Cue in: a wild, maniacal laugh paralleling that of a Joker gone wild gives way to a “Welcome….Claaaaaire!” a la Hannibal Lector fashion. Welcome to Resident Evil: Code Veronica.

While the first Resident Evils are creepy and piss your pants inducing works of terror, Code Veronica generally plays out a lot less scarier. It’s a little like the ol’ Friday the 13ths or Halloweens: you’re plenty experienced in the terror department by now and know it’s only a matter of time before the next ‘surprise’ awaits you. This doesn’t mean that the game is lacking in any way; au contraire, it is actually a truly fantastic sequel featuring a compelling storyline and an assortment of new features. Code Veronica is your usual Resident Evil soup with one new flavor: a pinch of humor. Incestuous love themes, aggressive zombies, and a cross-dressing homicidal maniac are but a few of the many ingredients that make this storyline one to remember.

Story
Chronologically following Resident Evil 2 and 3, Code Veronica takes the storytelling level to new heights. Three months after the massive zombie outbreak at Raccoon City, Claire Redfield is still looking for her missing brother. Following the lead that Chris ran to Europe, she covertly attempts to raid an Umbrella Corporation facility in Paris. During the infiltration, she is captured and then imprisoned on Rockfort Island. Luckily for her, Claire is left unharmed and subsequently freed from her prison cell by a friendly guard. Yet, that’s where her good fortune runs out. Not only is Rockport island under attack by a rival corporation of Umbrella, but there has also been another T-Virus outbreak. This of course means the usual zombies, dogs, and other mutants, with a slight twist: the customary slow staggering zombies now gives way to a more proactive undead.

Experience under her belt, Claire dodges and fights through the never-ending maze of zombies and mutant monsters. She later stumbles into a fellow inmate by the name of Steve Burnside. With plenty of personal issues and baggage to boat, Steve makes for a rather reckless and often incapable companion. To give him credit though, Steve does end up saving Claire in true knight form once or thrice, but it is nothing compared to how many times Claire has rescued him.

Claire's phenomenal introductory scene is a well-known and celebrated moment within the game.

Claire and Steve are then introduced to the commander of the base, Alfred Ashford, a mad, cross-dressing aristocrat with family ties to the origins of Umbrella  and the T-Virus. His tinkling giggles are reminscient of your archetypical mad hatter villain (a la The Joker). The story takes a more serious turn, however, when Steve is forced to kill his own undead father in order to save Claire’s life.

Meanwhile, Albert Wesker, the double-crossing Umbrella agent from the first game, is on a mission of his own: retrieve a sample of the T-Veronica Virus developed by Alfred’s presumed to be dead sister Alexia and return it to his unit, an unnamed secret organization against Umbrella. His unit is also responsible for the chaos and outbreak of the T-Virus on the island.

After many run-ins with Ashford, who schizophrenics between himself and his ‘dead’ sister Alexia, Claire and Steve finally make their way to the airport and jet off. Their happy escape plans, however, are thwarted when Ashford sets their plane into auto-pilot, and sends them straight to another Umbrella facility in the Antarctic. Apparently, Alfred’s allegedly deceased sister Alexia has been held cryogenically frozen for fifteen years, in hopes of counter-acting the effects of the T-Veronica virus she injected into herself. Alfred sported grandiose visions of waking up and freeing his beloved sister.

After a crash landing and a romantic interlude between Claire and Steve (Enter: Cheesy Romantic Musical Theme, part one), a fight takes place with Alfred in Antarctica. (Please note: It’s really amazing how, despite the fact that they are in subarctic conditions and only sporting short sleeves, they all seem to be faring just fine). Alfred escapes, barely alive, and crawls to where Alexia lies frozen. He witnesses her awakening moments before taking his final breath. Once again fooled into thinking they were making an escape, Claire and Steve are captured by giant tentacles summoned by the now wide-awake Alexia.

The idea of family is a central theme to the story, with Chris and Claire and Alfred and Alexia.

In the meantime, Claire’s brother, Chris, arrives on Rockfort Island after having been contacted by Leon. He learns that Claire has left the island and proceeds to have quite an interesting encounter with Albert Wesker. Wesker is now an even more formidable opponent to Chris: his encounter with the infection in the first Resident Evil installment left him with superhuman powers and abilities. Needless to say, it looked like Chris was pretty much done for. However, the beating, er fight, is interrupted by a brief appearance of a cackling Alexia on a TV screen. Shocked to see that Alexia is indeed alive, Wesker leaves Chris and regroups to the Antarctic.

