When on defense, your enemy will take swings at you, and buttons will appear onscreen. You have to hit the right buttons as they appear to dodge each attack. It's all quite simple, but it's more fun than the average button-mashing style of combat. The problem is that these extended fights tend to make the combat sequences drag on a bit too long. It also seems out of place to be kidney-punching security guards and clubbing monks with crow bars as a couple of mild-mannered code crackers.
The biggest fault of The Da Vinci Code is the overall presentation. The voice actors sound completely flat and disinterested in the dialogue, the character animations are all jerky and unnatural looking, and there are even a few frustrating bugs that make the game feel unfinished. As you move through the environment, you'll often get snagged on inanimate objects, and at one point we got stuck on a railing and had to restart the level because we couldn't move. Conversely, sometimes you'll simply clip right through objects in the environment.
If you like riddles and anagrams, you'll find some good ones in this game.
The Da Vinci Code will take you about 10 hours to finish, depending on how well you handle all of the puzzles. There are secret items in each level that you can collect to unlock things like artwork and bonus missions. It's a respectably lengthy game, but the problem is that once you solve all the puzzles, there's really no challenge to be had in playing the game again, which makes the price a bit hard to swallow. If that doesn't deter you, then you'll be glad to know that the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions of the game are just about identical, so the version for you is entirely a matter of preference. The PC version is slightly better than the console versions just because the load times between levels are shorter and because some of the puzzles are easier to manipulate with the mouse and keyboard control scheme.
If you're a fan of adventure games, you'll find something to like about The Da Vinci Code. If you've read the book and seen the movie and still can't get enough of the story, you'll have fun jumping in and solving the mystery for yourself. Just don't expect the production values to be on par with those of the blockbuster film.
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The Da Vinci Code (PlayStation 2):
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