Astonishing, the success of the Resident Evil franchise has meant a Dreamcast incarnation for our favourite brain eating zombiefied friends. What we have generally is more of the same, more puzzles, more shooting, more scares and loads of twists.

The Dreamcast version expands on anything Resident Evil has had before by making it one of the finest looking games ever. The in game graphics are as good as a PSX cut scene, with animation a real strong point. The lighting efeects are fantastic and add to the atmosphere of the game. Oh yes, that atmosphere. Never before has a game made you scared of it, made you wonder what may lurk round the corner. Often you find yourself holding back in fear of what lies around the bend. Its a truly scary game, it makes your heart pound and can have people resort to hiding from the game behind cushions.

The plot here is also very decent, we start off as Claire Redfield (her from Resident Evil 2) in search of her brother Chris (him from Resident Evil 1) She has been locked up on a remote island by Umbrella, the evil corporation we all hate. As she starts to escape she runs into an all too familiar scenario, Zombies. Somehow its starting again, and there seems no way off the island or away from the monsters.

The game starts off at a reasonable pace, easing you into the controls and setings before starting to do what it does best - chilling you to the bone.

Monsters may not be bright to start with, but they seem relentless and pop up in the strangest places.

The sound also adds to the unique CV experiance, as you stroll along you'll hear off screen moans and banging of zombies on windows, you wonder where they are and whether they will attack. The score makes sure you feel like its a movie and mnakes for a trult terrifying game.

There are the usual niggles here, an awkward to learn control system, some ammo problems and a few bugs, but none that detract from the game.

The c
ut scenes are the best on the DC that I have seen, and add to the story, overall this is the jewel in the crown of my DC gaming selection. Roll on Code Veronica 2