Movie games are probably the most schizophrenic genre in the game industry. For every occurrence of games like Wanted: Weapons of Fate or Terminator: Salvation there are games like X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Ghostbusters to restore balance to the gaming universe. With that being said I wasn’t expecting Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince to be as good as it is. Despite EA’s current track record as of late of providing quality games I was under the assumption that Harry Potter would be a cash in of the license, similar to what we saw earlier this year with Lord of the Rings: Conquest but that is far from the case.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince excels the most in one category and that’s immersing you in the world of Hogwarts and wizardry. Similar to what the Ghostbusters game seemed to achieve Half Blood Prince makes you believe that you’re walking through Hogwarts as it has a nice amount of depth to the world and the wizard duels. Right from the first moment you walk through Hogwarts and see the various students milling about and discussing things or in the case of the Slytherin students badmouth you there’s just a real sense of this being a living world and an active school instead of a simple and straightforward cut and paste job that we usually associate movie games with. Just imagine the world Rockstar made with the school in “Bully” and that’s what The Half Blood Prince achieves in a way.
Like any other movie game The Half Blood Prince follows the events of the film and thankfully it doesn’t make too much stuff up to pad the length of the game. In some regards fans of the book or film may be a tad disappointed with how certain story elements are handled in the game as some events are simply glossed over in brief cutscenes . Even pivotal events like Harry and Dumbledore’s journey to find the Horcrux and Dumbledore’s subsequent drinking of the portion come off a bit more comical than serious due to their execution. If anything, the game is better when it’s not directly following or recreating the events from the book/film as things seem to progress a bit more naturally as opposed to feeling slightly set upped. It’s also in these scenes where the true charm that the books and movies are known for truly shines as the writing for the game really captures the essence of the characters and the world.
Of course the game can’t fully rely on atmosphere and charm to get by and how badass the player feels as they cast spells and battle is an important component. The Half Blood Prince continues the same control mechanic as the previous Harry Potter game used as it once again has players using different right analog stick movements to cast spells. It still slightly suffers from the same problems most analog stick movement games suffer from as at times it requires too precise a movement and you may find yourself attempting to cast Wingardium Leviosa three times before you successfully levitate your object. The rest of the spells are quite easy to cast which makes combat quite fun as the various spells really have a nice visual and audio impact. At times the combat can be a bit easy at times with some boss battles being a pushover as they’re quite easy to take out but it doesn’t completely hinder the experience of the game as dueling is still a blast due to the amount of spells you can cast.
The only annoying thing about combat is that recover animation after you’re hit is slow as molasses and right when you finally get up you’re usually blasted with another spell that sends you flying on your ass again. This can be quite annoying in some cases as it feels cheap since you’re completely defenseless for 7 seconds. That doesn’t sound like a long time but when you’re in a wizard battle it’s an eternity.
Besides getting into wizard battles you can also mix the various potions that occupy the Harry Potter universe such as Polyjuice potion. The unique thing about potion making is that it’s probably the most immersive mini-game I’ve played in the last 5 years. What the game does it that it gives you the steps of making the potion and you can then select each ingredient and then add the proper amount in the cauldron until it turns the required color. For example a potion may call for 4 Rat spleens and a dab of Mandrake juice. In the case of the Mandrake juice once you select it you actually move it and pour the required amount over the cauldron. This may sound a bit simple but when you factor in the time limit you have and how complex some of the later potions are then you’re looking at a mode that will keep you occupied for awhile, especially if you’re a perfectionist as you’re graded on how well you do.
Quidditch also plays big part in the game but fans may be a bit disappointed with how it’s handled though I thought the game did a reasonable job with things. Players assume the role of Harry as the Seeker as they’re put on an on-rails section where they’re required to fly through stars to increase their time in the game. From an atmosphere standpoint it works wonderfully in the Quidditch games as you see tons of players flying around, students are cheering, the announcer is giving commentary on the game and the music is blasting. But once you go through your fifth match or practice you may grow a bit tired as there isn’t a lot of variety and the placement of the time gates are pretty straightforward. On one hand making the Quidditch segments on-rails probably makes the most sense from a game play perspective but it may have been nice if the player had full movement and had to actively seek out the Snitch instead of automatically grabbing it once they reach the final time gate.
