Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Wii) - And the Half-Baked Game

Hey, kids?! Remember all of the excitement and drama that goes on throughout Harry Potter's later series? Remember how some of it was alright while the rest of it was meh? Yeah, well, you really couldn't have picked a worse subject for a fast-paced video game. If any of you have read the sixth book, you'll know that it doesn't exactly lend itself to a game like this in any capacity. The ending scene had some excitement, but beyond that, it was Harry being stupid about Malfoy, some shallow plot around horcruxes with Professor Slughorn and Dumbledore having a sore hand before going for a tumble. It's understandable that this would be rough to make a game out of, but even under those limitations, it seems like someone could have thought of something better.

So, unlike The Order of the Phoenix, I went ahead played the Wii version of this one. While it did do better with the motion controls, it did not make this game anymore interesting or longer. That's right, this game lasts around three, maybe four hours. The mechanics are as simple as they could make them and not in a good way. All you do in this game is duel with wands, mix potions and fly on a broom through rings. That's right, someone didn't think that flying through rings on Superman 64 was lame enough, they needed to give it to Harry Potter for broom practice and Quidditch because, why not? 

This game is also very boring. Half-Blood Prince wasn't known for its exciting scenes and even the fighting is nonsensical within the book and the movie. The motion controls add a little bit of novelty to this game, but certainly not enough to make me want to play it anymore. Some people love potion simulators and honestly, I can see the charm in it. If this were called Harry Potter's Potion Class, with both timed and regular rounds, it could have been a cool little minigame for your phone or something. In a full release game, though, this just feels like a cheap knockoff to an actual title. 

If this were part of a larger game, it could have been thought of as a good bit of filler. As it stands, though, there just really isn't that much to talk about. The graphics are what you'd expect from the time: Slightly uncanny valley movie characters who look like puppets of the actors. The Wii era really knew how to make humans look wishy washy either way. The voice work isn't bad... but it isn't very good either. They sound like the actors who forgot how to talk properly and come off as stilted and lifeless. 

The worst parts came in the form of the Quidditch controls. You need to point the wand at the screen and move it around in the direction you want them to fly on their broom. This is a little harder than it sounds, especially with such small targets to fly through. As a novelty, this can come as a cool mini-game, much like the potions class, but the controls for it can get very frustrating as the broom sometimes decides not to do as you instruct. 

The game is improved if you decide to play its intended format. This may improve the 5th game's score if it wasn't played on the PS2, but that's really not saying much in terms of an actual game. This is still comparable to a series of Mario Party mini-games that does not lend itself well at all to a full retail Wii game. The Wii is rather infamous for these types of titles, and there are worse examples. It's really just a shame that they went with the trendy, easier titles to make after such a peak as the Goblet of Fire game. For some reason, they went less mature in the later series for their subject material. With such a shallow game, it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people were disappointed in this game. It wasn't within their power to create a Hogwarts Legacy type game yet, so we can't give them too much grief on that, but they could have come up with something better than this. It doesn't really bode well for the Deathly Hallows games, but we'll see how that goes. Virtua Flobberworms.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (PS2) - Umbridge the Game

 Dolores Umbridge is a perfect representation for this game. On the surface, this game almost looks cute. It looks good in the graphics, for the most part and it has the feel of Harry Potter. The visage does not last long, though. All of it begins to come crashing down as you begin to play it. The more you play, the worse it gets. The combat, the level navigation and the movements in general, all of it was absolutely abysmal. The real problem is that this PS2 game is made in the style of the Wii game! This is a game that was meant to have a nunchuck and a Wiimote in order to play for the immersion of casting the spells with your wand. Does it translate to PS2? NO! No it does not!

The worst part about it is that it tries to stick to the story, but the dialogue, the action and everything it possesses is just executed horribly. Performing the "wand movements" with the PS2 controller only works whenever it feels like it. Sometimes, it glitches out and does not work at all. You literally need to restart the game in order to get it working again. Everything involving this style of control becomes monotonous and you feel like throwing the controller into Umbridge's face rather than continuing this mockery of gameplay. 

Running through the castle, following the Marauder's Map takes up 75% of the game! You thought Hogwarts Legacy had a terribly laid out Hogwarts? Well, I didn't, but apparently people complained about HL in its architecture for the school and I need to point to Order of the Phoenix for a stark difference. It takes FOREVER to get from point A to point B and this is obviously on purpose to extend the game's runtime. Those cruel bastards! This game is already terrible enough, you don't need to torture us with such foul tactics! 

