Game's pretty sweet, had no clue folks hate it till GAF threads, lol. I'd played RE 1-3 and I liked it more than 3 for sure, moodier like 1 but still fast paced and cool. Would be funny if they made this a static camera remake instead of the expected modern stuff so folks hate it all over again, I'd play it.
It's a strange outlier in the Resident Evil series. The game itself really started as a port of Resident Evil 2 for the Sega Saturn. I guess Sega and capcom had a deal to port some of their Resident Evil games to the system.
The middle ware developer 'Nexttech' (who are called Nex Entertainment up until 2016 when they went defunct) was contracted to do the saturn port of RE2, as they previously did the saturn port of RE1. But they deemed the Saturn poort of Resident Evil 2 to not be worth their time. They didn't think it looked good.
Capcom made a formal public announcement for the cancellation of RE2 for the Saturn, and then announced that they were working with Sega on a 'next generation' Resident Evil game for the newly uninvolved Dreamcast called Code Veronica.
The game design was helmed by Capcom Production Studio 4. The engine and 'heavy lifting' was done by Next Entertainment. There is also some speculation that TOSE may have done models and assets for Code Veronica. The game seems like it was heavily outsourced. Next Entertainment also did a lot of work for AM2 on Shenmue 1 and 2 for the Dreamcast, and they also ported Dino Crisis to the Dreamcast as well. They were quite skilled with the Dreamcast hardware. The engine for Code Veronica is practically the Resident Evil 2 engine remade with 3D environments. It started as a Sega Saturn port of RE2. Code Veronica was made to be a tech showcase for the Dreamcast. For its time it did have pretty impressive looking 3D backgrounds and cinematic in-engine models and character rigging for early 2000. Months before the PS2 launched.
The Dreamcast game was reviewed really well for critics and they hyped the graphics and models. It was ported to the PS2 and Gamecube due to the early cancellation of the Dreamcast. NextTech did those ports too. The PS2 and GameCube ports didn't quite get the same glowing reviews as the early Dreamcast original, the wow factor of the Dreamcast game wasn't there, given that the Cube and Xbox were on the market. People who played Resident Evil Code Veronica X were a little more underwhelmed by the visuals.
There was also the remastered ports that people tend to forget that were released on the 360 and PS3. That remastered port used Capcom's MT Framework engine, and has enhanced fire and water effects effects (these looks weak on the Dreamcast) and an updated lighting engine model. But still uses the original assets and models. There was also the Wii light game called: The Darkside Chronicles. It was actually quite good. Had a nice visual upgrade over the original Code Veronica. It really showed off the Wii hardware.
It still; is a cannon side quest. Resident Evil 2 remake actually retcons story elements from Code veronica into the game. It directly references the Ashcroft family. So Code Veronica is story canon in the remake universe. It is open for a remake as well. It does continue Claire (and Chris's) storyline.
