Nothing like the book or the movie...except the end
Genre: Action Adventure
Developer/Publisher: The Collective/2K Games
Rating: Teen
Console: PS2, Xbox, PC
Price: $40
Here is a word of warning to start.
This review may contain spoilers for both the book and movie versions of the DaVinci Code. If you haven’t read the book, which you should do first because it is by far the best part of the three media, or seen movie, which is serviceable but not great, then do those first.
Getting to the real reason why we are all here though. For as good as Dan Brown’s book is, I have read it, this game is bad.
First of all this game feels painfully thrown together to piggyback off the success of both the controversial novel and the blockbuster film.
This title takes the theme of “breaking the code” to the extreme. Basically you solve puzzle after puzzle after puzzle after puzzle in your never ending pursuit of getting to the next puzzle…I mean finding the Holy Grail.
Instead of faithfully following the plot of the book this game does pretty much whatever it wants while touching on some of the major points of the novel. There are a few points where you find clues that are in the book, but only the most major and the most obvious. There are also huge chunks of the book’s plot either missing or simply not even included at all.
When you find these famous clues though the best thing that they lead you to is a puzzle that has nothing to do with the book. So, even if you do remember some of the finer points from the book they won’t help you at all.
Each of the puzzles in this game also has the infuriating detail that if you don’t have every single inane gear, tile or cleaning solution in your inventory or you try and assemble them in the wrong order you get no indication if you are on the right track. Usually I would have everything I need, but a character would say something was wrong sending me on a 20 minute wild goose chase after nothing more then a basement key, a combination of cleaner and brush or simply looking at something in a different way then I did previous.
More times then not I was stuck in a dining room, church or basement with no where to go, no more clues to find other then noticing the open space under a door or scuff marks on the floor and no way of knowing what I was missing. The television was lucky I had the restraint to keep the controller in my hands instead of hurling it through the screen.
There doesn’t seem to be any continuity with the puzzles either. There isn’t a progressive level of difficulty and there isn’t a progressive level of complexity as you continue through this game. There are slide puzzles, rotating puzzles, cryptic ciphers and scavenger hunts, but sometimes they are harder in the first three levels then in the last three. There is no order in this game.
There is a small bit of fighting in the game and some tough language, but not worthy of a teen rating.
Ironically in both the book and film Robert Langdon and Sophie Neavu would choose flight over fight, but here they don’t shy away from going fist to fist with a foe. If you are good with matching button presses or sneaking up and giving a good wrench to the back of the head then they will come out on top more often then not.
As for how this game looks. The characters are blocky and have continual shifty eyes that frankly makes the gamer uncomfortable. They look more like a Playstation one characters instead of smoother PS2 ones. The environments are the redeeming quality of this game, but taking in the fact that all the developers had to do was take a photograph of the real churches and homes where the story takes place and digitalize them it isn’t that impressive.
The music of this one is an orchestral mix that can be interesting at the start, but quickly gets annoying. Not as annoying as the voice acting though. From Neavu’s wretched French accent to Lee Teabing’s paltry British one the voices are horrible.
The controls are simple button pushes where you simply have to walk around and find clues along your path. You then have to “examine” them in a zoomed in mode where if you don’t line up a clue exactly in the middle then you can’t look at more closely.
The worst part of this game by far though is that it revels the true ending of both the book and the movie after playing an entire game where the book and the movie are simply a side thought. You go through an entire game that doesn’t deserve its title and then the game ruins both the book and the movie for those who have not read or seen it.
Overall this game is trying to ride the coattails of some much more well thought out and put together cultural and religious phenomenon. Save your money and never buy this one. It sounds bad, looks worse and has a variety of difficult puzzles that are nearly impossible to get a gauge on where the details can be right in your hand and you would never know it.
Coincidently, Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons is even better then The DaVinci Code. If you haven’t read the Code then read A & D first because it is an even better ride.
1.0 of out 10