Voice work in this title was absolutely horrific, and while the graphics were alright overall, the uncanny valley for every character is very noticeable. That may be a little harsh on the graphics animators, but they were also the ones who put the WB and the EA Games logo in every single time you LOAD a game! Those things should be in before the title, not the literal Loading of the game! This has it in both! It's understandable to do this sort of thing when people select New Game, but what the hell!? 

Doing the spells is hard enough, but then there is also the fact that they constantly dip down as you fire them. The range is atrocious on all of them and it looks like a sad little drip from your wand. You want it to look like the movies, yes? Well, they apparently didn't seem to think it was that important so now your wand is impotent! Thanks, EA, that was really nice of you! I can see why your company has been voted the worst! Constantly! 

Harry Potter games are already bad enough, but this one was a special kind of terrible. I've already covered the first game in another review for the Gameboy Advanced version and that one was the worst of the bunch for that review as well! Everything there is present here, only in sharper focus, just in case you missed all of the SUCK the first time! Avoid this title like the Death Curse and make sure to take it easy on the pumpkin juice! Don't use love potions this Valentine season and good luck with the redcaps! Virtua Kedavra! 

Top 160+ Favorite Games of all time! (Pt 1)

 That's right, folks, I have decided to compile a list of over 160 Greatest Games of all time, which will become outdated tomorrow, so let's get started! I was born in the late 80's, so my first system was the Nintendo Entertainment System. From there, I have played many, many games for more than one decade and I have come up with a list that puts them in the best order that could be deciphered. Is the order exact? Of course not! These games are so different and similar to one another, while also being in completely different ballparks! 

Still, there are also plenty of gaming franchises I was never really a part of, and we'll get to those later. For now, you'll see that there is a very big trend of some franchises, while also doubling up on a few through collections and whatnot. That is kept to a minimum, and this is not a tried and true list. Still, it is the best estimation of the most awesome games that Planet Virtua has to offer. If you have a list, by all means, share it with us! They'll probably be totally different and that's alright. There's a ton to get done, so we'll see how many we can cram into one article before we say enough! This list will be in many installments, just be ready for some long ones. So, up we go into the clouds of miracle games put on this green Earth!

#162 Incoming

Yes, this was at the bottom of my most disliked Dreamcast games of all time. It was also an admitted guilty pleasure and has had a couple of hours put into it. This simple little game where you shoot incoming aircraft with a turret has such crude graphics and the gameplay is really nothing to write home about, but it's something akin to a mobile game (which are not featured on this list) or what some gamers might call junk food games. Destroying the big flying saucers with your double barrel machinegun and firing off missiles to make flying objects go boom just has a raw feeling of accomplishment to it. This game delivers on that, but honestly the turret section is the best. The helicopter and tank sections are honestly a little clunky, though have some of the same charms. It's a tentative addition to this list, but it's also the very first CD-ROM game I've ever played. Its Dreamcast and PC ports are eerily similar, but don't let that stop you. We're blasting on!

#161 Forsaken

Another raw bit of fun, this time in the first person spaceship shooter. It's not really much like Quake, nor is it really much like your normal vehicle game. The controls are not the greatest, but destroying ships left and right while flying a cool craft is always a plus. It captures that old 90's FPS charm that many crave, but it's admittedly not the choice title for everyone. Many would call it bland, but we can't help but love how it has aged with such awesome foul language and that nostalgic angst that seems to be something of a lost art. This is one you should look up if you're more than a little bored.

#160 Mortal Kombat Gold

If we're talking about graphics that have NOT aged well, we'd be talking about Mortal Kombat Gold. This is another bit of a sarcastic choice. It's bad, but in a good way. We've already talked about how the production was a bit of a mess with the switch to the 3D format, and the weapons system didn't quite pan out to great fun, but the fighting mechanics are there. What's also there is the amazingly campy and cheesy dialogue, ending videos and that beautiful MK gore we all recognize and love. Many shun it away, but this is one that you should at least look up on youtube and give a gander at the amazing cringeworthy content it produces. It's a big gory ball of fun.

