Resident Evil Code: Veronica X Impressions

Resident Evil Code: Veronica X is an enhanced version of last year's amazing Dreamcast title, Resident Evil Code: Veronica. The game takes place shortly after the events of Resident Evil 2. Claire Redfield's search for her brother, Chris, has gotten her captured and dragged off to a remote island controlled by the evil corporation Umbrella. The Dreamcast version was lauded for having more realistic puzzles, amazing graphics, and one of the best storylines seen in the series. The PlayStation 2 version looks like it's going to have everything that made the Dreamcast version great--however, Capcom isn't stopping there.

The publisher hasn't just slapped an X on the end of the title in a nod to the ever-lengthening titles of Capcom's Street Fighter games. Above and beyond what the DC version already contains are a few new features and story twists. The main addition is the return of Wesker, the nut job who double-crossed you back in the original RE. While Capcom isn't saying much about Wesker's involvement in the story of Code Veronica X, we saw a brief cutscene that shows Wesker using his superhuman strength to beat the living heck out of Claire, all the while describing his plan to use Claire as bait to get Chris once and for all. There will be more than 10 minutes of new cinemas, which are mostly designed to explain Wesker's whereabouts since the first Resident Evil game and how he's involved with the events taking place in Code Veronica.

Graphically, the brief demo of CVX looked on par with the Dreamcast release and didn't seem to exhibit any of the jagged, antialiased edges that seem to be all the rage with PS2 games these days.

Resident Evil Code: Veronica X is scheduled to ship this July on one DVD disc. The game will also contain a brief, playable demo of Devil May Cry, Capcom's big PS2 release for this fall.