Reviewed: June 14, 2006
Reviewed by: Mark Smith
Publisher
2K Games
Developer
The Collective
Released: May 19, 2006
Genre: Action
Players: 1
ESRB: Teen
6
8
8
6
6.1
Supported Features:
Screenshots (Click Image for Gallery)
I’m probably one of the few people who haven’t read Dan Brown’s, “The Da Vinci Code”. I simply don’t have time to read these days, and since everything worthwhile either gets made into a movie or game, it’s usually pretty safe to wait. With that in mind, I was excited to see Ron Howard’s vision of the movie, especially when Tom Hanks is taking on the lead role.
From what people tell me, the movie is pretty close to the book with a few obvious omissions for time and pacing, which only makes me glad I didn’t ready the book because I thought the movie sucked royally. Tom Hanks was terribly miscast and the movie was just dull and uneventful.
But even as I watched the film, knowing full well that 2K Games was releasing the video game that same week, I couldn’t help but pick apart the various scenes and say to myself, “that would be a cool puzzle in the game”. Guess what? They are.
The Da Vinci Code video game far surpasses the movie in my opinion if for no other reason than it was interactive and thus engaged me far more than watching characters on the screen having all the fun. And rather than make a movie-licensed product and try to cast the film stars, The Collective chose to create their own characters, whose likenesses and voices all worked a lot better than anybody in the movie.
The Da Vinci Code is an adventure game with a heavy dose of puzzle solving mixed with some uninspired combat and stealth elements that pretty much ruin the overall experience. Combine that with a problematic save system that forces you to replay one or more of those fiendish puzzles should you die during combat, and you have a frustrating 8-10 hour ride ahead.
I was having a really good time with the game from the very beginning. Having seen the movie gave me a few insider clues (like the soap in the bathroom), and I really enjoyed the first few puzzles, even if they were pretty standard by adventure game rules.
But once I started having to fight and sneak around the game lost nearly all of its appeal, not that I don’t enjoy those elements, but only when you have commands and controls that allow you to perform them with reasonable skill.
The combat is some insipid DDR-inspired reflex button-masher. I suppose it might be a good system for adventure gamers who can’t handle combat, but give me a punch and kick button any day. After playing The Da Vinci Code I am now convinced that action should probably stay out of puzzle-adventure games.
The stealth element is just as broken as the combat. The AI is stupid enough to not detect you if you are hidden properly but knowing where to hide is not always obvious. You have no light meter like Sam Fisher, so you won’t know if you are hidden until you either escape the encounter or get challenged to some more insane combat.
I failed my first stealth opportunity almost immediately, getting pummeled to death in the bathroom. I “thought” I was hiding in a dark corner. And once I died I crossed my fingers hoping for a nice checkpoint save, but that was not in the cards. Instead, I was returned to the Mono Lisa where I got to repeat a rather lengthy puzzle. But since I had just done that puzzle only moments ago, I already knew the answer, so this was merely a mind-numbing repeat of previous events.
The rest of the game is pretty much the same, mixing in puzzle, stealth, and combat as you revisit the locations and events from the movie/book. If you’ve already seen or read the source material there won’t be any story surprises and more than a few puzzles will be a bit obvious.
I was so disappointed with Tom Hanks’ performance that I was cringing as the game loaded. Thankfully, all of the characters are original creations and fit with the story much better than anybody in the movie did. There was some surprising detail in the clothing and faces, especially in the cutscenes, but the animation left a lot to be desired. Walking, sneaking, and especially fighting, was rather robotic.
The environments all look fantastic with amazing detail and gorgeous lighting. Some of the architectural complexity just blew me away. The puzzles and the interface used for solving them were fun and inventive, even when the puzzles weren’t.
The camera was functional during gameplay and offered some truly cinematic angles. The cutscenes all used game graphics and blended with the gameplay perfectly. Despite a lack of any HDTV support, the game looked good.
The score for The Da Vinci Code was nice but not terribly noticeable. Some regard that as the perfect score, but adventure games are usually prone to long periods of thinking and some ambient music would have been nice. As it is, the music cues for special events, plot revelations, and combat, but keeps to the background for most of the game.
The sound effects are minimal but get the job done. You have footstep and combat sounds, and other noises directly tied to your interacting with the levels. This is a stereo-only game and not very vibrant.
The voice work was exceptional. Again, by not committing to making a movie-game, the designers didn’t have to worry about having the stars re-read their lines or even get sound-alikes. You might find a few similarities in some voices but that’s only because all French detectives sound like “Leon the Professional”.
You can crack the code in 8-12 hours, probably less if you have seen the movie and are remotely good at lame combat and sneaking around. There’s not much in the way of extras other than an art gallery to show off some of the game design process. You can unlock a few bonus puzzles, but having beat the game, why on Earth would you want to do more puzzles?
If you couldn’t put down the book and you saw the movie on opening day then you might want to check this game out, but I could only recommend this as a rental. Some retail copies come with a movie ticket, which might ease the sticker sting of a purchase, but this is not a quality game and doesn’t deserve your full-price dollar. I mean; they couldn’t even cobble together a Dolby Digital surround or HDTV presentation.
Just when I thought the movie-license curse was starting to lift, The Da Vinci Code reminds us that it takes great gameplay to make a great game – not a lot of media hype and overrated source material. Supposedly, The Da Vinci Code is the second most popular book next to the Bible – with a legacy like that what chance did this game ever have…really.