Resident Evil: Code Veronica Arrives

We got our hands on the import version of Biohazard: Code Veronica today and immediately dived right in. Here's what we found:

The story, as described previously in our preview, puts you in control of Claire Redfield, who is still searching for her lost brother Chris. She gets captured and sent to one of Umbrella's islands, where, of course, a horde of zombies, creatures, and tyrannical enemies make it hard for her to get away. Along the way she meets up with a few characters who are of the non-rotting nature and who either want to get off the island as well or just want to stop her from breathing. In any case, Claire finds a friend in a kid by the name of Steve Burnside, who bears a striking resemblance to Leonardo DiCaprio and who in typical Resident Evil style shows up every now and again when Claire's in need.

The first hour of the game, minus the cinemas, is fairly slow. Barring a few new visual effects, it appears to be identical to the demo that was released with the Biohazard 2 Value Pack, which was released this past December in Japan. But after solving several fairly easy puzzles and collecting a few weapons, the game really gets going. Before you know it, you're blasting giant sandworms, getting into submarines, and getting sucked into the game's storyline. And not too far into the game, you actually start to play as Steve Burnside, which keeps the variety totally fresh.

Visually the game is gorgeous; the characters and environments look extremely realistic, thanks to many different visual effects such as lighting, reflections, and transparency. The characters and zombies look amazing, and the animation of the characters is typical of Resident Evil games - except for just how smooth and convincing this new Dreamcast version is. During the cinemas, you can really see the expressions of the characters - from what we've seen so far, this truly helps convey what is being said or done. One moment worth mentioning is a cinema where Steve leaps through a window while blasting and attacking a creature with two pistols, one in each hand. The action then goes into slow motion as the camera angle smoothly rotates around to one side, all Matrix style. This is an example of one of the best aspects of the game - how the cinemas and gameplay lead in and out of one another. Even when compared with Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, the game seems to have a much better direction, both in story development and actual scenes.

We need to get back to the game now (so we can give you more hands-on info tomorrow), but we just wanted to let you know that from our first few hours with the final version, we think Code Veronica is looking awesome. Resident Evil fans should be counting the days until the game comes out here in the States. However, since the game's dialogue is entirely in English, those of you with Japanese Dreamcasts might not want to wait.

Look for lots more media and impressions tomorrow.