one
A game analysis of Resident Evil: Code Veronica X that I did for my game design class.
Name: Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (PS2)
Genre: Survival Horror
Publisher: Capcom
Eidos
Developer: Nex Entertainment
Sales: Couldn't find it
Input: D-pad/left stick - movement, L1 - change aim, R1 - aim, Triangle - map, Circle - cancel/run, Square/X - ok/attack, Start - status, Select - option
Basic Review
Graphics - In the middle, for the series. They're not as good as RE4, they're better than earlier games, and they're comparable to RE3. The charater models and environments are good, but some of the enemies can look blocky.
Playability - Unless you're a huge Claire and/or Chris fan, not much replayability here. It's fine for those times when you want to go back and play it through because you haven't in a while, but it definitely doesn't glue you to the chair and make you want to play it over and over again. The controls are mediocre as well. Movement is the standard fare for RE games, although it seems even worse than RE:DC. If you're not a complete master over the controls, Claire and Chris weave around like they're trying to defeat the zombies through interperative dance. One particular thing that comes to mind is trying to escape the Sweeper in the lab off the turntable as Chris. The doors go up automatically when you stand in front of them, but he kept running off to the side while I was trying to get him to go through, even though I was only pressing him in one direction. Right and left is also confusing at times, resulting in me mixing them up and having Claire run towards the gulp worm instead of away from it.
Sound - The sound is usual RE stuff. Good and horror-like, sets the tone for the game without being completely overbearing. It does seem a bit better than the other games, barring RE:DC-DS. The VAs are both the best and the worst in the series. Steve has the absolute worst VA ever. Yes, even worse than all the VAs from the original RE combined. He is that bad. However, there is also arguably the best VA in the series present - Rodrigo. It's a shame he doesn't have very many lines. Chris and Claire are okay, and Alfred is brilliantly maniacal and girly. It's a bit grating, but his VA had to pitch his voice high enough to give you the feeling that yes, Alfred very well could sound just like his sister. The female Alfred/Alexia VA is also okay.
Story - It's been three months since Raccoon City. Claire is out looking for her brother, Chris. She ends up at the Paris facility of Umbrella and gets captured and shipped off to Rockfort Island. There, the worst has happened - the T-virus has infected most of the people there. In fact, the only four who aren't infected are Rodrigo, Claire, Steve, and Alfred. Unfortunately, you're stuck with Steve for most of Claire's scenario (personally, I would have dumped him for Rodrigo. Or Alfred). You start out in the prison and you have to find some way to escape the island, while dodging zombies along the way. Claire wishes that her brother was here - hey, wait, let's just email Leon and tell him to contact Chris so he can come save you! Now why didn't you think about that before you went traipsing off to Paris to infiltrate Umbrella? The world may never know. Anyway, once your email to Leon is sent, you have second thoughts about it and start thinking "Leon's an idiot, he'll never contact Chris for me." or something to that effect, and you take off to continue your search for a way out of there. Instead of finding a safe place and holing up there until Chris comes for you. Whatever. So you go off and do all the dirty work to get the proofs to get into the airplane, while Steve does... something, like go stand in for Leonardo Dicaprio during action sequences in his latest movie. You also get to fight all the neat enemies, like Bandersnatches and a Tyrant. You also have a run in with Wesker. Wait, Wesker's alive? And he has glowing eyes now? AND CAN JUMP LIKE A TYRANT? Yes, yes, and yes. Claire gets smacked around by Wesker (she must be part superhuman herself, as she's not even injured after), but his real target is Chris. Fortunately for you, he gets called by someone and takes off instead of snapping your fragile neck. You and Steve finally get on the plane, though, forgetting all about poor Rodrigo, while the island is set to blow up (even though somehow both Rodrigo and Alfred survive the detonation? And not only that, but the island doesn't look all that bad, except for a few rooms in the military facility being on fire? They should have just stayed there, really). However, you have an unwanted passenger on your plane. So Steve, being the wimp he is, sends the girl back to check it out. Claire fights the