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Why is Resident Evil Code Veronica so underrated?

Code Veronica is a strange game. Unless I'm wrong, but it features the same composer as RE2, which I'd probably consider to be the best soundtrack in the series, whereas CV has one of the worst. Something about the presentation just doesn't work, and as a result its attempt to create a horror atmosphere feels impotent - at least to me. Of course the story is strange and Canadian accents don't explain Steve's bizarre voice work. And then there's the matter of the game feeling more dated than RE3.

But it's a fun game to go back to. It's one of the more challenging games, it's one of the largest games, and it's the one game that requires me to actually think about where I need to go and what I need to do next ... just because there's so much. The puzzle element really makes the game and if you don't enjoy that, then there's not much for you here. While the prison is one of the most mundane settings in the series, the antarctic base is one of the most original ones. And going back and visiting locations as Chris as more doors are opened to you, as opposed to visiting every single room and revisiting every single puzzle as the other character is a much more engaging use of a 2 character system - even if it's not base don character selection.

The plane fight can be a tough fight, but item preservation checks are the function boss fights held in classic RE. You should always be saving up for a potential boss fight in classic RE. I don't really see the problem with it, especially when the game makes it abundantly clear that you'd better grab everything you need, because you're leaving the island. But the Steve "fight" that requires you to eat several health items and the glass ball portion (especially with a Dreamcast controller) are utter bullshit.
 
SolVanderlyn said:
Alfred is a terrible villain
Click to expand...

There's only a handful of villains I'd consider better. Wesker obviously, Salazar, Krauser, Irons, Birkin at a push.

He was cruel, creepy, and incredibly memorable, which is basically all I want from a RE villain.

encephalon said:
But the Steve "fight" that requires you to eat several health items... are utter bullshit.
Click to expand...

Already de-mythed in this very thread.
 
Neff said:
There's only a handful of villains I'd consider better. Wesker obviously, Salazar, Krauser, Irons, Birkin at a push.

He was cruel, creepy, and incredibly memorable, which is basically all I want from a RE villain.



Already de-mythed in this very thread.
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I missed that. I learned something new.
That's still a bullshit fight.

Neff said:
I'm pretty sure RE1 and 2 give you enough ammo to kill everything in the game, should you wish. I'm not sure about the others.
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While it may be true that you end up with a lot ammo towards the end of both games, it's not really given to you until the latter half of the game when you've already passed or aren't really aided by defeating the enemies you would have used it on. Or at least that's my impression from playing the games. RE2 could use some rebalancing. Hopefully the RE2make is the type of game where such rebalancing has a place.
 
It blew my mind on the Dreamcast. My friends and I watched Claire's awesome gun kata scene over and over.

It was really crazy moving to 3d backgrounds compared to pre-rendered ones. I don;t think it's aged as well as the other games after replaying earlier this year, but damn, it's still a fun time.
 
encephalon said:
I missed that. I learned something new.
That's still a bullshit fight.



While it may be true that you end up with a lot ammo towards the end of both games, it's not really given to you until the latter half of the game when you've already passed or aren't really aided by defeating the enemies you would have used it on. Or at least that's my impression from playing the games. RE2 could use some rebalancing. Hopefully the RE2make is the type of game where such rebalancing has a place.
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I dunno about that. RE2 is by far the easiest of the classic titles, and I find that good ammo (shells, grenades, magnum rounds) are frequently, abundantly distrubuted, and that's with me ditching the handgun as soon as I reach the RPD, which I always do.

The game could use some balancing, if only to offer something new (I think they got the balance perfectly first time round myself), but I'd balance it towards being harder and less generous with items. Then again, that might be at odds with its accessible and fondly-regarded 'action game' feel. It'll be very interesting to see how it turns out.
 
I really enjoyed it when I played it when it came out on Dreamcast, have never replayed it. I enjoyed it more than RE4. Any time it gets brought up here is usually filled with a lot of the posts you see in this thread with extreme hyperbole about it being shit. I finished the game no problems. I think some of the hate is from people who got stuck. If that happened to me I would probably hate it too. I didn't remember it being back trackey but maybe I just had a higher tolerance for that when I was younger or that wasn't as much of a concern back then. Plenty of amazing games are full of back tracking.
 
I loved it, and if it had been called RE3 (licensing dispute?) instead, it would've had more respect than it received. 1, 2, and CV are the only good stories to me. The rest was kinda fluff, regardless of some great gameplay.

Really, much of its underperformance can be blamed on the Sega CD and 32X bleeding money and damaging the Saturn's western success and putting Sega in an almost impossible spot with the Dreamcast...
 
Neff said:
I dunno about that. RE2 is by far the easiest of the classic titles, and I find that good ammo (shells, grenades, magnum rounds) are frequently, abundantly distrubuted, and that's with me ditching the handgun as soon as I reach the RPD, which I always do.

