i have never spent so much time one 1 Resident evil game since the original. [warning spoilers]

User Rating: 9.5 | Resident Evil Code: Veronica X PS2
this was the third Resident evil game i played. when i first got my Ps2 i was wondering through the discount bin in gametraders.
I then stumbled across CvX. at first i haven't heard of this resident evil game and so i bought it. when i got home to play it and was surprised on how much detail and how bloody good the game looked.

but after several hours of wondering around and searching for items and were to go, i got stuck and stopped playing :(.......
but months later i decided to revisit this game and actually try to beat it. you start with the opening cutscene as you see our main hero (Claire Redfield, sister of Chris from the first) being sent to a prison island. as she is taken to her cell, we see a flashback of her inside a umbrella facility and being chased and shot at by a umbrella helicopter (not only is this scene friggin cool but it also is featured in the second live action movie of resident evil 'Apocalypse') she manages to escape the chase but is capture by some guy.

you then awaken inside your prison cell and greeted with your first (and without doubt the easiest) puzzle of the game, equipting your lighter. you are released from your cell by the same guy who captured you (uhh thanks?) and sent out to escape the island alive.
The controls are all the same just like the previous Resident evil games with the R1 button used to draw your weapon and X to fire it. the cutscene showing the character moving up/down stairs, opening doors and climbing ladders are still inside the game though (which is a real time filler). there are still green herbs and first aid sprays in the game and typewriters to save your progress.
anyways back to the game........ you then exit your jail cell and head up some stairs and into a grave yard (oh gee, i wonder if there is any zombies?). at the start you think that some zombies are just going to pop out and scare the hell out of you. and you are right.

As Claire travels a few feet away from the stairs, we see an explosion and a flaming zombie hobbling over to eat your tasty flesh. but thats not all,...... As she tries to crawl away from the monster, we see more zombies come out of the grave..... and since you are only equip with a knife, you have no choice to run like a sissy out of the graveyard.

as you leave the graveyard, you then enter a quite courtyard. but all that silence is broken when you are THEN shot at by an unknown person. Claire takes cover and manages to find a gun next her. she takes fire and the person stops shooting. at this point you are introduced to the most annoying character in the whole series.... Steve.

Its not the voice ac-ting that makes this character annoying but the overall personality of him. he is loud, stubborn and just plain stupid. he runs off all time whenever he meets Claire and even though he saves you at one stage, he still brags about him being a knight in shiny armor.

And while we are on the topic, i think i should point out the rest of the characters. Claire needs no introduction. The man in the jail cell was Rodriquez or something like that and there are two other villains in the game called Alfred and Alexia Ashford. Alfred and Alexia are both sadistic twins who devote their lives on the T-veronica virus research that their late dad did. Alfred is the most twisted character in the whole Resident Evil series. Ever since his sister got frozen he has been all alone for most of his life. he passes time by dressing up in his sisters clothes and pretends to be her. Alexia is a psycho who gets her kicks by torturing people. she mutates around the end as some tyrant who shoots fire out of her hands.
Albert Wesker (from RE1) makes a return as some sort of cat-like terminator in search for the T-veronica virus research and Chris returns to rescue his sister.

New features of the game include shadows, a map that is much bigger then any of the other Resident evil games (besides 4 and 5) and the most hardest puzzles i have ever come across. unless you have a good memory or just don't suck as much as i do in this game, you should have no problems completing these puzzles. but for me, i didn't know what the hell i was suppose to do or where to go so i then went on the internet to figure these buggers out.

At one point of the game i was suppose to store the fire extinguisher in a item box because later on in the game you need it in order to get a magnum. i didnt know this at first and when i got to this, i was screwed because i accidentally left it in metal detector storage container. I also couldn't go back for it because i was already in Antarctica by then.

So when i got up to the final boss battle, i didn't have enough ammo nor health to survive it. that then forced me to restart the entire game.... all... over.... again :(
so after restarting the game again, i then stored that empty extinguisher inside a item box and continued on with the rest of the game. After a few hours of getting back to where i was, i then did my final boss battle. I then thought "now that i have got my magnum, things should be easier now right?" well...... i was half right. after i got the magnum i still died at least 4 times in order to beat it. i was then treated with the most awesome cutscene in the series so far (with no bad/good ending) as Claire and her brother escape the burning facility.

The cutscenes, story and enemies make me like this game.
this is without doubt the best in the series so far. People who have been a fan of the series will appreciate the effort from capcom while others will find it frustrating.

overall, best game in the series since the 2nd.