Resident Evil CODE: Veronica, outstanding title or overrated average game?

[Gemini]

I am too among those who aren't particularly happy about Code Veronica. Never, ever give TOSE card blanche when it comes to developing a game, it's going to turn either real bad or just about average. The game feels so damn unpolished it's sometimes a pain to play; it's not even about it being worse than RE3 (it's technically inferior to RE2 as well), despite the fact that it does take decent advantage of the DC hardware.

[Sly]

The game feels so damn unpolished it's sometimes a pain to play;

Please elaborate.

it's not even about it being worse than RE3 (it's technically inferior to RE2 as well)

It is silly to expect CV to include every mechanic brought by RE3. Even if you ignore the fact that they were developed alongside and not one after another, you have to realise that each episode has its own unique features that are never brought back in later installments. And that's perfectly fine !
I don't understand how it could be inferior to RE2. The quick turn alone makes it better to play.

despite the fact that it does take decent advantage of the DC hardware.

"Decent" ? Come on, the graphics were breath taking at the time. Of course, playing the inferior PS2 version one year later downplayed it a lot for some gamers, I reckon.

[Gemini]

Please elaborate.

Stiff movements, kinda like RE1 but a tad better (except when the player is rotating while idling, that looks super retarded). Final battle with Alexia? Even worse.

It is silly to expect CV to include every mechanic brought by RE3. Even if you ignore the fact that they were developed alongside and not one after another, you have to realise that each episode has its own unique features that are never brought back in later installments. And that's perfectly fine !
I don't understand how it could be inferior to RE2. The quick turn alone makes it better to play.

It's silly of them not to use an engine comparable to RE2 or animations at least at the same level of quality. Try and make the same actions on both games at the same time, you'll see RE2 moves waaay better.

"Decent" ? Come on, the graphics were breath taking at the time. Of course, playing the inferior PS2 version one year later downplayed it a lot for some gamers, I reckon.

Yes, decent. It's definitively not what CAPCOM used us to have at the time or shortly after that. Designs look shoddy and empty in more than a few cases, and it's not like they even tried to be creative or smart about hardware usage. Then again, TOSE and Nextech.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

It is silly to expect CV to include every mechanic brought by RE3.

Neither of us said that we expected it to include every mechanic from RE3 in it. But considering the size of the franchise, it is fair to think that the lack of damage anims and zombie splitting, introduced in RE2, makes CV feel more primitive compared to 2&3, and that adding no other new features means that RE3 feels more advanced.

you have to realise that each episode has its own unique features that are never brought back in later installments. And that's perfectly fine !

=+
But CV really doesn't have any unique new features. The core mechanics are RE1 + Quick Turn + stupid dual wielding machine pistols. This doesn't include unique puzzles though. The most inventive for me, which is actually one of the greatest in the series, was having to put metal items into storage being being allowed to pass a metal detector.

The quick turn alone makes it better to play.

RE2 gets away with not having a Quick Turn because the turning speeds are quicker than RE3 CVs, and RE2's bosses didn't have the speed of Nemesis until the final Mr X fight.

Downplayed it? There were some performance issues and aliasing issues on the PS2 one, but by then, people were used to that on poor DC -> PS2 ports, and they weren't enough of an issue to really take away from the technical achieves of CV on both platforms. However, both SKUs failed to live up to the quality of Silent Hill 2 on the PS2, which was more disappointing.

[Sly]

CV has damage animations. Check your facts and play it again. Zombie splitting never came back after RE2, it's unfair to criticize CV for it.
And RE2 doesn't have any unique new features if you're going that way. It's basically RE1 + underused "zapping system". Add to that the dumbest puzzles in the series (they never were hard, but the easiest of them all are in RE2) and the removal of 3D item check.

[Jimmy_Jazz]

Apologies, I watched a couple of short playthroughs and searched for CV damage before posting that and couldn't find any evidence of it so will be thorough next time. Next time someone makes an error like that though it would a kind gesture if you corrected them nicely and posted a link to any supporting media.

But I disagree with you on RE2's lack of gamewide (i.e not puzzle specific) features. We've got:

Significantly larger zombie numbers (almost doubled from 4 to 7 I think)
Player moves slower when their health is low
More indepth zombie destruction, which really adds more depth to shotgun usage. I can and will both RE3 & CV for not featuring it.
Weapon Upgrades
Items that take up multiple slots
Ability to increase inventory slots
Taking specific items in one playthrough will mean they won't appear in another playthrough
Mr X, a character that you will fight repeatedly through playthrough (this is a controversial inclusion in the list as you can fight the Tyrant twice in RE1)

These are lots of small things that kept the game feeling fresh (to me) than reinvented it as a whole. But I don't think CV gets close to adding this much (or as much as RE3).