The game could use some balancing, if only to offer something new (I think they got the balance perfectly first time round myself), but I'd balance it towards being harder and less generous with items. Then again, that might be at odds with its accessible and fondly-regarded 'action game' feel. It'll be very interesting to see how it turns out.
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Which is why I play the Dreamcast version with Hard mode. I can't imagine playing the game without the handgun, however. Maybe I'll try it sometime.
 
The last time I played RE2, I ran out of ammo on Claire A on the final boss and couldn't beat him. So I had to restart on a earlier save from like 3 hours earlier.
 
The Last One said:
8572.jpg


Seriously, I think it's the best classic Resident Evil, yes even better than 2. The full 3D backgrounds allied with the classic gameplay style gives much more immersion than the pre-rendered ones IMO.

So I ask, why no one talks about it? What's the consensus about this game?
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Plenty of people talked about it when it released FIFTEEN YEARS AGO. It was also very highly rated from most publications often being cited as a true sequel to RE2 rather than Nemesis.
 
Code Veronica is the conventional Resident Evil Formula taken to its logical extreme. Lots of puzzles, items, keys, areas to explore, backtracking, etc. You can see why they ditched the formula after it.

Personally I think it's a good game. But considering I left the Empty Fire Extinguisher in the metal detector during my first playthrough, I didn't fully appreciate it until my second playthrough attempt.
 
CODE: Veronica is the point where the crazy narrative fans took root. CODE: Veronica is when we went from an evil corporation and zombie outbreak to Matrix Wesker, naked women trying to conquer the world using ants and other stupid shit. CODE: Veronica is where we went from interesting puzzles and settings to annoying level design and keys hidden under potted plants.

CODE: Veronica was hot garbage, remains hot garbage, and sits in the shit-tier of Resident Evil games along with Dead Aim and Resident Evil: Boat. And now we have to hear about how RE4 betrayed these great roots.
 
TheRedSnifit said:
CODE: Veronica is the point where the crazy narrative fans took root. CODE: Veronica is when we went from an evil corporation and zombie outbreak to Matrix Wesker, naked women trying to conquer the world using ants and other stupid shit. CODE: Veronica is where we went from interesting puzzles and settings to annoying level design and keys hidden under potted plants.

Code: Veronica was hot garbage, remains hot garbage, and sits in the shit-tier of Resident Evil games along with Dead Aim and Resident Evil: Boat. And now we have to hear about how RE4 betrayed these great roots.
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Resident Evil: Boat? There's a bunch that take place on boats so you'll have to be more specific. I assume you mean Gaiden but that game is so obscure that I can't be sure.
 
Frankly, I hated where things went by the end with Alexia. The overall game also wasn't as carefully designed, as many have pointed out with the Tyrant battle.

Only one I still don't own, though I would like to round out the classics. There was still quite a bit to enjoy to make it worth it.

Edit:Basically what Redsnifit said about the crazy narrative.
 
The first game I hated because it was too long. Every time I see it or read about it, my hate for it grows, and I was a RE fan. I should have never played it when I did, it wasn't the game's fault that it wouldn't end.
 
I thought it was great. It's no REmake, RE2, or RE3 (which until 4 had the best gameplay in the series) but it has memorable locations such as Antarctica, a good pair of villains with the Ashford twins (and seriously, the whole Nosferatu thing was just whoa), and of course it has Claire.
 
It was always my favourite Resident Evil in my mind till I replayed it a few years ago. Honestly time just hasn't been fair to it. There is lots of backtracking and worst of all several areas in the game where if you haven't saved enough ammo it's basically game over unless you have a save from hours ago (The plane battle and one of the final battles in the Antarctic).

Still a classic game but with glaring flaws.
 
If Capcom is going to reuse assets and such from REmake & REHD, I could see RE2make in 2017. I honestly think half the reason they said alright to the project was because that was part of the pitch.

"We can reuse engine/assets from these titles to keep the budget low, while offering a title fans of the original game will love". I wouldn't be surprised at all to see RE2make come out as a $40 title.

Now back to CVX, I hope that gets ported to PC soon. After the 360/PS3 port, that seems like the easiest title to bring over ignoring the 1-3 Japanese PC ports
 
Jawmuncher said:
If Capcom is going to reuse assets and such from REmake & REHD, I could see RE2make in 2017. I honestly think half the reason they said alright to the project was because that was part of the pitch.

"We can reuse engine/assets from these titles to keep the budget low, while offering a title fans of the original game will love". I wouldn't be surprised at all to see RE2make come out as a $40 title.

Now back to CVX, I hope that gets ported to PC soon. After the 360/PS3 port, that seems like the easiest title to bring over ignoring the 1-3 Japanese PC ports
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CVX is my least favorite but I'd definitely buy it again for PC. Really surprised they skipped on porting it.
 
