The Da Vinci Code (16+)
Format: PS2, Xbox, PC.
Not exactly a page turner...
Remember those Where’s Wally? books? Well welcome to the modern day equivalent. No i’m not referring to Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code (or Where’s the Holy Grail?) but the videogame of it, otherwise known as Where’s the letter X? It could also be called Where’s the fun?, Where’s the drama? or Where’s the escape from this painful, dreary mess? All suitable titles and definitely not books i’d recommend to kids (or anyone for that matter).
Now, as one of those rare people that seems to have completely missed the Da Vinci Code phenomenon this is my first foray into Brown’s world (as exciting as it sounds) and the alleged mystery of the Grail, Jesus and his lover.
Taking recent point n’ click evolutionary titles such as Broken Sword: The Sleeping Dragon as its starting point the Da Vinci Code attempts to recreate the experiences of the book by making you sit through endless, non-interactive cut scenes and endless ‘interactive’ chunks of generic 3rd person gameplay.
Taking control of the lead characters you get to wander around searching for clues (represented by the letter X that pops up at context sensitive spots), solve puzzles that are either blatantly obvious and lifted from the book or irritatingly vague and poorly made with hints so obtuse they’ll have you looking like Munch’s The Scream.
Alongside the exciting puzzles you’ll get the chance to duke it out with your fists as police and mad monks take a dislike to you. Providing some brief comedic relief to the dull brown gameplay, the combat engine is as contrived as the animation is laughable - you can look forward to drawn out fights that seem to be modelled on a fighting style more akin to Captain Kirk’s playground scraps (just without the retro kitschness).
Combine that with the A.I. that’s as intelligent as rubber and can lose sight of you if you run to the other side of the room (‘They’ve disappeared!’) and you’ve got a very sub standard game, although the word ‘game’ normally constitutes something fun which this isn’t.
Any aspiring painters out there into theological symbology, please leave your works with detailed, written explanations, just so no one can get in such a kerfuffle again.
3/10