#159 Tony Hawk's Underground

Tony Hawk 2 was fun on the PS1, but this PS2 was graced with the later edition that came out for the Gamecube as well. Skating has never been a big genre here, but this is just fun to learn all around and it's fun to just give a good skate here and there. Don't expect much of this sort of thing on the list, but nostalgia plays a good role in this game's limelight here on the Virtua. It's fun to create your own skater and just make your own story as you skate and hit your hea--ouch!

#158 Super Mario Sunshine

A charming, but less polished follow up to the masterpiece that was Mario 64. The Gamecube Mario game has its hickups, but it is a beautifully rendered experience. The graphics are shiny, as the title suggests, and the story is a good bit of fun. The gameplay really highlights itself with the water machine, but admittedly, sometimes they overdid the pushing of its limitations. Some of the gameplay can get rather frustrating when having to deal with those strange controls and performing all of the tricks it requires. This is the part of the list where the games start to grow much more solid in foundation. If you want to judge the numbers, these are still recommendations, but only to those who are interested.

#157 Sunset Overdrive

Despite some of its repetitive elements, this is still a good looking game with a lot of fun mechanics that keeps it interesting. Though, there are a few sections that get frustrating, much like the ship sections and the LARPing. Other than that, exploding the energy drink zombies is fun and SOME of the characters are actually really cool. You want to wipe the floor with some of the snot nosed brats you run into, but other than that, the weapons pack a good punch and the sliding mechanics give this game a great fast pace. Not the tops of a 3rd person shooter, but not a bad title to end up with.

#156 Tecmo Super Bowl

If you loved football and you were a gamer back in the 90's, this was probably a familiar sight to you. This is a football game that evolved through the NES to the SNES and the Sega Genesis. The gameplay is pretty smooth, and easy to learn, even for the younger crowd. It's just fun to get to know which team you like to use and which players to use for what positions on your field. It's so satisfying to win against an especially hard team, because it feels like you're relying on your skills as well as the luck based system for catching passes and when the other team calls your play, sacking your quarterback. This was back in the Jerry Rice and Joe Montana days of football. Play as Bo Jackson or Barry Sanders. All of the football legends of the NFL are on display! If you don't care about football, you probably have no idea what I'm talking about, and that's fine. 

#155 Quake 4

The Quake series is a familiar face around this parts, and this title comes with its hitches, but killing strogg is still a lot of fun. Despite the turret/vehicles sections being long and arduous, the story and the weapons are still a lot of fun. Seeing the changes your hero goes through and the struggles your squadron has with the war on the strogg is a lot of fun to be a part of and it really feels like you're contributing. The game gives you a good sense of accomplishment and it's actually a pretty good successor to Quake 2, all things considered.

#154 Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag

The Creed series is another one you won't see much of on this list, but this one actually came with my PS4. The ship sections are actually pretty addictive, and the stealth mechanics are well implemented without being overbearing. It's strange they never could replicate how awesome this game turned out after it was made. Getting your own ship and firing down enemy vessels is just a good feeling all around. It's one of those games that honestly more fun when you make up your own story around it. The one they had in the game itself wasn't that bad, but the heart wants what it wants.

#153 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Of all the Harry Potter games, it was hard to believe that there would be one that made it on this list. They are not especially great, puzzle platformers not being the strongest genre on this scope. Goblet of Fire, however, is a cooperative combat game and it's actually a lot of fun, especially if you have one or two players to play with. Going around as Harry and Hermione while shooting up lizards and other monsters was just a pile of fun and this can be considered the best of the bunch. If you've even looked at Order of the Phoenix's gameplay, you'd probably get a glimpse of some of the worst of the bunch and we'll not get into those. All we have to say to them is Avada Ke---

#152 The Simpsons Hit and Run

If you love cars and the Simpsons, chances are that this is going to be the game for you. It's very difficult and sometimes can get very frustrating, but racing against time and other cars while mindlessly crashing into things with no drawback at all is just ridiculous fun. You get to play as an assortment of characters with different cars. You even get to play as Homer and Homer's other alias, Mr. Plow, wherein he rides a snow plow. If you're even a casual fan of the Simpsons and have access to this game, do not pass it up. The recommendations are getting MUCH stronger now. Not like Bartman strong, but you know.

#151 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed

If you want to be the most powerful Jedi ever and pass around Stormtroopers like they were nothing, then your ship has come in! You are so overpowered, it looks like you could take down the entire Empire by yourself! Starkiller's powers move entire Star Destroyers in the sequel, and it's really not much less here. He's still taking down enormous machines and kills people by the thousands. If you're up for a power trip, this is a good title, though it does it quite easy. The boss battles are pretty mundane as well, but it's a fairly solid game all together. 