Correctomundo said:
I think that Code Veronica and RE3 in particular aren't quite as popular because they aren't as piss easy as the more popular RE2 and RE4. They always felt like Expert Mode Resident Evil games.
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But RE3 is piss easy. The game throws ammo and health items at you like crazy (and if you use gun powder, then by the time you reach the Dead Facility you are basically armed to your teeth). Add the dodge ability and knowing that Nemesis is a lefty and you can avoid most enemies like crazy.

The game doesn't even have a proper Hard mode - the one in the game is nothing more than a Normal mode.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
But RE3 is piss easy. The game throws ammo and health items at you like crazy (and if you use gun powder, then by the time you reach the Dead Facility you are basically armed to your teeth). Add the dodge ability and knowing that Nemesis is a lefty and you can avoid most enemies like crazy.

The game doesn't even have a proper Hard mode - the one in the game is nothing more than a Normal mode.
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The first few parts can be challenging, but then the game becomes more generous with ammo. Especially when using the gun powders.

That said, easy mode in RE3 is arguably the biggest piss take in video gaming. The only way you could make it easier is if you removed the enemies.

RE2 is the easiest RE game though. I don't think there's any challenge whatsoever outside of a few moments in the B Scenarios.
 
I remember CVX being the darling of the franchise about 10 years ago on the forums, certainly don't hear about it much these days.

My memories of it when it launched were a lot of hype about the graphics, the swinging lights but the whole thing felt like they had to knock out a Resident Evil game pronto because of a business deal and thus hasn't stood the test of time. I think the tech carried it for a while.

For me it was just an okay game, even at the time. I did like the bit where you're stranded in that Antarctic building or whatever.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
But RE3 is piss easy. The game throws ammo and health items at you like crazy (and if you use gun powder, then by the time you reach the Dead Facility you are basically armed to your teeth). Add the dodge ability and knowing that Nemesis is a lefty and you can avoid most enemies like crazy.

The game doesn't even have a proper Hard mode - the one in the game is nothing more than a Normal mode.
Click to expand...

It gets easy, but the beginning is fairly harsh, especially the first fight with Nemesis. I guess that drove away most casuals from playing it further.
 
I played evert RE game on hard difficulty my first time playing it.

Without a doubt, Code Veronica and Revelations 2 are the hardest RE's on hard difficulty. By a large marigin to the others, even.

Revelations 1 on Infernal Mode and Resident Evil 4 on pro follow-up. Both have some huge difficulty spikes.

Resident Evil 3 and REmake follow, both have tougher beginnings and first thirds, but then get notably easier in when more stockpiled, plus there's less zombies after the beginning.

The easiest RE on hard is definitely RE2.
 
It was one of the reasons, other than Soul Calibur, why i got a Dreamcast. Wasnt disappointed but having 3>CV>0 in 3 years gave me franchise fatigue. Wich is probably why i loved 4 so freaking much, other than it being a super good game, that is.

CV:X is a solid game but the plot goes "this escalated quickly.gif" pretty fast and has some rough moments. Still, i enjoyed it but wouldnt rate it higher than 2.
 
ResidentDante said:
It gets easy, but the beginning is fairly harsh, especially the first fight with Nemesis. I guess that drove away most casuals from playing it further.
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Given you can easily run off (either by picking the right option or simply running off after picking up Brad's card) I wouldn't say the fight is hard. Plus, there's an easy way to dodge Nemesis - he's lefty, so you should always run towards his right hand.

As for bad design decisions in RECV, the whole final act is bad design after bad design:
- if you were poisoned during the Nosferatu fight (and I'm sure a lot of people were, because Nosferatu's poison covers a lot of ground) you wake up as Claire with orange caution or even danger status IIRC
- if you pick up strong weapons from the crate as Claire, you can consider them being gone forever - not available for Chris for the rest of the game (including the final boss fight)
- an insta-death puzzle (breaking the glass ball)
- a boss battle that is indestructible and (if you do not know the trick - and probably a majority of players do not know it) requires you to have at least one full-health item in order to survive
- a second boss battle right after that (Chris vs Alexia) where, if you came unprepared, will require you to replay the whole section with Claire (if you still have a save before you that section)
- a final boss battle with Alexia flying around the screen like crazy and the god-awful first person shooting required to kill her
 
The Last One said:
Seriously, I think it's the best classic Resident Evil, yes even better than 2. The full 3D backgrounds allied with the classic gameplay style gives much more immersion than the pre-rendered ones IMO.

So I ask, why no one talks about it? What's the consensus about this game?
Click to expand...

I loved it. Bigger, better looking, great environments and with a cool story. It really felt like a big leap forward after the first three PlayStation games. I can't stand the voice acting today, but that goes for all the old RE games.
 
