You're probably thinking that the Da Vinci Code isn’t really a book (or a film) that would translate well into a game, and unfortunately you're right. In the game you take control of Robert Langdon, who is a supposed expert on Religious Symbolism. Players also take control of Sophie Neveu, who is a French expert at cryptology. Throughout the single player adventure you’re chased by a French policeman who believes Langdon murdered Neveu’s grandfather. The plot is good, but unfortunately the game literally cannot keep up with it.
The game is divided up into eleven different missions. Players start in the Louvre Museum after a small cut scene is played. Unfortunately it is clear from the very beginning that the game play is boring. The first thing you have to do is examine a dead male’s body. After you find a “pinnacle” Robert talks a little about the importance of this pinnacle. Slowly you examine each item and Robert provides commentary. Even at the beginning of the game it is easy to get lost in the story. Until you examine every clue on the body you don’t progress either.
LEGO: Da Vinci Edition
Control wise the controls are very stiff, most of the stuff you do is context sensitive, so a lot of the time you just walk around waiting for something to appear that you can use. The characters actually walk around like Lego blocks. The game contains some stealth parts (Metal Gear has no need to worry) and these are even more boring than the rest of the game. One of the clever parts of the game is the fact that you can combine items together to solve puzzles. For example, one of the puzzles requires the player to combine the GPRS tracker with some soap and throw it out of a window. This isn’t required too often though and the game provides a lot of hints.
The game play starts off really monotonous and unfortunately continues to be nothing special. The combat is boring and repetitive and the puzzles aren’t particularly difficult to solve. However, it’s important to listen carefully to the story because at one point we actually had an anagram to solve and we were stuck for the answer, twenty minutes stuck staring at “OH LAME SAINT” has a hell of an impact. The game provides some hints but once these are gone you’re on your own and you simply can’t progress without solving these.
Fear the night
It’s really disappointing that the game play is so boring because if there was a bit more action and less boring segments then the game could have been a little more exciting. The AI isn’t particularly intelligent either and is very limited, so as you can imagine the game play is never really “tense” and “exciting” as the back of the box would have you think. “frustrated” and “bored” would be the adjectives we’d be using.
The game doesn’t feature any of the characters from the film, so you won’t be taking control of Tom Hanks which is disappointing. It also takes away from the authenticity of the film. The character models and environments are okay, but we’ve certainly seen better. The environments aren’t all that large either, so we can’t imagine that the console is really being pushed technically. The pre-rendered cut scenes look okay, but there is a lot of them so they quickly become repetitive and boring.
The voice work isn’t supplied by the original actors either, which is another disappointment. The developers have tried to get actors that sound good but they end up sounding boring. The sound is passable, but it’s no where near memorable.
Nothing exciting here..
The game unfortunately doesn't take too long to complete either. There are very few reasons why you would return to the game, and the title is over far too quickly. None of the puzzles are particularly challenging and the game babies you through a lot of them. The game had the opportunity to go a little longer and include some things that the movie left out, but the developers appear to have taken the easy way out. In terms of unlockables, it's possible to unlock concept art, artifacts and enlightenment objects; not exactly a thrilling way to keep you coming back to the game hey?
The Da Vinci Code is a poor game, based on an average film which is based on a great book. It’s funny how the transition from book, to movie to game can result in a product so absolutely boring and uninspiring. The Da Vinci Code doesn’t have any major flaws, it just has just about no redeeming features. The combat is repetitive, the storyline isn’t fully scoped out and the puzzles are boring, we don’t want to crack the code anymore.
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