One of the last Resident Evils to burden players with fixed camera angles and perpetual backtracking, Code: Veronica also emphasized atmospheric dread over the constant rattle of gunfire.The long campaign takes you from an island prison to an icy base at the bottom of the world, and you never know whether each new screen will offer the tranquility of a save room or some horrible new crime against nature.

Of course, few will get weepy and wistful for the cheese-dip melodrama, the craptastic voice acting, or clumsy controls that make Claire and Chris Redfield feel more like bipedal tanks than human beings. But rudimentary graphical upgrades smooth out the rough edges of the Dreamcast era, and there's something strangely fulfilling about using lunatic logic to make sense of bizarre environmental puzzles.

You'd better be prepared to live without modern comforts, though. Hoping for a forgiving checkpoint system or a recharging health meter? You won't find 'em here. Yet the absence of cry-baby coddling turns out to be Veronica's strongest selling point: when you're constantly desperate for healing herbs or another handful of bullets, the stakes always seem high. The rough edges of 11-year-old game design will keep you from losing yourself in the experience, but there's more than enough substance to make this acclaimed adventure from another age worth a fresh look.

On Xbox 360 (Games on Demand-only)

+ Claustrophobic environments, sinister ambiance, and peculiar puzzles.

+ Challenging resource management; upgraded character models and lighting.

- Clumsy controls: backtracking galore; hilarious voice acting.

? Why do the pre-rendered cutscenes look like old VHS recordings?

7.5