Puzzles, puzzles and more puzzles
As the game begins you assume the role of Langdon – at certain points throughout the game you’ll switch between both of the characters - and, after examining the curator’s body for clues, you’ll need to escape from the pursuing French authorities who are keen to speak to you about the murder. You’ll need to dispose of the tracking device that the police are using to monitor your location. By searching the bathroom, you’ll need to place the GPS device into a bar of soap, open the window that looks down onto a busy street, and throw the bar out of the window onto a passing car – fooling the police into thinking that you’re on the move.
These types of puzzles involve combining objects in your inventory and are extremely easy to solve. You’ll never be over-encumbered with items in your inventory so it’s immediately obvious which items you’ll need to match up. Overall, the puzzles are often ludicrously bland, unless you love anagrams of course.
Click for larger imageThe word puzzles littered throughout the Da Vinci Code are frequent and probably the most fun that you'll encounter throughout the whole game. You’ll spend plenty of time solving anagrams and re-arranging sentences and phrases. You won’t need the brain of Stephen Fry however, the game’s inventory provides clues if you become stuck on these puzzles.
Click for larger imageThe Da Vinci Code attempts to break up the puzzle solving aspects of the game with a fair deal of hand to hand combat. The combat mechanics for both players are awful. In combat mode you’ll have the option to attack or defend and need to follow a sequence of buttons in order to win the battle. If you miss a button in the sequence you’ll pay for your mistake by taking a beating from the enemy. The most annoying aspect of this mini game is the targeting system – during battles you’ll often be attacked by more than one opponent whilst you are locked into a one on one battle. The action will often stop and then target a new opponent before you have beaten the current one - this mini game is frustratingly bad and, despite the option of also being able to throw your enemies to the ground, there’s no place for it in the game.