Chris heads toward Antarctica as well, and is finally reunited with Claire. After a touching reunion, Claire sets out to find Steve. Claire finds Steve and soon discovers that Alexia has conducted an experiment on him, injecting him with the T-Veronica Virus. In one of the most moving and heart-breaking moments of the game, Steve mutates into a reptilian monster and attempts to kill Claire. He ends up having a change of heart, and saves her from one of Alexia’s tentacles. He then mutates back into his human form and dies, but not before confessing his undying love for Claire. Even though his voice is incredibly whiny and rather grating at times, Steve’s death weighs heavily on Claire as much as the player. (If you have an ounce of heart, that is)

Enter Chris. He and Wesker stumble into each other and are confronted by the continuously evolving Alexia. Her infected body is now mutating at an alarming rate, intimidating even the superhuman Wesker. He takes off, leaving Chris to fend for himself against the now wasp-like Alexia. Chris must defeat Alexia, free Claire from yet another prison cell, and escape Antarctica, all while taking down Umbrella in the process. Phew! A long story, indeed.

Code Veronica takes you on a ride-literally-through a plethora of different regions.

Gameplay
Similar to the previous Resident Evils, this game features two main protagonists: Claire and Chris Redfield. However, unlike in some of the other titles, you do not have the option of choosing which adventure to parktake on. Players are forced to play as Claire for the first half of the game and then finish the latter half with Chris. Additionally, Steve Burnside is briefly playable in Claire’s portion of the game.

Like usual, you begin the escapade with minimal supplies: nothing but a lighter. You will have to work extra hard to find all the guns, herbs, and emblems and avoid the now slightly proactive zombies. Though the zombies are fewer in this installment, they do happen to be more aggressive and have the uncanny ability to hole you into a tightly enclosed space. Sometimes, the mutants actually set up small ambushes for you in enclosed areas, blocking your usual escape route and forcing you to use that oh so precious ammo of yours. Simply dodging and ditching doesn’t always work to your advantage in this game; and sometimes it’s not even an option.

The bosses in this story are incredibly tough to beat. Not only do you have the more aggressive zombies and mutants, but you also get to fight bigger, creepier, and tougher final bosses (read: The tyrants). The right firepower and strategic shooting tactics will all be necessary to successfully outmaneuver these creatures. The Tyrant isn’t necessarily a fearsome demon, he is just tough to beat. The Tremor-esque worm creatures aren’t knock your socks off scary either; in fact, a lot of the villains and monsters in Code Veronica are a lot less frightening in general (excluding those snarky spiders). This doesn’t mean, however, that random creatures bursting through walls and surprise attacking you around corners don’t send your heart flying a time or two.

Albert Wesker makes a return appearance and enriches the storyline even more by challenging Chris Redfield.

Various differences also exist within the gameplay of Code Veronica. For example, your health status is now exhibited in the VMU display as opposed to the usual spot in the items screen. No longer do you have to stop midway to check on your character’s health. Additionally, one of the best supplements to the game includes the Continue option, which allows the player to retry a scene after a game over (FINALLY!) Also, another nifty new extra: the player can now pick and use a healing herb when the character’s inventory is already full.

Experienced Resident Evil fans will take comfort in the fact that most of the weapons from the earlier games make return appearances: the knife, handguns, shotgun, grenade launcher and the crossbow. Resident Evil 2’s upgradeable handgun parts and sidepacks are included as well. Code Veronica also features some new weapons and items, which include a sniper rifle, an AK-47, anti-BOW rounds for the grenade launcher, and several guns only found in pairs (I’ll trade you some Gold Lugers, Claire!). The dual wielding pistols allows the player to target to enemies at the same time. Moreover, two weapons (Sniper Rifle and Linear Launcher) can now be fired from the character’s view, in first person.

Make sure and dodge the Bandersnatch's elongated arm and aim for his weaker side.

Visuals
Simply put, Code Veronica’s graphics are absolutely gorgeous. It sports some of the best CG cutscenes in all of the Resident Evils, and far surpasses many of the titles in its class. This is definitely a game where the creators went above and beyond in establishing the sinister and ominous aura. Resident Evil vets will be pleasantly surprised and satisfied with the vast visual improvements.

Claire’s breath-taking introductory cutscene is but one of many to behold. The FMV sequences were so graphically advanced that you could even discern the difference between a regular cutscene and a cutscene displaying a vintage reel-a sort of video within a video-and the effect is mesmerizing.

