07.29.07 – Back sometime in 2000, I picked up a used copy of Biohazard Code: Veronica Limited Edition for the Dreamcast from Cosmo Games. It came in an attractive red plastic sleeve, looking very much Limited, in a good way. It would be my first, but not last, experience playing the series in Japanese, which I am only basically familiar with. I know enough to figure out which emblem goes in which depression. Story? Forget it. But I don’t think the language barrier was the reason I never really got very far into it.

I recall doing the standard issue use-crane-to-move-cargo-boxes section, and am positive I didn’t see Claire in Antarctica, but can’t say exactly where I stopped in-between. My very recent play through of the PS2 incarnation set off sparks in remote areas of my brain, especially the airborne Tyrant battle. Could I have gotten that far and forgotten? If you’ve read my entry on Persona, you know the answer is “you bet”.

In any case, I had played 1, 2 and 3 before and enjoyed them all. So what was the issue? Was it something internal on my part, or a lack of appeal on the game’s part? I started a second time at a later date, but again, inexplicably, my progress halted.

My third and most recent attempt came after long hours of Resident Wiivil. RE4 is a game that never gets old. Never. It is a shining example of what you can achieve if you are willing to throw out design after design (some of them perfectly playable games) and really go for the gusto. Un forestero! Reflecting on this latest foray into the RE world, I lamented that I had never finished CV, and in fact had not finished RE:0 either. RE:0 is its own story. To say I never finished it is to say that I never really began it. Now that I think about it, by the time CV came out, I was RE’d out, and by the time RE:0 came out I was, like, done with the series (Eternal Darkness, you know?).

Recently, years after my original purchase, my sometimes-irritating completionist nature got the better of me, so I elicited the opinion of a friend who has played them all. “Hey”, said I, “which is better, RECV or RE0?” “RECV”, replied he. So it was decided, and I was sure this time I would finish. I couldn’t bring myself to lug out and setup the DC, so it was off to Hyper Game Action, where I found a nice PS2 copy (sans Devil May Cry demo) for 8 bucks and some change. This, of course, was the ‘X’ version of the game, which I have learned doesn’t mean a whole lot except for some extra cut scenes. And, being on the PS2, the video was cleaner. Not a whole lot of difference between this and my red Limited Edition, now sitting in a crowded plastic storage bin.

So is it any good? I mean, it has to be, right? 1 was groundbreaking, 2 was very well designed, 3 had “STARS!”. Clearly all worthwhile games.