Review

As was first reported in GameSpot News, Resident Evil: Code Veronica (called Biohazard: Code Veronica in Japan) is set three months after the end of Resident Evil 2, with the player once again controlling Claire Redfield. After flying to Europe to investigate the disappearance of her brother Chris, Claire is abducted and taken to an isolated tropical island where some familiar rotting friends once again start popping up.

Veronica features a significant break with previous titles in the series - all the backgrounds are now done in full polygons, allowing the camera to move, following the action and a first-person view. There are also possible environmental changes, such as collapsing ceilings or toppling pillars. Veronica also makes use of the special effects of the Dreamcast hardware, like dramatic lighting and shadow and characters with skin so you don't see the jagged polygon edges. Imagine the detail on that.

We got a new look at the game during the Tokyo Game Show, shown in playable form for the first time anywhere. And here's what we found out:

First of all, the game will ship on two GD-ROMs. And even though Mikami didn't confirm it today, we've learned that Code Veronica will feature a slightly modified version of the zapping system from Resident Evil 2, so the player will be able to play as a different character for each disc, with each character's story intertwining with and affecting other stories. The two characters in Code: Veronica will be Claire Redfield and her brother, Chris Redfield. The story takes place three months after Resident Evil 2 and 3, with Claire heading off to Europe to search for her brother. Apparently, something goes wrong along the way, and where she ends up may or may not be where she had intended to go.

As mentioned, Code Veronica's world is composed entirely of polygons - a first for the RE series. Everything is rendered in full 3D, which makes for more dramatic use of the camera, and more dynamic lighting effects. For example, Claire's lighter actually illuminates her surroundings in real time, and the effects are very nice. When gunshots are fired, the blast actually affects the lighting too. Speaking of guns, apparently it'll be possible to handle two at once, though we weren't shown this feature during the game demonstration. It just happened to be the first thing Mikami muttered when he began playing.

There will be a 180-degree turn, just as there was in Dino Crisis and Resident Evil 3, though it was not available in the current version of the game.

At one point early in the game, a cinema scene came up that involved something crashing through a window and Claire rolling on the ground. Mikami quickly jumped up to block our view of this while he turned the monitor off. Apparently, he said, this cinema is key to the storyline, and he didn't want to reveal it just yet. He said it wouldn't be in the version being shown at TGS. However, before he turned it off we were able to sneak a peek at a male character in the background who looked quite a bit like Leon from RE2. Was it he? We really couldn't say for sure - the guy was in normal street clothes - but it certainly isn't out of the question, especially since he looked pretty similar to old Mr. Kennedy. (Leon, not Sam.) Also, Claire's little roll looked amazingly realistic. And it turns out that Capcom used motion capture for all f the game's cinema scenes for added realism.

The game's graphics were a bit unbalanced. Some looked rather plain and ordinary (hopefully because the game isn't finished), while other parts looked amazing. (The high altitude outdoor cliff area in particular looked simply incredible.) The animation was the same way - some of it rocked (the dogs especially), while some of it seemed unfinished. Hopefully, that's all it is. Sound effects are of similar fashion - footsteps sounded loud and tinny, even while walking outside on the grass, though the growls of the zombies and the barking of the dogs sounded great.

There are ten major areas this time, according to Mikami, and the game length will be one-and-a-half to two times longer than that of Resident Evil 3 for the PS (yes!). --Staff
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc. -- GameSpot Preview