Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica started off life as Resident Evil: Firezone before the name change and was jointly developed by Namco and Capcom for the arcades. The game was eventually ported to the Playstation 2 but was only released in Japan and PAL regions. Survivor 2 is a cut down first person shoot 'em up of Claire's Code: Veronica adventure. It too makes use of the GunCon lightgun, but the PS2 version which made navigation far easier.
Plot Synopsis
After surviving the horrors of Alexia Ashford and her T-Veronica virus, Claire Redfield and her brother Chris Redfield are safely piloting a two-seater V-TOL aircraft, when Claire begins to fall asleep. Her ordeal is finally catching up with her as she drifts into a deep sleep. To her surprise, Claire finds herself back on Rockfort Island re-living the previous days horror. The nightmare has just begun.
Development History
Originally announced in early 2001 as Resident Evil: Firezone, this was to be an arcade only adaptation of the Code Veronica mission by Claire Redfield. Firezone was to be Capcom's first foray into the arcades using the popular franchise name. Teaming up with arcade experts Namco and using Naomi technology the unique selling point of Firezone was the use of the gun controllers mounted at the arcade base. Instead of a linear on the rails experience like House of the Dead, Firezone allowed players of the coin-op to choose the direction they wanted their character to go by literally pushing the gun forward or backwards and turning left and right. In effect translating a standard first person shoot 'em up to the arcades.
However before release, Capcom took the decision to re-brand Firezone. The game was given the new name of Resident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronica. This was applied to the arcade release as well as the planned PlayStation 2 port. Considering the success that Resident Evil Code: Veronica was enjoying aligning this game with the more successful entrant into the series made commercial sense. This is despite of the poor reviews that the original Resident Evil: Survivor received.
The game was released to the arcades but failed to make the desired impact and generate sufficent revenue. The PlayStation 2 port was announced later in the year promising extra features as well as full support for Namco's GunCon2 peripheral.
The Japanese version was released in November 2001, with the PAL release coming on 8th February 2002. Oddly an American release never appeared on any schedules. It was the intention by Capcom to release Survivor 2 in the US, but it was deemed inapproriate by Sony of America citing the use of the gun peripheral. Consequently Survivor 2 was never officially released on American shores.
In-Game Elements
Arcade Mode
As the name suggests, this is a faithful port of the game that appeared in the arcades. Like the arcade version, the console version was also 2 player marking the first multiplayer Resident Evil game.
Arcade Mode is split into 5 levels all taking place on Rockfort Island. Level one occurs in the prison area, with the Giant Black Widow B.O.W. acting as the end boss. Level 2 occurs in the Official Residence of the Ashford dynasty. Here two Sweeper B.O.W.s are the end bosses. Level 3 predominantly takes place in the Military Training Facility on the island and the imprisoned Nosferatu will be the final creature of the level. The penultimate level is in the Private Residence with Alexia Ashford being the boss. Finally the last level is the island Airport and the Tyrant is the final boss in a burning room.
Throughout the entire game, a countdown occurs. If this countdown reaches zero instead of game over as is the case in most arcade games, the Nemesis T-Type is unleashed against Claire Redfield and Steve Burnside. If players collect all 5 jewels that are hidden in each level, after defeating the Tyrant, you get the chance to kill the Nemesis in a special bonus battle.
Dungeon Mode
An all new mode added to the home console version of the game. Here players are treated to new locations such as a clocktower and cavern battling B.O.W.S from the Resident Evil universe. As a stand alone mode it is not particularly enduring but as an added extra, it provides much needed meat to this game.
Vs. Roach Mode
A hidden bonus in Survivor 2. Vs Roach Mode sees you square off in five intense levels against an army of bugs and roaches. There is no need for exploration, you are generally in one room, but the mode is fairly fun with the final level including a life threatening laser.
Canonicity
There has been a lot of debate regarding Survivor 2 and its canon status. In terms of storyline it adds nothing from a character point of view. Survivor 2 is a dream experienced by Claire and as such is canon in those terms. Quite how she dreams about creatures that she has never encountered remains a mystery.
There are files however that do add to the storyline. These are considered canon and provide details about Wesker's involvement in the attack on the island