The original Resident Evil was one of the PlayStation’s earliest hits, and also one of the first really good uses of the system’s CD format. This horror title featured a significant number of pre-rendered backgrounds, FMV sequences, and a fully voiced storyline. The sequel that followed was an even bigger hit, and cemented the franchise as one of the most popular of the 32-bit generation. After that the future was a little uncertain. New hardware was on the horizon, and it was Sega’s next console that was launching first. One of the original titles announced for the system, which turned out to be the Dreamcast, was a brand new Resident Evil title. This game was set to take advantage of the more powerful console, but much to the surprise of its fans, this was not to be called part 3. Instead Capcom dubbed this game Resident Evil Code Veronica which made it sound like a spin-off rather than an advance in the story. This turned out not to be the case as CV made some rather large strides in the franchise, and by all counts and measures is the real Resident Evil 3. This was also one of the first games I picked up on the Dreamcast, and it quickly became one of my favorite entries in the series.
The story here picks up a few months after the events of both Resident Evil 2 and 3. The opening sequence depicts Claire Redfield, one of the protagonists from the second game, as she’s infiltrating the headquarters of the evil Umbrella Corporation who was responsible for all of the previous zombie virus outbreaks. Unfortunately Claire is soon captured alive and sent to live out her remaining days in a damp jail cell on the decrepit Rockforte Island which serves as another base for Umbrella’s operations. Soon after her arrival the small landmass becomes infected with the classic T-virus, and is soon crawling with zombies. Claire is released from her cell because, as her captor puts it, ‘everyone is going to die anyway.’ Unfortunately for her the manager of the Rockforte Facilities, Albert Ashford, has lost his mind a bit and is hunting her down. Eventually she learns of horrific experiments that have taken place there, and a brand new virus with a truly twisted host that wants nothing more than to see her demise. The story is extremely cheesy but by franchise standards its one of the most entertaining. The locales are extremely interesting, and there are some fantastic throwbacks to the original game here. This is also the longest game in the main Resident Evil franchise by quite a long shot.
Code Veronica’s gameplay is virtually unchanged from the previous games. You guide Claire through a series of 3D environments with dramatic camera angles using the classic tank controls. Most areas of the game are inhabited by zombies, and these are dispatched with firearms (or when you get real desperate you can always rely on the handy knife). Rockforte Island also plays host to a number of other creatures including the classic hunter creatures, mutated animals, and a new foe named the Bandersnatch who can stretch his limbs. On paper this game sounds like pretty standard Resident Evil fare, but Capcom made some notable upgrades to the engine. For starters this is the first game in the franchise that doesn’t rely on pre-rendered backgrounds. As such the camera will often move with you instead of being entirely static. This was a pretty big upgrade at the time of release, and still helps to make this one stand out from the other Classic RE titles. It’s unfortunate to note, but a few of the new features introduced in part 3 are absent here. You cannot create and mix ammunition, and the 180 degree turn is also gone. I never cared that much for these features so it isn’t that big of a deal for me personally. Like in Resident Evil 3 the days of choosing from two characters is no longer an option, but at key points in the story control shifts over to two others.
Aside from that there aren’t a lot of changes, but the classic Resident Evil gameplay is what makes this game so much fun. You must constantly manage your supplies because you’re up against a horde of zombies, and ammunition is limited. Enemies don’t drop ammo like they do in other games, and instead, you must find boxes of ammunition left behind by the people who once inhabited these environments. In addition Claire can only take so many zombie bites and other attacks before dying, and only first aid spray and herbs (which are also scarce) can recover you. Most of the time you’re tasked with finding keys or other items to get past obstacles, and are tasked with searching the environments for these. This leads to a lot of backtracking; it’s actually worse here than in the previous RE titles, but you’re given a handy map to help you navigate and I never found this aspect frustrating. What is annoying, however, is that you have limited inventory space and every key item, weapon, and healing item takes up one slot. To help alleviate this issue are the storage boxes where you can keep anything you don’t need, but it can be annoying to backtrack to these when you’re out of space. This raises the tension a bit because you can only carry so many weapons with you at once, and the already frightening atmosphere as well as several well placed jump scares ensures that players will stay on their toes.
What sets this one apart from the rest of the pack, at least in my opinion, is the different locations. The first half of the game takes place on Rockforte Island which is gloomy and foreboding. This place is quite different from the mansion of the original, and Raccoon City from the second and third games because it isn’t as claustrophobic. Instead it feels like an extremely lonely place, and the backstory that you uncover as you progress is very eerie. It’s a place that has been long forgotten, and every building/room has a story to tell. From here you actually end up at an Umbrella base on Antarctica which admittedly doesn’t sound very interesting, but the cold environments make for a nice change of pace. In addition one area of the game is a re-creation of the mansion of the original, but this is not outwardly stated. It was really cool as a fan of the series to suddenly realize this. Code Veronica is a very long game and is the only RE title that I can’t finish in one sitting. There’s a long story to tell here, and this one introduces some of my favorite villains in the series as well as bringing back some old faces. The story, dynamic camera, and themes centering around insects and metamorphosis really make this one stand out from the other Resident Evil titles.
As of this writing Resident Evil Code Veronica is almost fifteen years old, and it doesn’t use pre-rendered backgrounds. Usually that’s the kiss of death as far as graphics go, but this game still looks quite good. The environments look almost as good as the pre-rendered ones from the previous games, and the character models are greatly improved and no longer look blocky or pixelated. Because of the new engine there’s a lot of fantastic lighting effects, and some areas are illuminated only with Claire’s lighter which is a fantastic touch. Code Veronica supports the Dreamcast’s VGA adapter allowing it to be displayed in 480p, and while in this mode the game looks crystal clear even on my modern TV. It’s the only way to play it as far as I’m concerned. The soundtrack is typical Resident Evil fare, but it’s generally slower and more somber here. It fits the story and the environments quite well, and I like pretty much all of the tracks here. The voice work is as cheesy as it ever was, but in this case it can be downright annoying. The actor who plays Steve Burnside (an important character in the story) is grating. Every time he talks it’s like nails on a chalkboard. Other than this issue the audio is generally quite good.
Resident Evil Code Veronica is easily my second favorite Resident Evil title, and to this day stands out as one of the best survival horror games ever released. It’s a perfect blend of old and new; the updated graphics as well as the advancing story mix extremely well with the classic RE gameplay. This one really should have been dubbed part 3 because, despite it’s labeling, it is not a side story. Resident Evil Code Veronica is available on a plethora of systems now (even modern ones) and with Halloween coming up it’s the perfect time to play it.
