This sequel in the Resident Evil series, which first saw life on the Dreamcast console, details the events three months after Resident Evil 2. While searching for her brother Chris, Claire Redfield is captured as she infiltrates the Umbrella Corporation's Paris office. She is taken to an island military base of the company and soon realizes that an outbreak of the notorious t-virus has crippled the island. Once free from her prison cell, she begins her search, not only for her brother, but for clues as to what has happened.

Unlike Resident Evil 3, REC:VX feels like a full sequel. The story is strong and well-developed with a number of intriguing twists. A number of events are built to develop tension (like the slow, creaking opening of certain doors), while at other times, monsters jump out of the shadows for a good shock.

Graphics:
Code Veronica is the first of the series (to arrive on a PS or PS2) in which Capcom doesn't rely on pre-rendered backgrounds. The fully polygonal environments are well detailed and have lots of atmosphere. The characters move fluidly and, during cut-scenes, show a lot of facial expression. In fact, the cut-scenes are the best in the series. With the polygonal build of the game, the camera angles are better, more dramatic, allowing close-ups of the character's faces to enhance the emotion and storytelling aspect. Also, the FMV movies, especially the intro, are extremely well-done. There will be times in the movies where you'll just be amazed by the quality.

Gameplay:
While Capcom hasn't seemed to make many changes to their formula, they have managed to nip and tuck enough to keep it from feeling stale. The analog control, while still not perfect, is a lot easier to use than Resident Evil 3. There are times where the average gamer might prefer to switch to the D-pad for tighter control. Resident Evil's auto-aim feature My biggest beef is that once again, the player must hold down a button to run. Also, if you want to go up stairs, even if they are but two steps, you have to hit the action button. Hopefully, RE4 will resolve both of these small issues.

The puzzles are actual built with a little more realistic reasoning. Instead of looking for colored gems to put in statues, players must get passcodes and keys for locks. While there are still some of the odd puzzles (finding gold lugers to unlock a hidden door), for the most part you don't have to perform amazing leaps of logic to figure out how to get through most of the puzzles.

Sound:
Both the sound effects and soundtrack aid in creating tense situations throughout the game. The voice-overs, while still cheesy at times, are a lot better than in previous editions of this series. My only beef with the voice-overs is that the lip-synch is not done all that well. Mind you, it's not as obvious as in Extermination, but if you can look past it, the voice-overs lend to some great story-elements.

Code Veronica X is probably the toughest Resident Evil since the first one came out. Enemies are tougher and move faster. Gamers will find that they can't just walk from point A to point B without some thought on how to conserve their ammo, because they WILL be attacked by hordes of enemies. Since most of the weapons at the start of the game are weak, you're going to have to use your wits to complete this game. Also, if you don't watch out, you may use up all of your healing items before too long. Don't feel ashamed about running. Often, it's your best move.

On the whole, REC:VX reaffirms my belief in Capcom's ability to keep the series moving along in the right direction. While RE3 and Survival felt like weak add-ons, REC:VX is a strong sequel with a lot of challenge and a great ambiance to it. While the lip-synch and control issues still feel like they need a little more resolving, this game is very enjoyable to fans of the action genre. Though, if you don't like survival horror, you may want to give it a rent. For the rest of us, though, this game is worth picking up.

- - Kinderfeld