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.

Like the first two games, there are two protagonists, Claire Redfield and her brother Chris. 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. Another character, Steve Burnside, is briefly playable in Claire's half of the game as Claire is also playable in Chris's 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.

Plot
It has been three months since the total destruction of Raccoon City, and Claire Redfield is still searching for her missing brother, Chris. Claire's search takes her to an Umbrella owned facility in Paris where she is discovered and met with fierce resistance. Claire attempts an impressive escape from the clutches of the hired soldiers, but it proves to be just not enough. She is captured by Rodrigo Juan Raval, an Umbrella military commander, and is shipped to the remote Rockfort Island facility. Claire finds herself interrogated and then imprisoned, facing imminent death. Claire receives opportunity once more when an inexplicable air raid on the island wipes out most of island inhabitants and damages the majority of its structures. Unfortunately, the air raid also causes the accidental release of T-virus samples and B.O.W.s, which spread quickly and wipe out the remaining survivors. Claire is thrust back into the world of survival horror once again, with the odds seemingly stacked against her. Claire finds support in fellow inmate Steve Burnside but encounters untold hardships when the insane island commander, Alfred Ashford, and his equally evil twin sister, Alexia Ashford, set their sights on causing the end of the duo in their own sick, twisted, and demented games. Claire and Steve managed to escape the island, only to have been forcibly directed to Antarctica. When attempting to escape the Antarctic Umbrella base, Steve manages to mortally wound Alfred, while Claire successfully dispatches a mutated Alexander Ashford. As Claire and Steve attempt to leave for Australia in a snowmobile, Claire and Steve get attacked by tentacles deployed by a revived Alexia.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfield has been in hiding with the surviving S.T.A.R.S. members following their harrowing survival story at the Spencer Mansion in Raccoon City. When word from Leon S. Kennedy reaches him that his sister Claire has been captured by Umbrella, he races against time to reach Rockfort and rescue her from danger. However, what Chris discovers on the island is something he never expected - a man from his past who should, by all rights, be dead - his former Captain, Albert Wesker. Wesker has his own agenda that he is relentlessly executing - he is working for a new enemy, pursuing an unknown interest. As Chris soon finds out, this is not the Wesker he remember, as Wesker possessed super-human speed and strength. Chris learns from Wesker that Claire was already in Antarctica and attempts to rescue her. Chris gets reunited with Claire, with the pair attempting to rescue Steve, only to get separated again. Claire manages to reach Steve, only for him to die a heroic death after saving her from a tentacle. Chris on the other hand gets into a skirmish with Alexia and arms the self-destruct system to regroup with Claire. Chris successfully kills Alexia with a prototype weapon and successfully evacuates the base with Claire. The plot elements are confirmed to be used in the upcoming film Resident Evil: Afterlife, as Chris and Claire reunite.

Playable Characters

 * Claire Redfield - The 19 year old college student from Resident Evil 2 continues her quest to locate her missing brother.
 * Chris Redfield - The former S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team member has gone into hiding in Europe since the Spencer Mansion incident.

Supporting Characters

 * Steve Burnside - A young man who is imprisoned at Rockfort. He is brash and reckless, and refuses to trust anyone but himself.
 * Alfred Ashford - An eccentric aristocrat, is the commander of Rockfort. He is cruel and tyrannical to all but his twin sister Alexia, whom he worships in an unhealthy manner.
 * Alexia Ashford - A mysterious recluse and twin sister of Alfred Ashford. She was a remarkable child genius and joined the Umbrella research staff at the age of ten, but no one has seen her in fifteen years.
 * Albert Wesker - The former captain and traitor to the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team, Wesker managed to survive the Spencer Mansion incident. How he managed to do so, who he is currently employed by, and what he is seeking at Rockfort all remain a mystery along with how he obtained his super-human abilities.
 * Rodrigo Juan Raval - A commander and member of the Umbrella Special Forces Unit. He has been seriously wounded in the attack on Rockfort, and shows regret for his past actions.

There is also a mysterious character by the name of D.I.J., who is witness to all the major events of the game as told in a diary.

Locations
The following are notable locations visited during the game:


 * Rockfort Island - An Umbrella owned private island located in the south Atlantic, off the coast of Argentina. The island is administered by Alfred Ashford.


 * Rockfort Prison - Used to contain enemies of Umbrella, they would later be used in experiments at the "Infirmary" by the sadistic Anatomist.


 * Rockfort Palace - Used as a visitor's center for the island, it contains among many things, a room dedicated the history of the Ashford family. It also conceals one of the secret passages to the Ashford Private Residence.


 * Military Training Facility - Built to train Umbrella's elite special forces units in a location of secrecy, against real B.O.W.s. It is complete with military vehicles, a small laboratory and a monitoring room.


 * Ashford Private Residence - A towering gothic house built on a hill, it serves as the home to Alfred and Alexia Ashford. Alfred is so protective of his sister, that he has barred access to the home for everyone but himself. It is only accessible by way of secret passages.


 * Subterranean Airport - A fully-functional Airport facility built deep into the coves and caverns of Rockfort Island. It is accessible by a one-man submersible or through the Training Facility. It serves as the port for Umbrella's C-130 sea-capable cargo planes.


 * Antarctic Transport Terminal - Located deep in Antarctica, it was converted from a previously established mining operation, and conceals the research facility below. It also has several landing strips and helipads nearby.

Enemies

 * Zombie
 * Cerberus
 * Bat
 * Bandersnatch
 * Albinoid Infant
 * Giant Moth
 * Black Widow
 * Enhanced Hunter
 * Sweeper
 * Ant
 * Gulp Worm (boss)
 * Tyrant T-078 (boss)
 * Nosferatu (boss)
 * Albinoid Adult (boss)
 * Giant Black Widow (boss)
 * Alexia Ashford (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, a redone 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.

Trivia

 * Resident Evil - CODE: Veronica is the second of the main games to have a subtitle. The first was 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.


 * This was the last of the canonical Resident Evil games to use the names of actual firearms and manufacturers within the game. All the subsequent games until Resident Evil 5 (Resident Evil (remake), Resident Evil Zero and Resident Evil 4) used generic or made-up names for their weapons (i.e: Silver Serpent, Broken Butterfly, Blacktail).


 * 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.