SCANNER
DREAMCAST Resident Evil: Code Veronica (Eidos) £39.99 * ir * t *
Small details add up to fantastic playing
Sega executives must be crying with relief. Since the launch of Dreamcast, it has suffered badly from a lack of killer applications. Until now, Soul Calibur has stood alone, fighting back the hordes of PlayStation 2 rumours with its startling speed, vicious gameplay and stunning good looks. With the release of Resident Evil: Code Veronica it finally has an ally.
Unfortunately, at first glance Code Veronica is nothing special. It follows all the conventions of the Resident Evil genre: a lone character, Claire Redfield again, facing the undead in a series of gloriously dank environments. Controlling Claire is as easy and natural as before and the constantly changing camera angles pump the suspense up to its limit.
But after playing for a little while, a succession of small details begin to add up to a fantastic playing experience. And the details are small; cockroaches scrambling out of sight as you enter a room; depressingly realistic rainfall; even obvious touches like setting a zombie on fire are underplayed, lending the game a subtle weight and presence it has never had before. This is Resident Evil as it has always promised to be.
The game is set on an island owned by, guess who, Umbrella. Claire has been kidnapped by Umbrella and just when she thinks she will never see daylight again, her jailer mysteriously opens her cell and passes out from his injuries. Something is not right in paradise. What follows is Claire's struggle to survive, to escape and to find out what is going on. As in previous games, more characters become available to control, widening the story as well as the Resident Evil cast.
It cannot be stressed how important this game is to Sega. Code Veronica, in its own right, is a dynamite game, taking Resident Evil to the next dimension of horror. However, its appearance on the Dreamcast could help catapult the Sega machine into a stronger position for the arrival of PSZ. And that would be a good thing for everyone. (lain Davidson)
live up to.
To start With it looks as bizarre as Ronaldo. In full flow, with passes pinging around the pitch and shots raining in on either goal, it is as graceful as the buck-toothed genius. However, when things don’t exactly go to plan, it can appear clumsy and unfinished, again much like its namesake. There are some delightful animations, like the scissors kick, yet simple things like tackling can be harder than they should be. The Al has impresswe touches, like a computer- controlled player striding thr0ugh, pulling the keeper out of his goal, then squaring it to a team-mate to tap home.
At times unrivalled in its footballing * “H *STAR
experience, Rona/do V—Footba/l has too - * , * ,, Very 00d many niggles to threaten the FIFA a: t is Wort a shot stranglehold. (Iain DaVidson) :* sgtqmaggggfiamed .
Mftl‘h KEN'kALS AND Moké.V€L?V.éReD {Ree -l:o Souk book.
Totall Wired
The world of t e Web.
The British Cycling
Federation
www.bcf.uk.com
This is the spiritual centre of the Internet for British bikers of every kind. All the latest information and news of everything from mountain biking to cycle speedway. There’s a list of clubs all over the UK and a fairly good database of tracks to try out
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an IT! $3 WW C V'C I... I M‘ £3; FEEDER “Tiflfiffil
Cycling UK
cyclingukcom
Starting out in biking and maybe need a few friendly hints? This site is full of them. Concentrating mainly on the other side of cycling such as the best insurance polices and legal services to use should you need them. Keep up With the latest national events, or even find a holiday and take in some foreign terrain. There’s even a list of national museums all about cycling; just make sure you cycle to them.
Trailbreak wwwtrailbreakcom
Claiming to offer more off-road events than any other company in the UK, this site is mostly anglo-centric but not exclusively. One of their specralist challenges is mountain bike orienteering, or The Fat Tyre Challenge as they call it. There’s a chatboard you can use to find riders in your area, or you can use it to buy or sell a bike. TLC—y also organise French Alpine biking holidays. Join the community.
Great Outdoors www.greatoutdoors.co
If you’re already an outdoors type, or just have more energy than you know what to do with, you could do a lot worse than take a trip here. If mountain biking isn’t your scene, you’ll find something of interest here. It’s based in the States, but has an international online community. And who knows, it might just set you off on a white water rafting holiday of a lifetime.
Idiots 0n Unicycles memberstripod.com/~derek_b/muni2.HTM
lf mountain biking sounds too easy for you, check out these boys. Using a special unicycle adapted for rugged terrain, and a frontal lobotomy, you can
career down the Sides of hills and mountains. In the old days we used to call this falling.
IOU
www.namethedecade.com
YOU OWE Ml FOR DINNIR.
If yOur idea of outdoor activity is You W‘ M‘ FOR 7‘“ MOVIL
nipping down the shops for fags, then the final site may be of interest to you if you’re flat-sharing. An American professor has devised a site to help sort out your weekly shopping bill, and how to share out the cost with your flatmates. What . if it’s your turn to buy washing up liquid, but you got the beers in last night? This will keep a running total of who owes who. Amazing: but it’s just a different way of arguing about money. (Steve Blair)
AND YOU Both ow: Mt FOR RWT.
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8—22 Jun 2000 THE lIST 123