Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica is a 2000 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the Dreamcast. It was the first Resident Evil game to debut on a platform other than PlayStation. The story takes place three months after the events of Resident Evil 2 and the concurrent destruction of Raccoon City as seen in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It follows Claire Redfield and her brother Chris Redfield in their efforts to survive a viral outbreak at a remote prison island in the Southern Ocean and a research facility in Antarctica. The game retains the series' traditional controls and gameplay; however, unlike the pre-rendered backgrounds of previous installments, Code: Veronica uses real-time 3D environments and dynamic camera movement.
After producer Shinji Mikami and his team learned they would be unable to port Resident Evil 2 to the Sega Saturn, they began development on an original game, which became Code: Veronica. Claire was designed with a tougher appearance than in Resident Evil 2, with the reason being her past experiences in Raccoon City built her toughness and confidence. Unlike the American horror themes and settings of previous games in the series, Code: Veronica employs a European gothic horror design and settings. This is achieved through the use of gothic architecture and gothic art in addition to the writing style and story presentation.
Capcom announced Code: Veronica in August 1998 and released it in February 2000 after delays and a reduction in sales expectations due to the struggling Dreamcast platform. Sales were weak compared to other Resident Evil games, but strong compared to other Dreamcast games. Code Veronica received critical acclaim and has been considered among both the best Resident Evil games and Dreamcast games. In 2001, Capcom released an updated version on Dreamcast and PlayStation 2, Code: Veronica X. The revised version included new cutscenes which revealed more details about the story, and it was ported to the GameCube in addition to other platforms in later years. In September 2011, Capcom released a high-definition remastered version of Code: Veronica X for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Code: Veronica was adapted for Capcom's Gun Survivor series with Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica and also later adapted for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.
Gameplay
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica features survival horror gameplay, similar to previous Resident Evil games. This includes the series signature controls, interface, puzzles, as well as zombies and monsters to battle. Unlike previous games in the series which used pre-rendered backgrounds, Code: Veronica uses real-time 3D environments. Because of this, the camera is more dynamic than in previous games. The camera will follow, pan, and zoom as the player navigates their character through the environment, similar to Capcom's own Dino Crisis. The story is told through cinematic CGI sequences and real-time cutscenes.One half of Code: Veronica places the player in control of Claire Redfield while the other half is spent with her brother, Chris. Basic character actions include running, attacking, as well as pushing and climbing objects. Items the player collects can be viewed on the status screen. From here, they can be examined to find clues to solve puzzles, and some can also be equipped. Also available in the status screen is a map and file menu. All notes found in the game are saved in game's files and may be essential to solve puzzles. The player can only hold a limited number of items at a given time; other items must be stored in storage boxes located throughout the game.
The player character may receive damage, which can be healed with restore items. Herbs, which restore character health, can be combined with other types of herbs to become more effective. Too much damage will result in a game over. At this point, the game must be continued from the last save point. A partner's death will also result in a game over. Some weapons are better suited for battling certain enemies, some of which have weaknesses to elements like fire or acid. Once the main game is cleared once, a "Battle Mode" is unlocked. This is a minigame in which the player character is given infinite ammo and places them in various locations from the main game with different enemies. In addition to the Redfield siblings, this mode allows the player to control supporting character Steve Burnside and antagonist Albert Wesker, as well as a version of Claire in a new wardrobe.
Plot
In December 1998, three months after escaping from Raccoon City '' prior to its eventual destruction, Claire Redfield raids an Umbrella Corporation facility in Paris in search of her brother, Chris Redfield. Discovered by Umbrella's security forces and eventually captured, Claire is imprisoned on Rockfort Island, a prison complex owned by the corporation, situated in the Southern Ocean. She is knocked unconscious after arriving. Sometime after her imprisonment, Claire wakes up and finds herself released by the man who captured her, and discovers that an outbreak of the T-virus has occurred. In the resulting chaos, she finds herself teaming up with Steve Burnside, another inmate seeking to escape.In their repeated efforts to explore the island and find the means to leave, the pair finds themselves confronting the island's commander, Alfred Ashford. Both Claire and Steve find him to be mentally unstable as a result of him switching between two personalities—his own, and that of his twin sister Alexia. Eventually, the pair manages to find a seaplane and use it to escape, only for Alfred to pursue them and switch their plane to autopilot, directing it towards another Umbrella facility in Antarctica. Upon their arrival, the pair finds that the facility had suffered an outbreak, and fight their way through the zombies and monsters within to seek a means of escape, battling with Alfred and fatally wounding him. Before he dies, Alfred frees his sister, Alexia, who had been in cryogenic sleep within the facility after injecting herself with the T-Veronica virus, an experimental virus that the Ashford family had developed 15 years ago. Awakened, Alexia manages to recapture Claire and Steve as they attempt to escape.
