Code Veronica Discussion Topic

[TheBatMan]

Worst game of the core series for me. I never really liked the Ashfords, not a lot of thought really went into them. The intro sequence was ridiculous and Rockfort Island and the Antarctic base were far too bland and uninteresting. There is nothing memorable about the locations of this game. The characters were okay but again the weakest of the series.

The HD release fixed some elements and improved the overall atmosphere but I'd still place it below Zero and Revelations.

[Guest]

2nd best RE. 1st being RE2.

[Sly]

Aside from the story there is little very little positive about the game.

- The games difficulty options, or rather lack of them was a major downer. Only get a normal difficulty and it offers little challenge.
- RE3s great ammo combination system was removed, it added a lot of replay value to RE3 and CV could have benefitted from it.
- Small things like inability to walk up/down stairs freely which RE3 added.
- Lack of detail on environements, I would guess the move to 3D caused this but pre-rendered backgrounds just offered so much more detail to the world that CVs bland walls and surroundings.
- Violence/gore toned down, no blowing heads off zombies in any way. No RE game is this censored. Even other non human enemies couldn't be damaged, everything is a solid shape, always.
- Fogging in environments. Just made verything dull, espcially in combination with bland environments.
- The weapon/ammo balance is awful. You find so much ammo for the handgun it is unreal, other weapons have a major lack of ammo (18 Magnum rounds the entire game!), the shotgun gets a fair amount but the shotgun only appears late in the game for Chris and its power is pathetic anyway, worst shotgun of the entire series.
- No unlockables besides the Rocket Launcher, no infinite ammo, no other special weapons, no alternate costumes (even though one exists for Battlemode they could have used).
- No replay value, aside from the unlockables problem it is a single campaign game, though unlike RE3 and Survivor before it there were no branching paths or alternate ways to do things that keep repeat playthroughs fresh for longer. You do the game once and you've seen everything. Also no harder difficulties as mention already.
- Battlemode was crap, aside from Wesker there was zero challenge to it.
- Set-piece scares were lacking and the few it had were made overly obvious by long pauses while the game seemed to wait for it to happen, the Bandersnatch that jumps through the window a perfect example, was like the game was suffering slowdown or something.
- The general pace of the game/characters/animations was slower compared to RE3, combined with fogging, bland detail lacking environments just made the game depressing, and who wants to be depressed playing a game?
- Easily the most backtracking of any RE game.
- Steve. Self explanatory.

Mostly valid observations here, except for these :
- "RE3s great ammo combination system was removed," > Technically speaking, it was not removed, because the games were developed at the same time. Same goes for the stairs.
- The Battle Mode is in fact a great game mode. At first, I hated it, because I thought this pointless monster killing with infinite ammo was boring. But the real deal is to complete it the faster you can, and you can have a great time training yourself to get better at it.
- When you know the game well, there's not really that much backtracking. Even so, I don't see how backtracking is a problem, since it is what "exploration" is all about, something that modern RE games lack completely.
- Steve is a great character. I think what makes him so annoying is his voice, but he's a well written character with a tragic fate, something we don't get to see often in the series, actually.

For me, the biggest problems with CV are the censorship and lack of replay value (including difficulty modes). But the graphics are great (I really don't think it aged so badly, Dreamcast-type 3D is immortal), I love the characters and the story (even though I do prefer CV over CVX, but that's just me), and above all, the pacing of the game is just perfect, period. I realized it when I replayed CVX HD the other day. There's always something to keep you pushing forward, the cinematics are set at the right time and place... very well-balanced rhtyhm. And of course the soundtrack is a masterpiece, only topped by its Darkside Chronicles remix.

[Dark_Chris]

CVX (HD version) is the second best classic RE game for me, right after REmake. This game has so much in it:

- return of Wesker
- return of Chris
- Chris and Claire finally together
- interesting and very different locations
- by far the best soundtrack of the entire series
- lightning and overall atmosphere is great

Of course that's all just my personal opinion.

[Shield Key]

Hmm. Who would have thought that this game would end up being about as polarizing for the fanbase as RE4/RE5?

I personally loved it the first time I played it back in 2000 on the Dreamcast, but haven't been able to stomach it much since. I agree with some others that the Ashford's were just too ludicrous and the locations were too boring. I think the Ashford's private Manor was awesome, but overall pretty bored with the locations. Being able to play as Chris again probably made me love it the first time... once that wore off the game lost a lot of luster for me.

