Finished Resident Evil: Code Veronica X. It was alright. Pretty standard early Resident Evil fare, clunky controls, token key puzzles, laughably bad story. Tank controls are awkward but not too bad except in a few of the bosses where the game expects you to run around with a small amount of finesse and dodge attacks. The game gives you a ridiculous amount of ammo and health to compensate, though. I finished up with like 10 full heals worth of herbs and like 50 rounds for the grenade launcher, 14 for the magnum, and a bunch for the other weapons too. I probably could have almost beat the game again with what I had left over.
The story is ridiculous as usual. The protagonists are all idiots, and the villains cackling maniacs. The game starts out for Claire looking for Chris, and then about halfway in Chris shows up looking for Claire. What's even going on here? Our heroes were constantly getting their butts handed to them in cutscenes when they completely forget about the arsenal they are toting around. Worst was the 5 minute cutscene where Chris fistfights a superhuman Wesker despite the aforementioned 50 grenade rounds I am waiting to unload on him as soon as the game gives me control, which it never does. Chris ends up dropping some convenient steel beams on his head and then Wesker just leaves, swearing he'll get Chris next time. Wesker, you had like 10 opportunities to kill both Chris and Claire that you wasted because you just walked away seconds from finishing the job! The game ends with Chris saying "Now, we've got to destroy Umbrella! Let's finish this once and for all!" Umm, isn't that the same thing they were saying like 2 games ago? And is it even worth it without Steve?! Poor, poor Steve. I'll never forget him and... uh, the way he dual wielded SMGs and kept getting punked out by bosses.
I didn't hate my time with it, but it does make me wonder how the heck Resident Evil managed to become the major franchise that it is, since the games were kind of bad until RE4. After you finish the game you unlock the Battle Game mode, where you can run around and kill enemies with infinite ammo, and like, what's even the point? Yeah, I came here for the tank control, auto-aim combat! Give me more of that! Anyway, I'm glad I've finally finished it after 20 years. What should I play next, I wonder?
