Confirmed: Code Veronica FPS Mode

As you might remember, a few weeks ago GameSpot News ran a story based on information that surfaced in Electronic Gaming Monthly stating that there is a secret first-person mode in Resident Evil: Code Veronica. At the time, Capcom informed the magazine that there was a 95 percent chance the mode would indeed make it into the final game. And that's the last we had heard of this mode... until today. After nearly 20 hours, we finally bulldozed our way through the Japanese version of Resident Evil: Code Veronica and discovered that there truly is a first-person mode. On completion of the game, we unlocked a battle mode that has two modes of play: a third person and a first person. After selecting one, you can choose to play as Claire Redfield, Steve Burnside, or Chris Redfield. Each character has a varying allotment of weapons and health - Steve wields a pair of Uzis and a couple of gold-plated Lugers. Claire has a bowgun and a Beretta, while Chris packs a Colt Python and a shotgun.

The objective of the battle mode, whether played in first- or third-person view, is to simply get through all of the rooms offered, killing all of the zombies and creatures along the way as fast as possible. Each exit door, from room to room, remains locked until all of the zombies and creatures in a room are dead. The only items you collect are of the health variety - other than that, it's just point and shoot.

The controls are basically the same in either view; the analog stick controls your line of sight when you have a weapon raised. If you press forward on the stick, you aim down, while left turns left, right turns right, and pressing backward on the analog stick aims up. When you don't have your weapon raised, the analog stick simply controls your movement. The controls feel a little sticky, mostly due to the fact that the weapons automatically snap back to the center of the screen and automatically lock on to targets. The second you draw your weapon, it automatically points at the nearest target. This can be tricky at first, because sometimes you'll see some zombies down a hallway and draw your weapon - and instantly spin around because there was a closer zombie who you didn't see. Some enemies are short enough that, when close, you can't see them until you aim lower. To help with this, the game cuts to a third-person view when you take damage so that you can see who or what is attacking you.

The areas in the battle mode are made up of various rooms from the main game that are simply strung together exclusively for it. You can exit through different doors in some of the rooms, although they appear to lead you to the same place. In the end, each character faces a different boss from the game. Getting through the mode takes between seven to 14 minutes, depending on which character you choose and how well you place your shots. Depending on what grade you get, you can unlock more characters and profiles. For instance, the first time through we opened up another Claire who had a bunch of different weapons to use - the second time we unlocked a character from the game who, if we named him, might spoil the surprise when you see him.

Overall, though, the battle mode is a pleasant surprise. Even though the controls are a little funky, it's just really cool to play Resident Evil from a first-person view. We can't wait to see what else the game has hidden. If you get all this for completing the game in 20 hours, what do you get for doing it in ten? We'll let you know when we