Hey everyone! Like a zombie at an all-you-can-eat brains buffet I make my inevitable return so that you can feast on the deliciousness that is Resident Evil Code Veronica. Today I’ll be covering off on some of the games puzzles elements and a certain villian that’s makes his reappearance. More on these topics, some Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles bits, and an update on the contests after the jump. See you other the other side!

Puzzle Elements

Right from the get-go, Code Veronica was full of things to solve, which kinda threw me a curveball. Coming right off of playing through Resident Evil 2, I was used to running or blasting zombies just to survive the opening scene. There are of course zombies to evade and dispose of, but I was running back and forth like an idiot for a good amount of time before I could figure out how I could advance to the next scene. After clearing the courtyard and surrounding areas, I reached the scene with the security safe deposit box. I must have dropped off and picked up my stuff like 50 times while trying to figure out the “puzzle” portion of what was going on. I figured out that the door in the computer room was locked so there was no way around that, but I also figured that there was some way that I had to get around the security system. My personality is one that if there’s a problem, I’m going to run “head on into a brick wall” until I finish it.

So I kept checking every corner of the computer room and security hallway for over an hour before I took a break to just explore some more. Low and behold as soon as I left the building there was a button that opened a little storage garage that I’d totally overlooked :*( I don’t wanna totally ruin it for people that haven’t completed the game yet, but the next (of many) parts of solving this scene are found inside the storage unit.  I’m a firm beleiver in not “cheating” or looking up solutions in guides or online until I’ve completed the game properly at least once, so you can imagine the time I spent running around all the different game scenarios trying to figure all these puzzles out. In the end I can definitely say that Code Veronica was definitely more puzzle heavy than any other resident evil game I’ve played. Whether it be something challenging like trying to get the Red Skeleton painting out of the quarantine room or something as (what you think would be) easy to figure out like, oh say, that I can inspect and open the breifcase that I’ve had in my inventory for almost an hour, the puzzles were a nice addition to the suspense and horror that filled the game. No matter how frustrating they were at times, in the end it was always worth the sense of satisfaction that you’d get when you solved one! Some other notable puzzles and brain teasers were:

– Hawk emblem casting

– Use of the fire eqtinguisher throughout the entire game

– Using the lighter with bats around

– Inspecting items to find hidden uses/items

– Red skeleton painting

– Tiger eye statue

– The luggage/package sorter

– Finding and applying various gems and jewels

– Oil pressure guage

Wesker

At long last he’s back! Wesker is my favorite RE villian and that’s a hard spot to fight for since there’s a long list of memorable foes throughout the series. The thing that draws me to him so much is the fact that he’s so powerful and evil, but at the same time he does it all while being such a “badass”, for lack of a better term. Dressed in all black, stylish shades, smirky voice, special forces training, and of course crazy superhuman abilities. At this point in the story we haven’t really heard much from Wesker since the original Resident Evil, so for me it came as a welcome surprise to see him “back from the dead”. Anyways, he had followed Claire through Rockfort Island and eventually all the way to Antarctica in his attempt to get a sample of the Veronica virus for his own personal agenda. I know we’ve got some Wesker fans here on Unity, what’d you guys think of his appearance in this game?

New trailer and content coming for Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles

We’re about 6 weeks shy of the Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles launch. November 17th you’ll be able to relive all the cool scenes, moments, and memories of RE2 and Code Veronica. Hot off the Tokyo Game Show press we’ve also just announced a third campaign for Darkside Chronicles. This brand new story tells the tale of partners Leon S. Kennedy and Jack Krauser as they explore a remote South American location searching for a man named Javier Hidalgo. There’s talk that Javier has been in contact with a former agent of Umbrella and rumors of BOWs are popping up all over the place. Don’t take my word for it, check out this awesome trailer yourself!

Contests

If you’ve been swingin by our Nostalgia Diaries forum discussion , you’ve probably no stranger to some of the contests we’re running. My current favorite is our “Let your darkside out” photo contest where members are “zombifying” themselves! It’s simple, snap a photo of your best zombie impression and get a sweet Darkside Chronicles posters autographed by the game’s producer Masachika Kawata. As far as a deadline goes, the contest ends when I run out of posters so get creative and join in on the fun… here’s a few samples of what Unity members Mr. Death and Darkvenix have done. If you’d like to submit your own, head on down to the the discussion thread and post up your best zombie!

Expect to hear more from the Nostalgia Diaries and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles in the coming weeks!

~mike