Tyrant, again, and everything's okay. Except it's not, as Alfred's changed your course and has sent you down to Antarctica. I guess he wanted you to play with the penguins. So your plane crashes in Antarctica, and now you have to find yet another way out. You decide to head for this Australian base that's five miles or so away. You run through the facility there, again, and make your way up to this landing pad. There's a... bulldozer thing that's just beyond it. But before you can reach it, you have to fight - THE NOSFERATU (dun dun dun). Actually, I can't remember what the monster's name is. It's hinted that it's the Ashford family butler (he tried to quit, and apparantly Alfred didn't like that very much, so he gave him to the crazy doctor to be experimented on. Hazardous family to work for). Anyway, Steve got bitch slapped right over the side (not falling to his death, damnit) so you get to face another boss by yourself. Fortunately, you got that sniper rifle that Alfred dropped. Right? Right? Well, if you didn't, good luck hacking away at him with the knife. Sucker. (As a side note, how the hell did Alfred get to Antarctica that fast? Did he pull a plane out of his ass?) After you beat him, you pull Steve to safety (why? WHY?) and head for the bulldozer thingy. BUT! It seems that despite being severly wounded, Alfred has made his way into an underground chamber, where his sister is in cryostasis. He wakes her up and dies seconds after. Alexia, cranky at being woke up and pissed that her twin's dead, squishes your bulldozer, with you and Steve inside it.
Then we go to Chris. Who has just arrived on the island, and met up with Rodrigo. SEE? If you'd stayed with Rodrigo in the first place, you'd be alive, AND you'd be rescued by your brother, the person you'd been searching for! Steve must have infected Claire with his stupidness. Anyway, after Rodrigo gets eaten by the gulp worm (a moment of silence, please), you run around the same place that Claire had to run around the first part of the game. Yay. But now you have hunters and sweepers and Wesker after you besides just the normal zombies. Joy of joys. Chris finds out that Claire isn't there anymore and takes off for Antarctica, but not before Wesker tries to stop him. Wesker gets freaked out by Alexia (not even her in person, just her image on the screen. That should tell you how powerful she is) and lets Chris go, following him to the Antartica base. Chris and Claire are FINALLY REUNITED, but then Claire has to take off to find Steve (again, WHY?). She finds him, but he's a monster! No, really. It seems this is what happens when you get injected with the Veronica virus without letting yourself sit in stasis for ten years. Claire almost gets impaled by one of Alexia's tentacles, but Steve manages to save her, reverting to his human form after being impaled himself. He confesses his love for her, then dies. And fans everywhere rejoice (and pray that Capcom never, ever brings him back). Meanwhile, Chris and Wesker confront Alexia. Wesker gets beat and cries like a little girl, then takes off to let Chris deal with her. Chris beats her (guess an AK47 is superior to superhuman strength and speed. Guns win again!) and sets off the self-destruct sequence to release the locks to get Claire out of the prison cell she escaped to. Because with Umbrella, all their lock releases are tied in with the self-destruct button. Wonder what would happen if they had to take a prisoner out of the cell for questioning? They must have went through a lot of bases. Anyway, Chris fights Alexia again, and this time beats her for good. They encounter Wesker, Claire takes off to the plane, and Wesker beats up Chris. Even though Chris beat Alexia, against whom Wesker was powerless...? Guess Chris forget to get the submachine guns out of the storage box. There's an explosion, seperating the two. Wesker says he will satisfy is burning desire for revenge the next time they meet (instead of just jumping over there and giving Chris what-for) and takes off. Chris makes his way to the plane, and him and Claire fly off into the sunset, while Chris vows to bring down Umbrella. Ze end. (As a side note, it's ironic that although most of the survivors of Raccoon formed this organization to take Umbrella down with, it was the government forcing them into bankruptcy that took down the most powerful company in the world.)
Enjoyment - It's about as enjoyable as RE3. The paths are too linear and there's not much replay value in it, but it's good for one go-around. You do get to find out more about the history of Umbrella (through the Ashford family legacy), so that's a plus for those who are story oriented. All in all, I'd give it an ok. It's not great, but it's not bad either.
