Resident Evil - Code Veronica X

After a few days of playing RECVX its mechanisms are very apparent.  You find one key or item in one area which allows you to access the next and so on.  In any wider section there are always rooms left locked which you know you will have to come back to and unlock once you have found the right item further on.  Along the way you have to kill zombies and other monsters and eat plants and use first aid spray to prevent you from dying.

None of this transparency prevents Code Veronica X from being engaging.  It did take a while for me to get accustomed to the controls: the character rotates left and right with a corresponding push of the left stick, and walks forward or back (from their own perspective) with a likewise movement of the same stick.  Backwards walking looks a lot like Moonwalking.  For a long time I just expected to see Claire (Redfield, the protagonist at the start of the game), walk up the screen when I pushed up, go right for right etc. and was frustrated when it didn't happen.

I have now just about got used to the way things actually are and as have become completely immersed in the game; for days not thinking about other games I might like to play   I even had a dream about being hemmed on all sides by zombies and not being able to get away.

I am now at an awkward stage in the game.  I think I have explored all areas which I can currently access except one.  To get to that one I have to go through a room where there is a puzzle to solve to reveal a secret door.  As soon as the hidden door opens a monster leaps into the room through the window) and attacks Claire.  She is already in the worst possible state of health (except dead), has no health giving items and there are none more to be picked up anywhere.

This monster is pretty tough and if it hits her once she goes down.  I cannot keep her out of the way of it for long enough to kill it so the only escape is to get past it without being hit and get through the secret door.  This is do-able.  There is a blue plant just through the door which Claire does have time to stop and pick up but she's got to be pretty quick as the monster can follow her or even whip his elasticated arm through the opening to kill her.  She can then progress through another door and up some stairs which lead to an area patrolled by two of the same type of monster.  What waits for Claire if she get through this next area I cannot report.  She has not much more ammo than she has health and her situation looks grim.

I have recently read in the manual that my ranking at the end of the game will be based partly on how many retries I have used (you retry after you die).  This section has presumably made my ranking quite a lot worse.