The game does suffer from being a tad short as I was able to finish the game in around 4 hours which is a bit of a letdown. Thankfully you can still continue your adventure after you finish the game as you can complete in different duel clubs, become a portion master in the portions club and become a Keen Flyer in Quidditch. If doing those activities doesn’t tickle your fancy then perhaps finding various Hogwarts Crests will. The crests are the typical collectible items that we’re used to seeing in other games like the Blast Shards in Infamous but there’s a small level of depth given to how you go about retrieving them as some require you to use your various wizardry skills or aren’t accessible until you have the right spell. Collecting these isn’t merely for fluff purposes either as hitting certain milestones will unlock additional health for the duels or new content for the 2 Player Duel mode. It may have been nice if there was more stuff to do in the game since you can probably complete everything in around 5 hours and most of the Trophies/Achievements can be unlocked during the story mode which limits the replayability the game has.
Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince is probably the most surprising game I’ve played this year. While it may have the stigma of being a bad movie game it’s far from it. The game is far from perfect but when it comes to immersing the player into the world of Harry Potter it gets the job done and should please fans. You can tell that the team at EA Bright Light put a lot of effort and thought into the game as it has several surprising sections including one where the game switches into a first-person view of Harry as he traverses through Hogwarts. Those type of sections coupled with the how fleshed out the duels and potion making are really makes The Half Blood Prince shine from the drivel that we’re used to from movie games. Don’t let the negative stigma around movie games prevent you from trying out The Half Blood Prince as it’s a nice easy going game that has some true character to it and doesn’t rely on the gimmicks or trademarks of the series to make it an entertaining game.
Video 4: A walk around Hogwarts
So before I write something I should base my views on a game around what other people think, essentially making my review a summary of what others belie ve instead of writing what I think of the product.
And did you check out what IGN thought of the game? They gave it a 7.7, a score I believe was on the mark for what the produt presents compared to GS's low ball score of 5.0 but I'm willing to accept that reviewers score since he may have been in overly critical mode due to being a big fan of the property, something I can understand since I go through similar moods myself.
Is Harry Potter the next fucking Killzone? No it isn't but as a whole the game is a well made product that is fun to play on a lazy afternoon in the summer.
Well, if that's the case then GS should be hiring better reviewers.
The whole point of shogun gamer was to leave "bigger" gamer sites who I haven't trusted for a realistic gaming review in the past 7 years. They have no idea what wtf is going on in terms of reviewing games. Hence our slogan "News reviews and previews for gamers by gamers."
Also, I wouldn't want any of our reviewers ever looking at another site before reviewing a game. Might be interesting to check after, but it's their review. Why would we care what other sites big or small gave it?
I am not a fan of Harry Potter in general, so I can't really say I'll ever pick this up to try it out. But it sounds like it really stayed true to the world of Harry Potter. Thanks for the videos Ian, good review.
I agree that the "Big Sites" don't review worth crap. I have always felt that the magazines and "Big Name Sites" have been influenced by developers, either for money or publicity to praise thier games, I've seen games with great reviews and thought "Wow really? this got a 9.8?" and other times I've played games with horrible reviews and found them to be awsome games. SHOGUN FTW!
/Rant
I never played any of the Harry Potter games. i always thought it was better suited for a RPG genre. Though I will play the LEGO game when it comes out.
There will be a LEGO harry potter?
Yup, LEGO Harry Potter was announced last month and will be made by the same folks who made the other LEGO games.
Even though I'm not really into Harry Potter, I would be more inclined to check it out if it was an RPG based game.
The game will cover years 1-4 and should be come in 2010
I remember loving the first two Harry Potter games ... so long ago ... then they seemed to become less and less enjoyable. I ended up not playing the fourth and fifth at all. Sounds like they've gotten better?
I'm not really a fan of this kind of gameplay, but I'll consider this game - because I like Harry Potter.
Great review by the way!
I'm a purist when it comes to the HP story. I felt the movies dogged HP.
My logic has always been as follows: If you really enjoyed the book (or the original version of anything), why waste your time with anything, but the original. The experience of the original is what you enjoyed.
As for the games, while they were enjoyable to a point, disappointment sets in heavy when you realize how much potential there is for a good game within that realm that doesn't necessarily involve Harry or the events surrounding Voldemort's return. The concepts and magic of that universe make for an excellent game, not the Harry Potter story.
GS gave this game a 4.5. You know, before you make a review I recommend you to check other reviews from bigger websites and other reviewers as well. Now I'm not saying you're bad, you're a great reviewer, Ian, but basing your review on various opinions that would have pointed out some good facts will make it more precise and straight to the point.