What I loved:
-Redfields being front and center.
-Wesker returning.
-Enemies: Love the Bandersnatch and Nosferatu (and his gruesome backstory)
-The creepy private manor.

What I hated:
-Ashfords and their over-the-top, comic-style characters (something Wesker would become that I then grew to hate, as well)
-Steve!
-Boring environments for the most part.

[Mrox2]

One of my favourite games in the series , however my only pick on it is the lack of 180 Quick turn , and the reason why it lacked these features is because it was being developed before RE3 and after RE2 ...
I love this game so much , and i don't get why all that hate on Steve's character ...

Alexia was one of the things i liked in this game , how well was her character developed , evil yet has feelings towards her brother.
Claire Mainly is the reason why i liked this game too.
B.O.W.s in this game are just great , Oh and the lovely Berceuse "My fav soundtrack ever !" , Suspended doll is eerie and scary , i love it X_X

Just like Newsbot said :

Great music
Great story
Great presentation
Great horror
Great atmosphere

[ValentineLover]

Great story but Jesus, the gameplay is awful

[Kaiser]

I'm struggling to see how the gameplay is ANY different from the first 3. Can someone help me out here? To my knowledge, it plays with exactly the same mechanics as the others.

[Mr. Spencer]

I think what he means is that the gameplay was looking dated by that point.

I'm rather fond of CV:X, since it was the first Biohazard game that I ever bought and therefore it holds nostalgic value to me. I bought a PS2 copy which came with a demo disc for Devil May Cry. Really liked Wesker in it, thought that was one of his best appearances in the series actually.

[Kaiser]

Alrighty then. Another thing I liked about Code Veronica was the character interaction. Whether between Claire and Rodrigo (when she saves him), Wesker and Chris (especially in CVX), or Chris and Rodrigo after the worm fight. Felt way more fleshed out than the other games to me.

[biohazard_star]

One of my favourite games in the series , however my only pick on it is the lack of 180 Quick turn

I'm pretty sure there's a quick turn feature in CV, unless I've been hallucinating having Claire do them.

[Kaiser]

You can definitely perform 180 turns.

[GuardhouseMusic]

I think it's aged much better for me than RE3, a game that I still don't like getting into because of how god damned unfair that first Nemesis fight is. Call me shit at the game but I don't care, the player could use one more box of shells and a more accommodating dodge function. I have a steely sense of perfectionism when it comes to getting the bonus drops, and if I have to try 15 times, then I just don't want to continue. Code Veronica definitely has its visual deficiencies and mechanical setbacks, but that doesn't deter me from enjoying it. I like the backtracking, especially since the enemy layout changes enough throughout, and the enemy AI is good enough that you could go for a combination of gunning down and dodging. Despite the backgrounds lacking the detail of the previous games' pre-rendered settings, the game's aesthetic comes across so well. To mention it for the ten thousandth time, the soundtrack is the best in the entire series on its own, with each track so identifiable and memorable. It beats RE2's soundtrack by a hair for me.

Plus, to address the complaints about the Ashfords and how over the top they are- think a little more about them. In Alfred's case, he's been essentially trapped on a useless military facility, bolstered by a false sense of importance to the company his family has represented for his entire life. Said family once held a great amount of aristocratic influence, which, with the death of his grandfather has slowly been crumbling to the ground. It's a two-fold phony sense of importance that he's maintaing through his adult life- to Umbrella, which as far as Spencer's concerned doesn't mean jack shit, and to the outside world, which is essentially nonexistent for him in reality. His only human outlet has been gone for 15 years, leaving his development in stasis. People have said that his "genius" doesn't show at all, well, thanks to the circumstances, madness has kinda dulled any brilliance left in the guy. Alexia's a bit simpler, in that she was far too exceptional to ever really have any connection to the outside world- in the case of Birkin, instead of collaborating with her, the latter was driven mad by his sense of inferiority in comparison to her. With the revelation of their birth, the two were tipped over the edge enough to murder and experiment on their father. The sense of isolation bred a superiority complex, and she became a monster in more ways than one. One thing I really dig about CV is how fleshed out the Ashfords are, I never found their presentation arbitrary.

[Vector]

http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3po88k/

[Wrathborne]

First nemesis fight is unfair?...THATS WHY YE RUN!