Resident Evil: Code: Veronica X

The first three games are viewed as classics and the later RE4 is talked about as if it's the second coming, but Code: Veronica always sounded a bit like a footnote to an outsider like me. Having finished it I feel this probably could have been called Resident Evil 4. 

I played the remastered 16:9 version on the PS3

While I mostly enjoyed 3 (I've warmed to it a bit since I wrote about it) its setting makes it seem like a bit of a companion piece to RE2. It's a good side story that fleshes out the world but it largely feels like more of the same. Code: Veronica doesn't radically change any mechanics so it's still the tank controls and backtracking you've grown to love and/or hate but it effectively brings back the character-switching dual-playthroughs of the first two games that 3 dropped and it introduces some things that I know will end up being relevant to future entries. This probably has more to do with the PS3's remastered version I played rather than the original game itself, but it looked much better so playing a familiar game with much higher-fidelity assets was a plus. On that note however, this PS3 version swapped the controls for sprinting and interacting so I fumbled with them a bit early on. I eventually accustomed and it stopped being an issue.

The plot of this is largely self-contained. It's set on a remote island with a new strain of T-Virus and by the end the new virus is (maybe) gone and the only real thing that's changed is that Chris and Wesker have some beef now. After playing Survivor this honestly feels pretty close to that game's remote Umbrella island and one-off genetic experiments, so in some ways I understand why it wasn't a numbered entry. Still, where 3 is set at roughly the same time as 2 this game moves the timeline forward a bit.

As I mentioned earlier they didn't reinvent the wheel with the gameplay but that's not the worst thing. I've largely gotten used to and learned to appreciate the tank controls and fixed-camera so it plays pretty similar to RE3, minus the dodge (which I see as a good thing!). The quick-turn from RE3 is back (and VERY useful) and they've also added a few weapons you can dual-wield. This addition is little more than a novelty allowing you to (sometimes) shoot at multiple targets but it's a cool visual when it pops up. There are some frustrating bosses and a few poorly thought out areas (I have very harsh words for whoever designed that hallway with the moths) but it's basically just more Resident Evil.

 

Dual-wielding may not always be practical but boy is it cool

The structure is also something I appreciated after coming off of those earlier games. Even though there's no option to choose a character at the start the game effectively has you run through it once as Claire and then a second time as Chris. He revisits (many of) the same locations and can take advantage of items left behind by Claire. In some ways t feels like an evolution of RE2's A/B Scenarios and "zapping" system. It's a bit messy as there are fixed points where you switch characters and, if you aren't careful, it seems like you could easily get softlocked if you keep an item with the wrong character or leave it somewhere you can't backtrack to. Still, it was a cool thing to see and it makes me a bit sad that (as far as I'm aware?) none of the later mainline Resident Evil games have any of this A/B same-location stuff.

Now, onto my first complaint: Steve.

Look at this dork

I could just leave it at that but I'll elaborate. He accompanies Claire throughout most of the game and he's not a bad character in theory, but his voice and attitude were constantly grating and there were moments when I was actively hoping he'd get killed. He's a loner who's horny for Claire and that's about all there is to him. He just sorta sucks. What makes him even worse, though, is that because of him Claire turns into a lovesick damsel-in-distress once Chris shows up and that undoes a lot of the positive momentum the story'd previously built up for her. That's not entirely Steve's fault, but he sure didn't help.

Mechanically, the fixed camera angles get in the way of combat pretty frequently and early on the game is way too stingy with healing items. There are a few fights where taking damage is all but guaranteed and that sort of design can be tricky because herbs might not always be available (and you probably won't have a massive stockpile). It gets better later on but I think I only found one red herb in that entire first disc area as Claire.

The game is also very dark. I've included a few screenshots throughout this and I thought about potentially touching them up to make them a bit clearer, but if you're squinting to try to make out what you're seeing you're one step closer to playing this game. I've heard one of the PS3 versions biggest updates was to the game's lighting model but because I've seen some people say it's significantly better and some others say that it's actually worse I don't truly know if it was an improvement. When there are flames and lights there's a nice ambience and shadows consistently impress, but items and enemies are frequently hidden in dark recesses and corners and because of that I'm certain there were loads of herbs and ammo boxes I failed to pick up. Maintaining an atmosphere is important but, c'mon.

Shotgun ammo and multiple herbs are in this hallway. Do you see them?

 

I hope they eventually remake this one. While the old games exist (and this one is playable on PS4 if you're OK with emulating the PS2 version) they've (apparently) done great things when it comes to modernizing these older entries and I'd love to see another take on this story because for the most part it's pretty good Resident Evil. Heck, maybe Steve could actually be likeable! Also, uh, Claire has one line of dialogue near the end that hopefully wouldn't be in their hypothetical remake because it sounds judgmental at best and pretty bigoted at worst.

I do think they should keep the terrible moth hallway though. Modern gamers deserve to be put in their place.

This hallway really, really, really sucks

I've included my completion screen below though I'm a bit disappointed with how I did. I know the score isn't important (especially on a first-playthrough) but I was playing under a few restrictions I'd placed on myself and one of those was that I wouldn't use "retries". Apparently, I must have failed a bossfight and thumbed through to keep going without realizing what I was doing so now I've got that stain on my clear screen so I feel like I probably should've gotten better than a D. Oh well.

There's one final thing I feel I need to mention. Prior to starting these games last year my knowledge of this series was confined to a handful of gameplay clips and videos but, more memorably, loads of webcomics and animations. I remember DEEPLY enjoying the stuff by LegendaryFrog when I was a kid. Not everything from back then holds up (the Internet was a different place back in '05 and I was a Literal Child, so my tastes were different) but I feel like I should explain that a lot of my baseline Resident Evil info came from stuff like the following.

 

 

While playing the game, coming to the realization that his impression of Alfred Ashford was spot-on was a delight. Also, the nervous "something's gonna jump out at me" mantra has been ringing through my head ever since I started the first game.

Next on my agenda is Survivor 2. It looks like that's pretty short and is basically a retelling of Code: Veronica so I thought about just appending my thoughts on it to this, but I should probably have enough to say about it to justify its own post (whenever I get around to playing it, that is).