Resident Evil Code: Veronica
03 Feb 2000
All releases
03 Feb 2000 - Dreamcast
29 Feb 2000 - Dreamcast
26 May 2000 - Dreamcast
Tags
Time to beat
Main story
Main story + extras
100% completion
Resident Evil Code: Veronica is the fourth video game in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series. The game continues the survival horror gameplay of its predecessors: the protagonist explores the surroundings, fighting monsters and solving puzzles. However, it is the first game in the series to do away with pre-rendered backgrounds using a fully polygonal 3D engine instead, which allows for features such as real-time lighting and camera movement. Still, such movements are only used sparingly, and the use of perspective is mostly unchanged from earlier installments: the camera automatically switches to different static angles showing protagonists, monsters and rooms from different spooky viewpoints.
Three months after the events of Resident Evil 2, Claire Redfield is still looking for her brother Chris. She infiltrates Umbrella Corporation's headquarters in Paris, where she is captured and knocked out. When she comes to, she finds herself in a prison on a remote island. Freed by a friendly guard, Claire faces several problems. Not only is the island under attack by an unknown assailant, but there has been another outbreak of the T-Virus and the island is crawling with zombies and other mutated creatures. Claire not only has to face the undead, but also the commander of the base, a mad aristocrat with family ties to the origins of Umbrella Corporation and the T-Virus. And escaping from the island is only the beginning of Claire's ordeals.
Updated versions
Firstly, the gameplay is very similar to the instalments that came before, which is a colossal plus. The variety of settings is also refreshing, with scenes changing from gloomy prison complexes, to sterile laboratories, and ostentatious palatial chambers, to eerie gothic quarters. The soundtrack that accompanies these locales is capital, further imbuing such areas with their own palpable character.
The story is a marvellous blend of that typical RE motif: the relationship between the claustrophobic experiences of the protagonist characters and the wider world of conspiracy and international theatre. We see a narrative that takes our characters through innumerable trials, facing villains that share a great deal in common with the masks of Thalia and Melpomene, masking the very real threat to the world in more isolated ‘hallway horror’.
A must buy, if you ask me. Reason why it’s not a 10/10.. Steve Burnside.. just Steve.. hate him. His voice is annoying as fuck 🤣