#150 Resident Evil 2 (2019)

Sometimes, remakes get it right. I've only played maybe 10 minutes of the original Resident Evil 2, but I played through this entire remake. It's a good bit of horror, even when you have a shotgun. The Lickers will sneak up on you quick and zombies will come out of nowhere to bite you. Even if you struggle with them successfully, you'll get bitten. It's a fairly long game, and the boss battles are probably the best parts about it. Taking down the big man in the trench coat is one of the best parts, as the Tyrants turn out to be some of the strongest creatures in the franchise. It's a good example of how to remake a game. It's just a shame they couldn't manage the same thing for Resident Evil 3.

#149 Unreal Tournament 2004

Whether it's the original or 2009, Unreal Tournament was awesome. This was up there with Counter-Strike and Quake 3 Arena in the LAN party circle, and it's just plain fun to rain deadly laser beams on your friends while you try to capture the flag or just flat out kill the opponents in a death match. Whether you play as a team with friends or A.I., this game is a lot of fun. It's free wheeling bullets in an FPS arena fighter that doesn't take itself too seriously. Just kill each other for our entertainment, don't ask why.

#148 Fallout 3

While it is slow to get going and has a few pacing issues, Fallout 3 is a fun run. Some of the puzzles are nonsensical and sometimes the story can drag to terrible levels, but once you get into the action and some of the deeper parts of the lore, it's easy to get engrossed in this game. The weapons pack a good punch, especially if you're fortunate enough to get an AK-47. It's fun to explore other vaults, stores, houses and just explore the world as a whole. You don't even need to go too deep into the story, this is a good example of one where you can make your own. Honestly, this and New Vegas were probably considered the peak of the franchise for good reason. It is worth a try! Just beware the Death Claw!

#147 Dragon Quest VIII

You will see the game franchise with the most iconic slimes in this list quite a bit. There are many that deserve to be on this list, but it's long enough. Dragon Warrior cannot be outstated as one of the earliest precursors to the RPG model we know today. This one gives it a 3D setting and introduces new characters that we can get to know and like. All of them have their own weapons and attacks to do and you need to make sure you get all of your healing items and spells in order. The graphics, the dialogue and the kookiness of the old Akira Toriyama artstyle was something of a great return to form. More on this series later.

#146 Pokemon FireRed

Red was my favorite Pokemon for the longest time, and then FireRed came out. It updated everything and actually revamped the love it possessed within me. There came more playthroughs and it still remains the best of the bunch. Around 150 was enough, we didn't need 700 some odd. Facing down the Elite 4 was still a ton of fun, especially when you kicked your rival's tail across the stadium! Get yourself a diverse bunch of Pokemon types and show the island who's boss!

#145 Naruto Clash of Ninja 2

The Gamecube was a marvel of its time, unappreciated and considered a failure. Well, the same could be said for the character of Naruto and now look at him. This is one of the older titles, but it holds up still today, especially with how complicated later endtries became. The balancing system on the new games became bonkers, and Clash of Ninja 2 did a better job of getting it down. The unlockable characters are fun to get and it's always a blast going through the group fights. Some control issues occur, especially when you try to turn around quickly. Either way, this is very much based in nostalgia, as this was in every collection for the Gamecube I've had.

#144 Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

A title that came free with my Xbox 360 and made me want to buy Skyrim along with it. The free range exploration is always fun, and breaking the law so that guards give you the arrest speech, it's all good fun. The game is long and the world is huge, so you can explore for quite some time, you just need to make sure you're not trying to go against higher level creatures and enemies that you're not ready to fight. Following the story at the beginning is a good idea to help you level up until you're ready to take on the real challenges or explore to your heart's content. If you're in it for the high fantasy, then this is your game. Well, this and Skyrim.

#143 Soul Calibur III

Once you get a PS2, you want to get the top fighting games for it. Soul Calibur 3 is an exclusive to the PS2 and only released as an arcade cabinet otherwise. There really isn't much more to say about this title that could be said for the rest of the series. These games have been a staple of the genre for years. Characters like Taki, Astaroth, Voldo and Yoshimitsu are known throughout the entire arcade fighting community for their very intricate fighting styles. While the graphics are vastly improved in this, there are more to consider when it comes to this franchise, so we'll leave that as it is for a brief time.

