Reader Reviews

Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica (PS2)

by Kami

I've harped on now many times in reader reviews about my favourite games. But I'm tired of being nice. I want to be mean. I want to tear apart a game piece by agonising piece. If I ever become famous and get invited onto Room 101, this game is the one I would condemn to rot in hell for all eternity. And the worst thing? I'm a Resident Evil fan through and through. And yet RE Survivor 2: Code Veronica is a game I wish had never come into existence.

Everything about this game is just wrong. For a start, it's not "Code: Veronica", not even close. Code: Veronica was soundly constructed and sensibly paced. This is not. Claire and Steve escape from their cells, kick zombie butt, meet each other and agree to co-operate to escape. That's not how I remember it.

The control mechanism is sluggish and poor. I have no problem with using the light gun you understand - it just doesn't play at all well. The controls feel like they were knocked up in an alcohol-fuelled night of stupidity (Mind you, they're that bad, that scenario wouldn't surprise me), and you're constantly cussing at the awful aim and the unresponsiveness of the play and firing. It's slow, dull and agonising to move around. At times you wish that Capcom had just stuck it on rails.

The graphics are supposed to be as good as C:VX's. I stress "Supposed" because this game has a time limit on it (Oh, happy days!) - so you spend most of your quite limited time getting from A to B rather than taking in the backgrounds. Which, to be fair, aren't really worthy of note anyway. I can't see how this game used the C:VX engine. It's too barren. Too empty. There's no detail, no atmosphere. Nothing of interest.

I can't even begin to tell you how annoying the time limit is on this game. Not only are you rushing around like a headless chicken, but if time runs out, you then have to run from "Nemesis Type-T". Not only does Nemesis not belong in Code Veronica, but his presence merely serves to kill you when time has run out. One hit from him will do it. Game Over. And what's even worse, Nemesis is so slow and so sluggish in this game, that outrunning it is a piece of cake! I weep for you, Nemesis. I weep for what you have been reduced to.

That said the enemies are okay. They're still too samey and familiar to be scary, but they're satisfying to kill, although there is no noticeable effect when you actually shoot them. You'd think a headshot would kill a zombie? Nope. Shoot it ten times in the head, then it's dead. It's... it's... it's just not logical, Capcom!

Overall this amounts to little more than 'enter room of nasties, kill, pick up key if one is there, progress'. When compared to Dead Aim and Dino Stalker, Survivor 2 just feels like a cash-in. A, "People enjoyed battle mode so lets do it in gun survivor format!" They missed out poisoning though, which also detracts from the game experience. Mind you, it's so disappointingly easy that the chances of being poisoned would have been remote anyway.

You also can't get lost - the route is still set despite it not being on-rails, and there's no deviating from the path. If that's not enough, the big flashy lights above doors and big-as-heck arrows kind of hammer the point home - it would have been nicer if this game had been "on rails" - at least then we'd expect such linear play. It feels cheap, tacky, and not scary at all, to be honest.

The only good to come out of this game was it got such a critical and commercial pummelling, that Dead Aim actually turned out to be a decent game. My guess is they got a new team in (One that didn't participate in drink-fuelled brainstorming sessions, I think) and saved a series from more of this kind of rubbish.

To say Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica was the lowest point in gaming for a long while is not being mild at all. It is one of the worst games ever - that's if you can even call it a "game", as that supposedly denotes enjoyment. This game is not enjoyable. It's painful. It's agonising. Rigor mortis will set in while you play it.

I think, in my mind, it was unmatched as the lowest gaming point until Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines was released. Even now, Survivor 2 stands as a warning to Capcom and many other series that yes, you can ruin a good game, and you can do it in spectacular fashion when you put your mind to it. To swing from CVX to this game is like realising that the tennis bird scratching her butt on that poster of yours is actually a man.