Da Vinci Code
PS2
The Collective/2K Games


Let's get this out in the open from the start: I don't like the 'Da Vinci Code'. I didn't like the book at all. I felt cheated by its numerous historical inaccuracies and found it to be clumsily written, to say the very least. Its pseudo-intellectual lecturing simply didn't appeal to me and the predictable and boring story didn't either. Nor have I seen the movie - watching two-and-a-half hours of all that plus Tom Hanks puts me off.

The game is an overtly-linear one-player stealth action adventure with a number of puzzles thrown in. It follows the novel more so than the movie, which means at least there's no Tom Hanks to put up with.

The dialogue itself retains the lecturing quality of the book, with huge chunks being lifted straight from the novel. This doesn't help create any kind of air of tension in the game; the characters are constantly stopping to discuss this or that abstract cryptology or religious theory, even when they're being chased, which emphasises the game's crippling linearity.

The puzzles themselves are largely frustrating; especially those that rely on object interaction. It's too easy to miss items that are meant to be picked up, which leads to exasperating amounts of backtracking simply in the hope that the object will make itself known in the blandly-designed levels. Unfortunately, mission objectives in the game are so ill-defined in terms of location that it's easy to get lost, or, more likely, bored.

The true letdown of the game is the combat system: instead of fighting opponents based on what is actually happening on screen, you must input a series of button presses that appear at the bottom of the screen in order to attack and defend. It certainly doesn't make things difficult - far from it - but it feels clumsy and badly-designed.

The in-game cut scenes are truly appalling. The characters are wooden, moving very rarely, and stiffly when they do, though the worst aspect is the character's facial expressions. Their mouths move well enough, but the only other movement comes from the blinking eyes, which never widen in terror, lending the game a ridiculous, almost farcical quality.

The 'Da Vinci Code' is a frustrating game in many ways. The gameplay is uninteresting and the story just doesn't work in this medium. It seems to be a rushed release schedule that's led to a lack of effort on behalf of the developers, but even then, the game's problems run far too deep and it's just not fun on any level.

Alistair Wallis