Take one of the best game series going. Blend it with the most powerful system on the market. Mix and spread over two CDs.
That gives you Resident Evil CODE: Veronica, a vast and magnificent story of terror and survival that tops anything Capcom or Sega has come up with so far.It may be the best game available to date for Dreamcast, one of those rare productions that will keep you busy and engrossed for weeks.
If you've played video games for any length of time, you know the epic story of Raccoon City and its travails with the virulent souls who have turned the residents into zombies.
We last ran into the series late last year, when Resident Evil 3 was released for PlayStation. It was an excellent game -- but Veronica tops it in every way.
The tone of the game is set from the opening moments -- dark, somber, eerie -- and reinforced in an early cut scene when our heroine, Raccoon City policewoman Claire Redfield, stumbles into a graveyard and is set upon by an army of rotting corpses clawing their way out of their graves.
Claire has been kidnapped by the evil Umbrella Corp. and spirited to their island prison.
That, however, is just a taste of what's awaiting you as you play either as Claire or as her brother Chris, for whom she is searching. You have to battle through a seemingly endless supply of zombies, mutant dogs and other monsters whose appearance I won't spoil.
As you proceed (and are gnawed on by your undead opponents) you have to solve puzzles, find items to open doors, revive your flagging lifeline and fight off the evil hordes.
Fighting off those hordes is a bit more difficult than in the past, because it seems ammo for your weapons is in short supply and even the meekest zombie takes several shots to dispatch. Be careful, too; you may think they're dead when they fall, only to discover they've revived, so to speak, and are nibbling on your ankle.
The graphics earn an A plus -- they're somber, beautifully detailed and shaded, absolutely excellent in every way, and oh, so scary. Enhancing the look and the mood is one of the best camera setups I've seen in a 3-D game. The camera is right where you want it, every time.
Making a good thing even better are the excellent cut scenes, which advance the eerie plot.
Sound gets an A, and so does the control system. I know, there have been a few, OK, some, OK, a lot of complaints about the controls. But I have always found Resident Evil's control system to be easy to learn and to use. The only exception is trying to swap weapons while being devoured. Gotta keep practicing.
This latest Resident Evil won't be everybody's cup of tea. It's gory, filled with horrors and long and complex, requiring a patient examination of everything you find while remaining alert to frequent attacks. It's rated M for a good reason; this is not a game for tots.
But it gets an A plus. It's the best game I've played so far this year, and the best thing on the shelves for your Dreamcast. Gotta have it.
Resident Evil CODE: Veronica is rated M, for ages 17 and older.