Code: Veronica is the first game in the series to use polygonal 3D backgrounds instead of the traditional pre-rendered ones. The new 3D engine allows for real-time lighting and slightly different camera movements. This time, the camera automatically switches between different fixed angles across the screen. Besides that, however, the camera angles don’t make up a huge difference and remain largely unchanged from the previous Resident Evils.

Audio
The auditory soundtrack to the game is as phenomenally improved as its visuals. Everything down to the sound of waves splashing against wood, the tinkling of raindrops on metal drums, and the heavy fall of footsteps getting closer all are spectacularly clear and do an excellent job of tensing up the player. Echoes are magnified in this game, enhancing the atmosphere of emptiness and foreboding.

While Claire and Chris’s voices remain comfortably the same as previous games, Alfred Ashford’s maniacal cackle brings an extremely disturbing element to the game. He does a fantastic job of drawing you into the scene and setting your hairs on end.

The musical score of the game is outstanding in comparison to the previous titles. Operatic voices chime in unexpectedly, alternating pitches of classical notes match the tension build-up and even the lack of music all set this game’s soundtrack apart from the others.

One of the newest features of Code Veronica is the addition of more zombies on screen at once. This makes the dodge and run trick not an easy feat.

Alternate Versions
Resident Evil: Code Veronica, originally released for the Sega Dreamcast, is the first of the series to debut on a non-Sony platform. Not only that, but it is also the first true sequel with classic gameplay not to contain a numbered title. Like previous incarnations, the game was later ported onto other platforms, the PS2 and the GameCube. These ports included an updated version and many extras.

Contrary to it’s Japanese forerunner, the American version of this game only has one difficulty setting. The “Easy” and “Very Easy” versions of the Japanese port starts the player off with the infinite rocket launcher and an unlimited supply of ink ribbons. Easy indeed! The American version, named Code Veronica X, not only contains an array of new features, but also includes a fictional video documentary titled Wesker’s Report. The documentary, narrated by Albert Wesker, serves as a recap of the events that transpired in the first three games in the series. You also find out a thing or two about the mysterious Ada Wong (introduced in Resident Evil 2) and her relation to Wesker.

As far as gameplay is concerned, Code: Veronica X is identical to the earlier ports. However, it does feature over nine minutes of never-before-seen cut scenes spread throughout the game. The graphics on the PS2 port are a hair better than that of Dreamcast’s, and also include a couple of changes (like a new hairstyle for Steve). Ideally, the playstation port would be the better play. Besides a few minor graphical changes, it sports almost ten minutes of additional footage that makes the game just that much better. The extra video is not necessary for full gameplay enjoyment, but it really helps to flesh out the story.

Alfred and Alexia Ashford's mansion is but one of many regions you will explore in Code Veronica. Try to pick out the cross-dresser in this image. Or is that the 'real' Alexia?

Lifespan
I’m not gonna lie to you: Resident Evil: Code Veronica undertakes some good, quality hours to beat. The gameplay is a little harder than previous titles and the areas you explore are enormously expansive. Some of the bosses and puzzles will have you pulling out your hair and screaming in frustration at the tenth Game Over screen. However, the gratification you experience after finally seeing the credits roll makes it all worth it.

As in most Resident Evils, completing the game within a certain time interval opens up a few tasty unlockables: battle mode, other playable characters, new items and some pretty kick ass weapons. In Battle mode, you must fight your way through a plethora of daunting enemies, offering a first-person perspective if you perform well. However, the battle mode eventually loses some of it’s luster, and is a weak supplement in comparison to the amazing ‘zap’ system implemented in one of the earlier games. Though worth every hour spent playing it, the game is a lot longer than the others and will have you taking a good break before picking up the controller and running through it again.

Recommendation
If you are an experienced Resident Evil veteran, you won’t be disappointed with this enthralling sequel. Taking inspiration from classic horror and action films, Shinji created a masterpiece of the survival horror genre, rivaling even the top rated games for the dreamcast to this day. Even though this isn’t the scariest game in the series and will likely cause you great frustration, the richly detailed narrative and engrossing character development leave you more than satisfied once completed. Featuring exquisitive FMV’s and a fascinating story that sinks it’s teeth into you (Ha), Code Veronica is a game for all seasons.

Resident Evil: Code Veronica
System: Dreamcast, Playstation 2, GameCube,
Developer: NexTech / Flagship
Publisher: Capcom
Find: Amazon - Gamefly - Goozex
All reviews are based on final retail code unless otherwise noted.

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