Resident Evil CODE: Veronica

Resident Evil Code: Veronica (Biohazard Code: Veronica in Japan) is the fourth game in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series originally released for the Sega Dreamcast in 2000. The game takes place on December 27th, 1998, three months after the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It is the first Resident Evil game made for a sixth generation console and the first game to use full polygonal environments instead of the static, pre-rendered backgrounds that characterized the previous installments.

Gameplay
Resident Evil Code: Veronica is the first Resident Evil game to use a 3D background instead of pre-rendered ones. However, the player still has no control over the camera as it swings between semi-fixed angles and the skybox is pre-rendered. Two weapons (Sniper Rifle and Linear Launcher) can be fired from the character's view and the unlockable minigame has a first person mode available.

Many features have been brought over from RE3 (since both were created in tandem) such as oil drums and a 180 degree turn. Items from Resident Evil 2, such as upgradeable handgun parts and "side packs" for larger item capacity are featured, as well as new weapons such as explosive crossbow bolts and Anti-B.O.W. rounds for the grenade launcher. A unique feature is the ability to dual wield pistols, letting the player target two enemies at once. Some less dynamic changes are the addition of continues and the ability to pick up and use herbs when one's inventory is full.

There are three protagonists, Claire Redfield, Steve Burnside and Chris Redfield. However, unlike the first two games where the player could choose which character they want to play as, the player is forced to control Claire for the first half of the game and then complete the second half with Chris. Steve Burnside is briefly playable in Claire's half of the game as Claire is also playable in Chris' half for a short period of time.

After completing the main game, a Battle Game mini-game is unlocked in which the player is able to choose one of five characters (Claire; Chris; Steve; Albert Wesker and an alternate version of Claire) and clear rooms of enemies until they reach a character specific boss.

Code: Veronica X
An updated version of Code: Veronica, known as Code: Veronica X (Code: Veronica ~Complete Edition in Japan) was made for the Dreamcast (Japan only) and PlayStation 2 in 2001, with a GameCube port released in 2003. It had minor improvements overall, some of them being: better graphics, nine minutes of extended cutscenes which involve Claire and Wesker meeting briefly, an extended fight scene between Alexia and Wesker, as well as an extra fight scene between Wesker and Chris in which Wesker states that he may be able to revive Steve.

Capcom released a remastered high-definition version of Code: Veronica X along with Resident Evil 4 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. A disc version was released only in Japan on September 8, 2011, called Biohazard Revival Selection. In Europe and North America, the game was released on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live on September 20, 2011.

Reception
Resident Evil Code: Veronica received widely positive reviews and scored sale figures of 1.4 million sold copies on the PlayStation 2 and 1.14 million sold copies on the Sega Dreamcast for it's main publisher Capcom, achieving both platinum status. Taking the publishers of all regions at once into account, as there are also Eidos (Europe) as well as Nintendo Australia, a total amount of over 3.21 million sold copies results.

Trivia

 * Resident Evil Code: Veronica is the second of the main games to have a subtitle, the first being Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.


 * Included with certain versions of Code: Veronica X was an unlockable documentary titled Wesker's Report. This is a short feature narrated by Wesker, which brought players up to speed on the events in the series thus far.


 * During the early development stages of the game, Alfred and Alexia Ashford were named Hilbert and Hilda Krueger, respectively.


 * This game's events on Rockfort Island are revisited in a non-canon, arcade-style fashion in Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica.


 * Like Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil Code: Veronica had a beta version that featured a different outfit for Claire and different enemy locations.


 * Resident Evil Code: Veronica X was the first Resident Evil game to introduce a FPS (Optional) based minigame.


 * Resident Evil Code: Veronica X has been confirmed as the third-rarest game to ever be released in America on the GameCube.