Meanwhile, Chris Redfield arrives on Rockfort Island in search of Claire, after receiving a message from her via Leon S. Kennedy. Upon learning that she had left, Chris focuses on determining where and begins searching the island. In the process of doing so, he comes across Albert Wesker, an independent agent since the Spencer mansion incident, who is seeking to retrieve a sample of the T-Veronica virus. After Chris learns of his sister's whereabouts, and Wesker discovers that Alexia is alive and carries what he needs, the two separately find their way to Antarctica. Once there, Chris frees his sister and helps her to search for Steve, only for them to find that he had been experimented with and injected with the T-Veronica virus. After mutating, Steve attempts to kill Claire, but fails, regaining control of himself to turn on Alexia, who then inflicts a mortal wound on him. Before Steve dies, he confesses his love for Claire. Meanwhile, Chris and Wesker confront Alexia. In the resulting conflict, Wesker escapes and manages to retrieve Steve's corpse for further experimentation, while Chris manages to defeat Alexia and escape with his sister, before the Antarctic facility self-destructs.
Development
With the success of Resident Evil 2 in 1998, Capcom began more Resident Evil projects across multiple consoles. Code: Veronica originated from an unsuccessful attempt to port Resident Evil 2 to the Sega Saturn. After producer Shinji Mikami and his team learned they would be unable to port the game without making a large sacrifice to quality, Mikami was asked by his leadership to create something else for Sega fans, and so development began on an original Saturn game. When Mikami asked for more time to develop the game, he was told it would need to have a better technical quality, making Sega's upcoming Dreamcast more appealing.Around the same time development on the Dreamcast game was starting, a side-story game for the PlayStation starring Jill Valentine in the events leading up to Resident Evil 2 was being developed. It was intended to be a spin-off with the more ambitious Dreamcast game as the true sequel, however, the PlayStation game was made a numbered release, and the Dreamcast game was titled Code: Veronica. To what degree Capcom had considered making Code: Veronica a numbered release is not clear. In interviews at the time, producer Shinji Mikami and Flagship president Yoshiki Okamoto told journalists they wanted to keep the numbered chronology on the PlayStation systems, and give subtitles to Resident Evil games on all other systems. According to a 2009 article by IGN, Sony bartered for limited exclusivity on the "Resident Evil 3" title. In a 2020 interview, Mikami stated that Code: Veronica deserved to be numbered more than Resident Evil 3, but was not because of "political reasons between Capcom and the console manufacturing company."
Code: Veronicas story, setting, and artistic design strayed away from the series standard. While previous games are set in the United States and have a corresponding American feel to them, Code: Veronica is set in the Southern Ocean and Antarctica and carries a European gothic horror inspired design. This is made clear in the environments which feature gothic architecture and art in addition to central European carvings and German-style weaponry. In addition, the gothic feel is emphasized through the story. The horror in Code: Veronica is driven by this story which follows a crazed man and the fate of his noble bloodline. The story is told partly through a lullaby, and this method of storytelling is intended to bring out European operatic undertones. This contrasts to previous games in the series which were driven by the panic elements from American horror films, such as monsters and zombies. With regards to managing the art staff, Mikami split them up depending on their interests. Those interested in guns worked solely on gun designs while those interested in environments researched photographs of houses and castles.
During in-game cutscenes, the polygon count is increased to nearly 2,500 polygons, especially on character faces. Capcom added detail to the zombie enemies unprecedented in the series, such as making their jaws move and eyes twitch. Claire was given a tougher appearance in Code: Veronica than in Resident Evil 2, the reason being her experiences in Resident Evil 2 built her toughness and confidence to handle any situation. This characterization is emphasized by her ability to dual wield sub-machine guns, and also by the opening cinematic which features her in a John Woo-inspired action scene. Mikami described Code: Veronica as 50 to 60% of his perfect vision for Resident Evil in February 2001, and he cited that future Resident Evil projects may make up the other half.
By the time Resident Evil 3 was released, development on Code: Veronica was nearing completion. Much of Code: Veronicas 70-person development staff was outsourced because Capcom resources had been tied up working on Resident Evil 3. Shinji Mikami and Yoshiki Okamoto's team at Flagship oversaw the game's scenario and direction, while XAX Entertainment assisted with environments and Nextech handled much of the technical development. Capcom Production Studio 4 still handled art direction and character design. By September 1999, Sega was sending some of its own developers to help add final touches to the game. Sega assisted Capcom with the game's programming to help keep a good framerate.