I was happy playing CVX after 3 proved to be a major disaster. I'd say CVX used to be my 2nd fav in the series after RE2, but it has been so long, and with REmake being super awesome, and now RE0 (which I've never played, alongside RE6) on the way and the RE2 remake coming, it is hard to say. Revelations has been a pretty positive experience too, Claire butchering non-withstanding.

I'd love to replay CVX (on PC) just to re-experience it and put it back in context with the rest of the series. It was the proper way for RE to go forward, especially in terms of atmosphere. A CVX remake would do me nicely.

I do get surprised by how many people found the game hard. I don't know what I did, maybe I just conserved stuff well, but I didn't have much issue in that respect.
 
KainXVIII said:
This fucker was laughable stupid

250px-Alfred_Ashford.jpg
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I liked him. How could you not like Alfred and his laugh? Although I think the Darkside Chronicles of him was better (let's not speak of DSC version of Alexia, shall we?). It's just disappointing he was so... stupid, especially considering how he is described as having "higher intelligence than normal".
 
Played this on the Dreamcast and it just blew my socks off back then. The scares were definitely there. Some parts of this game are intense. I played and liked both 1 and 2 on PSX prior to this but to me CV was the best RE to date.

All that was missing was some kind of post-game action oriented mode like in more recent REs.
 
Mr_Zombie said:
But RE3 is piss easy. The game throws ammo and health items at you like crazy (and if you use gun powder, then by the time you reach the Dead Facility you are basically armed to your teeth). Add the dodge ability and knowing that Nemesis is a lefty and you can avoid most enemies like crazy.

The game doesn't even have a proper Hard mode - the one in the game is nothing more than a Normal mode.
Click to expand...

No one should be playing it on easy. Any mode where you start out with a bunch of health sprays, a loaded fully auto weapon with two extra magazines, and several other weapons is not a mode you should be playing. Play it the way it was intended.

Knowing how to handle Nemesis is just part of the deal. He still follows through doors and can catch you off guard if the camera shifts to a particularly troublesome angle mid fight. What's his contemporary do? Get locked behind doors and move like molasses running uphill, that's what.
 
Probably the most aggravating level design in the series. I didn't hate it, but was incredibly frustrated by it.

Though, as someone who never took RE seriously or cared for the plot, the way in which CV just jumps right off the fucking deep end is so beautiful. Wesker literally shows up out of nowhere and starts Matrix-ing all over the place and spouting hilarious one liners. It's so so good.
 
That awkward pause by Claire when Steve
confesses his love to her while mortally wounded
still makes me laugh to this day.
She's like "ummmm.. okay".
 
NIN90 said:
That awkward pause by Claire when Steve
confesses his love to her while mortally wounded
still makes me laugh to this day.
She's like "ummmm.. okay".
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I love how Steve is constantly creeping on Claire the entire game.

Claire: Let me send a message to my brother. * bends over*

claires+booty.gif


And he nearly creams himself when Claire falls on him after the plane crash.
 
Until 2013, I'd somehow never played Code Veronica beyond the early parts of the game (PS2 version) as I got stuck at some point and wasn't enthralled enough with it to keep playing at the time.

I was going through a terrible time in early 2013 and have fond memories of playing the HD version after downloading it for my old X360 console. As someone who loves the classic style RE games but had never thoroughly played CV before, it was just the perfect distraction from how shitty everything else was at the time... The save room music is possibly my favourite in the series too (though it's very hard to say as pretty much all of the old save room themes are awesome).

I still haven't finished the game (only got up to Chris' part on Rockfort Island) and might start a new playthrough on my PS3 soon. I remember it took me ages to get that far, I thought I was nearing the end of the game (as Claire) then suddenly was in control of Chris and realised it was a lot longer than I expected it to be.

I did find it had less of a 'horror' atmosphere than the previous games up to that point, and the enemy design was fairly mediocre for the most part. Some of the settings were cool (though rarely remotely scary) and some were more forgettable. I like the batshit craziness of the story though and find it amusing that anyone would care about that aspect so much in an RE game.
 
Now i know what the evil within story reminds me of! The Victoriano family and Ashford are quite similar, they are both fucked up
 
saher said:
Now i know what the evil within story reminds me of! The Victoriano family and Ashford are quite similar, they are both fucked up
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There's an absolute ton of parallels between RE and TEW, but yeah, this is probably one of the more remote (but still obvious) ones.
 
This thread inspired me to start a CVX playthrough last night.

It's definitely not as scary as REmake. The game gives you a lot of ammo, and you usually have lots of room to shoot and avoid zombies. It's probably a little less scary than RE2 as well. It's still a lot of fun though.

The general insanity of the scenario really elevates the game.
 
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