But I do agree that the puzzles were too simple. Like the recent topic on RE2 following RE1's formula too closely I would have loved to have seen puzzles that were directly tied into the every day usage of a Police Station and not a straight up repeat of crank, crests and shaped keys.

[Enigmatism415]

I just completed the PS3 port and I really enjoyed myself. I had assumed that my adoration of Code Veronica was a combination of nostalgia and childhood Dreamcast-envy (I was strictly a Sony kid, so I had to wait a few years), but the puzzles, environments, music, enemies, weapons, characters (sans Steve), and story are all fantastic. No, it's not as good as RE0, REmake, RE2, or RE3, but sitting right beneath the best four games in the original series is not bad at all!

[Bianca]

I've spent far too much time on these forums, defending CODE: Veronica and its characters, so I won't waste too much time doing it for the 200th time; but, I still believe, thoroughly, that this game is one of the most impressive feats within the series. This game did a lot for the series in terms of storyline, and I always felt it was the pinnacle of the original plotline. There are certainly flaws with the mechanics and gameplay of the game, but nothing I've ever found intolerable in the 10+ years I've played and replayed this game.

[Wrathborne]

"There are certainly flaws with the mechanics and gameplay of the game, but nothing I've ever found intolerable in the 10+ years I've played and replayed this game. "

[Kei_M]

"There are certainly flaws with the mechanics and gameplay of the game, but nothing I've ever found intolerable in the 10+ years I've played and replayed this game. "
[Steve Picture]

I personally liked Steve =x

[Wrathborne]

[Don Piano]

I wouldn't say the knife was improved, for me it pretty much broke the game and took most of the difficulty out once you knew how to use it effectivley

I do like CV/CVX but its one of the worst of the original series imo, feel less of a need to play through it again over RE1-3. The HD version is pretty cool though imo

[Rombie]

HD version was nice, except for that depth of field filter which was stuck on more or less the same depth regardless of game framing. It often ended up with action in either foreground or background often being out of focus for no reason.

Code Veronica's been polarizing people since it's launch. This thread doesn't surprise me one bit. I've personally always found it quite slowly paced and some of it's design planning flawed where you can get punished for not making the right ammo/combination choices (the B.O.W. rounds and the Tyrant and the potential to waste other powerful ammo probably being the pinnacle of that). It's certainly the game in the franchise I've probably replayed in full the least mostly because of the former. I loved the atmosphere and the different environments... and the characters, including Steve, all have their charms... but I was never a fan of the ending (let's go get Umbrella... again) which the CVX version didn't really fix... it extended the length of course, but didn't help much of the resolve other than to make Wesker look more threatening.

And while NB will probably find me a million reasons as to why this is not true, in a lot of ways to me there really hasn't been major payoff for the story in the scheme of things. Yeah, yeah T-Veronica connection and Umbrella history backstory - but the setup never had a chance to continue directly from CVX because most of the games that released after it jumped quite forward in the timeline, making much of it's content seemingly irrelevant and often easy to condense in the lore.

[Grem]

Maybe RECV was overrated by the critics at the time, but I think it is pretty underrated among fans.

RECV was the turning point in the series storywise. Some people like it, some don't. I belong to the former category. Never would I have become a fan of this series without the return of Wesker and it's rivalry with Chris. But I also liked the fact that so much effort was put into the storytelling, just like Sly said. During the whole game there was the right cutscene at the right moment to keep me interested.

I have very fond memories about my dicovery of the game and I think it was quite an adventure. The gameplay didn't bother me that much, it was the same as RE2 + the quick turn. Graphically it was mind-blowing at the time aswell and the music was awesome.

I can't say anything bad about CV, it's my favourite RE experience after the original RE. It didn't age well, though.

[Bianca]

"There are certainly flaws with the mechanics and gameplay of the game, but nothing I've ever found intolerable in the 10+ years I've played and replayed this game. "
Spoiler:

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Low blow, man!

I was hugely fond of Steve, as well as Alfred, both of whom are strongly disliked. One of the many aspects I enjoy about CODE: Veronica is the cast of characters. They're different, loony, interesting. Alfred, Alexia, Steve (even Rodrigo!) will always have a special place in my gamer heart.