely tedious if you've not got any ammo left to progress past this bit in the game. As seen on various video websites, you will see that it was possible to beat the Tyrant by means of the knife or by running around him and activating the catapult several times in the older releases of Code: Veronica X. In fact I made this mistake myself and had to begin the entire game all over again! Very annoying, so please be aware of that.

The Bottom Line
Other than that, I'm very pleased with this newly remastered version of Code: Veronica X. It's not like this game is in stunning HD, but I do believe that this is the best Code: Veronica X will ever look. The $19.99 price tag in the PSN store was a bit of a repellent, seeing as I could buy a brand new PS2 release on Amazon.com for $8. Though if you like both this entry and RE4, then you could buy the HD bundle in the PSN store for $24.99, which is better than buying them for $20 each. Anyway, sorry, so all in all I definitely recommend buying this version if you enjoy this game as much as I do. I guess my only complaint (or wish) would be an actual physical release of this HD version to go along with all of my other HD remastered games like the Hitman series and DOOM 3.