The Da Vinci Code – XB – Review

The phenomenon known as The Da Vinci
Code is much bigger, and has been around much longer than most people realize.
For starters, Dan Brown’s novel spent more than three years on the New York
Times bestseller list, and just recently, the movie enjoyed a comfortable perch
at the top also by ringing up record-breaking sales at the box office during its
opening weekend. So like any cash cow worth milking, the powers at be unwisely
thought that a video-game translation was in order as well. But, like many other
movie-based titles before it that hoped to make the cross-over from silver
screen to … well … the big black box, 2K Games and developer The Collective will
find out, if they haven’t already, that success in one medium doesn’t
necessarily guarantee it in another. Behind that blockbuster-implied name on the
package you need several key ingredients; one of these being a good story, and
while The Da Vinci Code certainly has this, the fashion in which it’s
represented just isn’t up to par with the Franchise’s other efforts.

For those of you that have somehow
gone unexposed to the madness over the past several years, you’re probably
wondering what all the excitement, controversy, and hoopla is all about. The Da
Vinci Code centers itself around the events that betake Robert Langdon, a
Symbology Professor at Harvard University, and Sophia Neveu, a Cryptologist at
the DCPJ (Direction Centrale de la Police Judiciaire) in France. Their paths
intervene when a major Symbology figurehead is murdered, where an intricate set
of clues are left behind, and it’s up to Langdon and Neveu to solve the mystery
behind his sudden death. Of course, nothing about the events above seems very
controversial, especially not enough to convince religious fanatics everywhere
to boycott and picket the movie’s opening. So what’s the big problem? Well,
without ruining too much of the story, the upcoming events take a turn for the
religious, and before it’s all over some of the most prominent figures in
Christianity, along with their Church and book of choice, take a serious hit in
the credibility department.

However, the story isn’t the video
game’s main problem; in fact, it could’ve been the savior if implemented
correctly. The real problem has to do with the game’s cast of characters; sure
both Langdon and Neveu are present, but do to what was probably an overwhelming
amount of money to purchase the licenses of the movie’s cast (Hanks, McKellen,
Tautou, Bettany, Reno,) we are instead left with some generic, stereotypical
adventure types as our playable characters. To make matters worse, both Langdon
and Neveu look and handle exactly the same in their animations, not to mention
their identical fighting abilities. Considering that both characters are
playable at certain points in the story, it would’ve been wise to give them
separate skill sets, or at least make it seem like each one is needed or is
capable of something that the other isn’t. But as it stands, nothing separates
Langdon and Neveu from each other besides their looks, and even those are very
poorly done.

The game features roughly 11
missions to partake in, and just as you would imagine, solving puzzles play a
major part in whether or not you advance through the storyline. Fans of the book
will recognize some of the puzzles immediately, and will have absolutely no
problem figuring them out. Likewise, for those of you that are new to the Da
Vinci Code scene, these same puzzles will likely be the death of you. I’m not
sure if anyone who hasn’t read the book will ever solve them. One problem is
that the game does very little to help you along, but when it does it goes
completely overboard. So oftentimes you are stuck on what seems like to be a
sadistic joke aimed solely at you, or you’re too busy laughing about the
developers decision to actually include that last scenario as a puzzle. For
instance, one of the first dilemmas you face as Langdon is figuring out how to
scrap a homing device that you find hidden in your coat pocket. How about attach
it to a bar of soap and throw it out the window? Seriously, clever huh?

When you’re not busy solving the
riddles hidden deep inside the Mona Lisa, you may or not be glad to know that
the game has tons of fighting in it. Of course, when you take a movie and hope
to stretch it into a 10-hour video game, some filler has to be added somewhere,
right? I’m not sure that having the game’s two main characters, which are
probably the most unheroic duo in history, battle their way through countless
police officers and cloak-laden religious folk was the right idea, but
nonetheless, it happened. It’s not that the fighting system is completely boring
or anything, but it just seems overly out of place in the Da Vinci Code, and
really takes away from what the premise behind the book and movie was all about.

When combat first initiates players
will have the option to either hit, push, or throw their enemy, where depending
on your choice a series of button prompts will flash on screen. It’s up to the
player to input these correctly in order to successfully defeat the said enemy.
Thinking along the line of Indigo Prophecy or RE4 wouldn’t be too far off, but
stopping the comparisons there would definitely be justified. When the time is
right Langdon and Neveu can even fight together for a little tag-team action,
and are utterly unstoppable together. They often times resemble the Bushwackers
more than they do a pair of Rhodes Scholars. Maybe I’m being too hard on the
enemy A.I., or lack thereof. Asking the Police Officers and secret society of
Illuminati look-alikes to actually be able to fight is probably going to far,
after all these are the same people who somehow forget you entered a shadow
after chasing you all the way to it. They do however know how to team up on you
when only one character is around, and with no real way to defend yourself this
becomes frustrating very quickly.

Problems aside, one thing the game
has going for it is a superb soundtrack. I’m not sure if it stands out only
because of the rest of games inability to offer anything positive, but
nonetheless it sounds appropriately moody and mysterious, often carrying the
onscreen action when nothing else can. The visuals are nearly in the same boat
as well, but resemble the puzzle system more than they do anything else. Some of
the locations and graphical effects look pretty nice, but the character models
and their uncoordinated animations really hurt the overall experience. For every
one aspect that works, it seems like there are countless more that do not. In
short, this is the main problem with The Da Vinci Code video game. Throw in the
fact that the game’s story and presentation do very little to capture the
overall phenomenon brought on by the book and recent movie release, and you’re
left with a sub-par effort. Serious Code fanatics may be willing to solve the
mystery once more, but everyone else will probably be happy with what they
already know.

Gameplay: 5.4
Clunky animations and a poorly designed fighting engine quickly wash away what
little satisfaction the unbalanced puzzle-solving system offers.

Graphics: 6.0
On the surface everything seems to be just fine, but after playing for several
hours problems start to rear their ugly head all over the place. Some of the
locations look extremely nice, but when the main characters look and control
poorly while navigating them, it seems all for naught. Not having the likenesses
of Hanks and Tautou don’t help either, not to mention Reno, McKellen, and
Bettany.

Sound: 7.0
The soundtrack is perfectly moody and fits the overall theme of the game nicely.
There were some times when I could distinctly tell that the tracks had begun
re-looping, and the editing job in between the loops was very poorly done. The
voice acting was for the most part very good, but nothing jumped out to me as
being extraordinary or great.

Difficulty: Medium
Most of the puzzles will seem either completely simple, or downright impossible.
The fighting system is pretty much the same, but really gets out of hand when
multiple enemies are present.

Concept: 5.0
The idea of taking the phenomenon that is The Da Vinci Code and turning it into
a video game is certainly a touchy one. If done right it could’ve served as an
ingenious adventure game, but when it leaves out most of the subject matter that
made the book and movie so intriguing, the execution is going to suffer. This
version definitely falls in the latter.

Overall: 5.9
Serious fans of The Da Vinci Code will probably want to try this version, if
only to extend the overall experience. However, be warned, the video-game
translation offers just a scrap of the mystery and intrigue brought on by the
book and film, and will most likely frustrate you more often than it rewards
you. Everyone else will probably want to leave this version of the mystery
unsolved.