But this is exactly what i meant with smarter approach. Headhunter probably do less things on the pure technical side, but manages to look better (or at least more modern) than CV and also offers a semi open world with driving freely stage on the bike. Yes CV looked stunning at the time of release, but was quickly looking outdated vs Shenmue (despite CV being superior in some areas as lighting, that you mentioned), and even more by 2001 vs PS2 MGS2, Devil May Cry, Silent Hill 2 and and, to a lesser extent, on DC itself with Shenmue 2 and Headhunter....
You put Shenmue 2 or Headhunter vs the average PS2 post 2002 third person title and they both does not look as dated in front on them as CV looks...
Code Veronica looks great in some aspects, as lighting and main character facial expressions (and even Claire, Wesker and Chris playable models) but in other areas always felt like a 32 bit game with "128 bits" graphics. You can see it on its tanky controls (RE 3 was more advanced in that area), circle shadows, Steve´s and zombies blocky hands...I´m sure they would find a way to fix all that stuff or at least hide it better, with more modern tools and wider experience with 6th gen systems....
Also i wonder, how above are on graphical level RE Outbreak, Devil May Cry or Silent Hill 2 vs CV. May be with an smarter approach CV would have look closer to the visuals shown by those titles.
Hope in a few years we have the answer via homebrew solution.