May 4th, 2011

The Da Vinci Code

Although it does not seem a good idea, the novel “The Da Vinci Code” written by Dan Brown was successfully adapted to a video game, and the result was not so bad, we can even say that it offers a varied and challenging experience for fulfilling the cryptographer hidden in you.

The game presents, in essence, the mystery of a murder that is escalates with complex conspiracy theories, evidences developed in a ridiculous way, leaps of logic that lead to a shocking discovery that could rewrite the history and bring the Catholic Church in the knee. It sounds pretty interesting, but the game story is exposed in the worst way possible, depriving it of that sensational. And this is mostly due to the two protagonists: Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu, who are devoid of the brilliance that made them famous in the book or movie.

The two characters are completely devoid of personality or humanity. May as well be robots programmed to break codes. However, despite the lack of personality, the story follows the book and the movie pretty well, so if you're a fan, you will certainly enjoy the game. The game consists in investigating crimes and in deciphering puzzles and the combination of those two activities is very successful. All your skills will be needed because the game not only asks you to solve puzzles but also you will have some action and fights. You play with both characters but the feeling will be the same. The major part of the game, as expected, consists in solving the puzzles that are of a great variety and they do not become boring or repetitive, which makes them interesting and challenging. You have to solve riddles, anagrams, to decipher symbolic codes, and more. When you are not solving any puzzle, you should better keep your eyes open because you're wanted for murder, so police is after you. Besides all this, you're close to unmasking the larger conspiracy involving the Catholic Church and thus, the fanatical priests are after you and trying to keep secret. It seems that the one who has died has left lots of clues that can only be read by a connoisseur as Professor Langdon. As you analyze each region, you will find clues, objects with which you can interact, you will use different sources of light to read hidden symbols on the Mona Lisa picture, you will mix the chemicals to remove paint and to read a message or many such situations where you have to analyze each object.

The system of fight is quite interesting and easy to use, on the screen will appear buttons for defense or attack. But the biggest disappointment of this game is that it doesn’t transmit anything, you have no feeling of satisfaction, the voices are weak and completely devoid of interest, animations are also poor and are also appearing different annoying bugs and sometimes you even have to restart a level from the beginning. If you are an adventure fan or a fan of the “The Da Vinci Code” you will surely love this game. If not, do not expect too much from it. It does not compare in any way with the movie!