Name: Resident Evil Code: Veronica X (PS2)
Genre: Survival Horror
Publisher: Capcom
Eidos
Developer: Nex Entertainment
Sales: Couldn't find it
Input: D-pad/left stick - movement, L1 - change aim, R1 - aim, Triangle - map, Circle - cancel/run, Square/X - ok/attack, Start - status, Select - option
Basic Review
Graphics - In the middle, for the series. They're not as good as RE4, they're better than earlier games, and they're comparable to RE3. The charater models and environments are good, but some of the enemies can look blocky.
Playability - Unless you're a huge Claire and/or Chris fan, not much replayability here. It's fine for those times when you want to go back and play it through because you haven't in a while, but it definitely doesn't glue you to the chair and make you want to play it over and over again. The controls are mediocre as well. Movement is the standard fare for RE games, although it seems even worse than RE:DC. If you're not a complete master over the controls, Claire and Chris weave around like they're trying to defeat the zombies through interperative dance. One particular thing that comes to mind is trying to escape the Sweeper in the lab off the turntable as Chris. The doors go up automatically when you stand in front of them, but he kept running off to the side while I was trying to get him to go through, even though I was only pressing him in one direction. Right and left is also confusing at times, resulting in me mixing them up and having Claire run towards the gulp worm instead of away from it.
Sound - The sound is usual RE stuff. Good and horror-like, sets the tone for the game without being completely overbearing. It does seem a bit better than the other games, barring RE:DC-DS. The VAs are both the best and the worst in the series. Steve has the absolute worst VA ever. Yes, even worse than all the VAs from the original RE combined. He is that bad. However, there is also arguably the best VA in the series present - Rodrigo. It's a shame he doesn't have very many lines. Chris and Claire are okay, and Alfred is brilliantly maniacal and girly. It's a bit grating, but his VA had to pitch his voice high enough to give you the feeling that yes, Alfred very well could sound just like his sister. The female Alfred/Alexia VA is also okay.
Story - It's been three months since Raccoon City. Claire is out looking for her brother, Chris. She ends up at the Paris facility of Umbrella and gets captured and shipped off to Rockfort Island. There, the worst has happened - the T-virus has infected most of the people there. In fact, the only four who aren't infected are Rodrigo, Claire, Steve, and Alfred. Unfortunately, you're stuck with Steve for most of Claire's scenario (personally, I would have dumped him for Rodrigo. Or Alfred). You start out in the prison and you have to find some way to escape the island, while dodging zombies along the way. Claire wishes that her brother was here - hey, wait, let's just email Leon and tell him to contact Chris so he can come save you! Now why didn't you think about that before you went traipsing off to Paris to infiltrate Umbrella? The world may never know. Anyway, once your email to Leon is sent, you have second thoughts about it and start thinking "Leon's an idiot, he'll never contact Chris for me." or something to that effect, and you take off to continue your search for a way out of there. Instead of finding a safe place and holing up there until Chris comes for you. Whatever. So you go off and do all the dirty work to get the proofs to get into the airplane, while Steve does... something, like go stand in for Leonardo Dicaprio during action sequences in his latest movie. You also get to fight all the neat enemies, like Bandersnatches and a Tyrant. You also have a run in with Wesker. Wait, Wesker's alive? And he has glowing eyes now? AND CAN JUMP LIKE A TYRANT? Yes, yes, and yes. Claire gets smacked around by Wesker (she must be part superhuman herself, as she's not even injured after), but his real target is Chris. Fortunately for you, he gets called by someone and takes off instead of snapping your fragile neck. You and Steve finally get on the plane, though, forgetting all about poor Rodrigo, while the island is set to blow up (even though somehow both Rodrigo and Alfred survive the detonation? And not only that, but the island doesn't look all that bad, except for a few rooms in the military facility being on fire? They should have just stayed there, really). However, you have an unwanted passenger on your plane. So Steve, being the wimp he is, sends the girl back to check it out. Claire fights the Tyrant, again, and everything's okay. Except it's not, as Alfred's