Da Vinci

The Da Vinci Code : 2006 Adventure (or Action/Adventure hybrid)
The Secrets of Da Vinci: The Forbidden Manuscript : 2006 Adventure
Great Secrets: Da Vinci: 2008 Casual

Both the action-tinged take on Dan Brown’s conspiracy thriller and Kheops Studio’s historical puzzler sent players following in the footsteps of the enigmatic Leonardo Da Vinci, but DayTerium’s casual approach puts gamers right in the shoes of the Renaissance man himself. Only in the most superficial way, mind you, and ironically for a game based on such a progressive thinker and inventor, Great Secrets: Da Vinci makes no attempt to experiment with the standard hidden object formula. Fortunately, Leonardo’s influence as a brilliant artist plays a more significant role in what still manages to be a mild but pleasant, thoroughly traditional seek-and-find experience.

The game begins when Leonardo is simply a young master, not a grand one, listening to his favourite uncle’s tales. The story then follows the main travels and exploits of his life, ostensibly in pursuit of the Philosopher’s Stone, which seems an odd choice as a premise. Some events are historically accurate, while creative liberty seems to have been taken with others. Nevertheless, it all adequately provides a loose framework for visits to such places as Florence, Milan, Rome, Athens, the Far East, and France. The narrative is revealed only through journal entries between each stage of the game’s fourteen chapters, and while these serve their basic purpose, suffice it to say that no one will be confusing these writings for anything from Leonardo’s own hand.

In each chapter, the gameplay is broken down into four distinct sections: one sees you looking for random objects, another has you identifying comparative differences from a split-screen, and a third requires you to collect sets of one type of item (birds, keys, bottles, etc.). If you’ve played any hidden object games before, you’ve likely encountered each type already, and there’s nothing new here at all. The fourth stage switches between simple Concentration-style card matching, a super-simple tile-swapping jigsaw, and an ultra-simple tile-rotation puzzle. The operative word there being… well, simple to figure out. Each individual task is fine on its own, but over the course of the game’s 3-4 hours of play time, a little more variety would certainly have been welcomed.

It’s unlikely anyone will require much more than that, as Great Secrets is definitely not a difficult game. It is timed, and the number of items increases throughout the game from ten to as many as thirty, but the consistent ten minutes per level are usually far more than you’ll need. The more the items, the easier they often are to find, after all. The only potential challenge will come from the random object stage, which lists only five objects at a time and won’t let you scroll ahead manually. Clicking randomly will cost you a time penalty if you do it often enough, and you can’t “find” unknown items accidentally, as only the items visible on the list are active on the game screen. Even so, I routinely finished these stages without ever feeling remotely pressured for time.

When you do inevitably hit those one or two stubborn items that are too well concealed (or just eluding your attention, no matter how obvious they are), there are unlimited hints available to show the location of a missing list item. The hint system needs to recharge over time, so you can’t rely on multiple uses in a crunch, but it’s more than sufficient for what you’ll need. Object concealment is generally fair, with only a few instances of undue vagueness or imprecise item description (helpful hint: a “sandwatch” is an hourglass, not something you eat).

Like many hidden object games, the artwork is attractive but fairly low resolution, leaving you wondering what you’re looking at on occasion, let alone what you’re looking for. The scenery is nice, though, mainly displaying lavish indoor settings of Leonardo’s benefactors, and wisely the game avoids having you search for modern items that wouldn’t suit the turn-of-the-16th-century décor. The bonus, however, comes from the use of famous works like "Mona Lisa", the "Vitruvian Man", and "The Last Supper". Only the latter provides the basis for hidden object gameplay, the others simply offered up in standalone puzzles. Still, it’s always a kick to see familiar famous works, even if they are underused.

The orchestral music in Great Secrets is cheerfully upbeat, offering a pleasing background environment. At least, for the first hour. As with the game’s other elements, the soundtrack begins to get repetitive, and would have benefited greatly from a bit more variety, but the volume can be adjusted if it does begin to wear, and there’s certainly no complaint about the quality of the tunes offered.

Overall, Great Secrets: Da Vinci plays the hidden object game about as safely as it can, and does so decently. There are no innovations here, no bursts of genius befitting its brilliant protagonist, but it does a solid job with the traditional seek-and-find elements. Given its relative ease and lack of tougher logic puzzles found in many casual offerings, this title is perhaps best suited to hidden object novices, or simply those looking for a peaceful, unassuming afternoon with Leonardo. And hey, it’s a lot cheaper than a trip to the Louvre.

Up next: Nostradamus...