Resident Evil Code: Veronica X

Evil is just around the corner.

JP release: 7th August 2003
NA release: 3rd December 2003
EU release: 12th March 2004
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
NGC Magazine Score: 70%
Mods Used: Widescreen Code

Resident Evil was the leap to a new console for the franchise, that console being the Dreamcast. The big thing was that the game no longer uses pre-rendered backgrounds, instead opting for fully modelled environments. This means that the camera moves slightly and occasionally follows your character, but is still mostly static with set angles and tank movement – something which feels even stranger to me due to the 3D environment, which has lots of little steps that you have to press A to go up. I also found the graphics to be rather drab and colourless compared to earlier games.

The opening of the game shows a cutscene with Claire Redfield assaulting an Umbrella base. In this cutscene, she’s an action hero, wiping out masses of Umbrella guards with slick moves. Which is the complete opposite of how she is during the gameplay, with her first encounter having her freak out as though she’s never seen a zombie before. It always bugs me when an opening CGI cutscene has characters acting completely different than in the game itself.

As for the game, it’s just more Resident Evil. If you like the other Resident Evil games, that’s a good thing, but they’re just not something that I can get into. The same inventory annoyances are present here, and the same controls. It also doesn’t feel like they’ve done anything to improve the gameplay or make things different like either Resident Evil 3 or the later Resident Evil Zero. That said, it also doesn’t seem like a bad entry in the franchsie, either.

Fine

If all your Resident Evil experiences have been on GameCube, and you’ve enjoyed them immensely, then you owe it to yourself to play through this, even if it’s just to explore the Resi universe further and set yourself up for Resi 4. Just make sure you don’t pay full price for it, eh.
Geraint Evans, NGC Magazine #91

Remake or remaster?

Without pre-rendered backgrounds, this is probably one of the easier classic Resident Evil games to remaster.

Official Ways to get the game

You can get the 360 version of Resident Evil Code: Veronica X on the Xbox store, which plays on Xbox Series.