changed your course and has sent you down to Antarctica. I guess he wanted you to play with the penguins. So your plane crashes in Antarctica, and now you have to find yet another way out. You decide to head for this Australian base that's five miles or so away. You run through the facility there, again, and make your way up to this landing pad. There's a... bulldozer thing that's just beyond it. But before you can reach it, you have to fight - THE NOSFERATU (dun dun dun). Actually, I can't remember what the monster's name is. It's hinted that it's the Ashford family butler (he tried to quit, and apparantly Alfred didn't like that very much, so he gave him to the crazy doctor to be experimented on. Hazardous family to work for). Anyway, Steve got bitch slapped right over the side (not falling to his death, damnit) so you get to face another boss by yourself. Fortunately, you got that sniper rifle that Alfred dropped. Right? Right? Well, if you didn't, good luck hacking away at him with the knife. Sucker. (As a side note, how the hell did Alfred get to Antarctica that fast? Did he pull a plane out of his ass?) After you beat him, you pull Steve to safety (why? WHY?) and head for the bulldozer thingy. BUT! It seems that despite being severly wounded, Alfred has made his way into an underground chamber, where his sister is in cryostasis. He wakes her up and dies seconds after. Alexia, cranky at being woke up and pissed that her twin's dead, squishes your bulldozer, with you and Steve inside it.
Then we go to Chris. Who has just arrived on the island, and met up with Rodrigo. SEE? If you'd stayed with Rodrigo in the first place, you'd be alive, AND you'd be rescued by your brother, the person you'd been searching for! Steve must have infected Claire with his stupidness. Anyway, after Rodrigo gets eaten by the gulp worm (a moment of silence, please), you run around the same place that Claire had to run around the first part of the game. Yay. But now you have hunters and sweepers and Wesker after you besides just the normal zombies. Joy of joys. Chris finds out that Claire isn't there anymore and takes off for Antarctica, but not before Wesker tries to stop him. Wesker gets freaked out by Alexia (not even her in person, just her image on the screen. That should tell you how powerful she is) and lets Chris go, following him to the Antartica base. Chris and Claire are FINALLY REUNITED, but then Claire has to take off to find Steve (again, WHY?). She finds him, but he's a monster! No, really. It seems this is what happens when you get injected with the Veronica virus without letting yourself sit in stasis for ten years. Claire almost gets impaled by one of Alexia's tentacles, but Steve manages to save her, reverting to his human form after being impaled himself. He confesses his love for her, then dies. And fans everywhere rejoice (and pray that Capcom never, ever brings him back). Meanwhile, Chris and Wesker confront Alexia. Wesker gets beat and cries like a little girl, then takes off to let Chris deal with her. Chris beats her (guess an AK47 is superior to superhuman strength and speed. Guns win again!) and sets off the self-destruct sequence to release the locks to get Claire out of the prison cell she escaped to. Because with Umbrella, all their lock releases are tied in with the self-destruct button. Wonder what would happen if they had to take a prisoner out of the cell for questioning? They must have went through a lot of bases. Anyway, Chris fights Alexia again, and this time beats her for good. They encounter Wesker, Claire takes off to the plane, and Wesker beats up Chris. Even though Chris beat Alexia, against whom Wesker was powerless...? Guess Chris forget to get the submachine guns out of the storage box. There's an explosion, seperating the two. Wesker says he will satisfy is burning desire for revenge the next time they meet (instead of just jumping over there and giving Chris what-for) and takes off. Chris makes his way to the plane, and him and Claire fly off into the sunset, while Chris vows to bring down Umbrella. Ze end. (As a side note, it's ironic that although most of the survivors of Raccoon formed this organization to take Umbrella down with, it was the government forcing them into bankruptcy that took down the most powerful company in the world.)
Enjoyment - It's about as enjoyable as RE3. The paths are too linear and there's not much replay value in it, but it's good for one go-around. You do get to find out more about the history of Umbrella (through the Ashford family legacy), so that's a plus for those who are story oriented. All in all, I'd give it an ok. It's not great, but it's not bad either.