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 Review
by Elliot Mateus
As far as the previous Harry Potter games
are concerned, they have never done justice to the books they are
originated from. The previous games lacked depth and originality and had
little reference towards the storyline of the films and books.
Things have definitely have improved for the fifth instalment.
If you compare the “Chamber of Secrets” on PS2, with Order of the
Phoenix (OOTP), the change is surprising. The bright and varied colours
have changed to more realistic and sophisticated colours. The in-game
Harry has grown up quite a bit to. He’s grown taller and his voice has
deepened, in much the same way that fictional Harry grew up during the
book.
I’ve played all the Harry Potter games, and I have never seen Hogwarts
done justice. Such a vast place with so much going on has never been
captured in videogame format.
Until now.
The OOTP Hogwarts is a huge, expansive place which is intricately
detailed. Materials are strangely realistic; the wood on the tables in
the great hall actually looks touchable.
The game is very user-friendly and people of all ages could play it and
enjoy it. The way the spells are cast is truly original and interactive;
you use the right analogue stick as the wand, moving it in certain ways
as you would a wand. It’s a real improvement on previous games when you
had to go through the tedious task of Inventory Spell Selection. The
camera isn't bad, though it’s not great though as you have no control
over it making some tasks hard.
The task themselves vary in fun and challenge.
Recruiting Dumbledore's Army (the DA) can get boring as the tasks they
give you are quite uninspiring; some are really easy, some are really
hard and none of them have much excitement involved.
The Occlumency lessons are a real drag,
nothing but a repetitive, crazy button-mashing mess, though it is
rewarding watching Snape being flung backwards.
The good bits more than compensate the bad.
Walking round the huge Hogwarts at your leisure, and having a duel break
out in front of you, never gets old. Neither does hearing the
actors/actress’ voice when talking to their character.
The climactic battle between Voldemort and the great bearded one
himself, Dumbledore, is a truly exhilarating experience. You control
Dubledore, and his spells are much more powerful than Harry's.
You can’t afford to take your fingers off the pad for a second as
Voldemort is raining down spells on you and you have the chance to wipe
the smile of his nose-less face. It’s a chance that can’t be missed.
After Dumbledore has had his fun, Voldemort turns to Harry and
annoyingly, another Occlumency ‘battle-thing’ occurs. Of all places to
put it.
Then its back to Hogwarts after that to have some more fun, and this
game definitely has lots of it blended in.
Hogwarts has never looked or played so good.
Game Info
Platforms: PS2, PSP, PS3, X360, PC, NDS, Wii, GBA.
Number of Players: 1
Publisher: EA
Developer: EA
Rating: PG.
THE SCORES (Out of 10)
Graphics: 9
Game play: 9
Challenge: 6
Recommended Link:
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www.harrypotter.ea.com
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