#142 Red Dead Redemption

This cannot be overstated as a favorite in the sandbox gaming world. This is one of the best examples of a pioneer of its time because of the different mechanics involved. Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead are two very different games for more reasons than just genre and setting. The style with which you need to fight, the different technology you need to learn and a lot of side games that involve gambling brings this title to its own strengths and weaknesses. It was buggy and some sections of it were mecilessly difficult, but it remains one of the best examples of a replayable game. Not to mention the cheats are a lot of fun too! YEEHAW!!!

#141 Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor

There is an art with how games implement stealth and hack and slash mechanics so seamlessly and get the graphics so exact. Lord of the Rings is a piping hot franchise and the Shadow of Mordor gives you such a good look at a side of the world we didn't get an extremely good look at. The level system and the fighting mechanics from the Arkham series gives this title a lot of replay value. The story isn't stellar, but it's enough to give you the excuse to assault orcs with graphic and gory slices with your swords. This title does not hold back when it comes to killing these monsters, and the boss battles are well enough without being awesome or terrible. Be sure to give this game a shot if you're a fan of dark fantasy and black blood.

#140 Soul Calibur II

The Dreamcast title that stuck on the screen for long periods of time. Dead or Alive was good, but Soul Calibur II was amazing. It is crude by today's standards and there are many better fighters, but this one was just great with its characters. This was the one where Taki and Yoshimitsu ruled my playthroughs. Sophitia, Kilik and Maxi also gave a good performance. Who could resist doing Maxi's nunchaku techniques and pulling off his combos? That's not even bringing up Nightmare!

Wow, that's a lot of fighting games and open world RPG's. That's a fairly strong start to a very large list. This list is obviously going to take up more than two or three, but it's a lot of fun to showcase some favorites and this is a very good way to do it, as far as I'm concerned. We're still riding to the top! Keep it tuned to Neptune!

  

 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PS2) - Professor Imps Attack!

 Everyone can probably agree that the first Harry Potter novel was more of a trial and error novel where JK Rowling was trying to find her footing in the genre and the world she was building. The story and the lore she was building was in its infancy and it took a few more novels to really grow what she wanted from the series itself. This game is a release on the PS2, given much better graphics and more fluid mechanics in comparison to its Playstation 1 counterpart. The first iteration of the Philosopher's stone (which it is properly titled) was more of a puzzle platformer and that's a lot of what we got here, but it has more development behind it. 

Keep this in mind, because there are still some rough areas in this game where there should have been a bit more thought. The mechanics have a good amount of thought when it comes to figuring out and exploring the world and the puzzles. When you play through the levels, you can look in different areas around where you're supposed to be puzzling to find extra items and even some collectibles. Instead of moving a huge cube into its place for the puzzle right away, you can push it to a shorter wall in order to jump on top of that wall to get some health power ups or even some chocolate frog cards.

The collectibles are probably the best part of this while also being one of the more annoying aspects. Yes, it's nice to have the chocolate frog cards, but do we really need to go straight into their history and/or text as soon as we collect them? The Berttie Bot's Beans are fun to collect as well, but do we need to know every single flavor your pick up as well as your reaction to said flavors? You pick them up and Harry will tell you what he thinks of them right away individually and there really aren't that many flavors to choose from. They're not only collectibles, but they're also the currency for which you pay for dung bombs and other useful items. 

This iteration of the game has its good points, like when you cast spells on imps in order to trap them in cages while also figuring out puzzles. However, the problem it has is with the extra mechanics that it adds to the game. The stealth in this game are rough to say the least. When you have to get around Percy Weasley to get to the Weasley item shop in a secret passage through the Gryffindor Dorms. Not that they could have done it in their own dorms, they had to do it in the Prefect Dorms! Whatever sense that makes is not important, I guess, but getting through this stealth section is not a matter of skill, it's a matter of luck because Percy will go anywhere and everywhere in this place and it's so easy for him to catch you. 

One part of the game that should have been better explained was the section where you catch Draco Malfoy on his broomstick. You're supposed to cut corners and catch him, and if you didn't know this beforehand, the game will not tell you anything. You can just keep chasing him and chasing him and chasing him and you'll seem like you're getting closer just like this but you never do. You have to maneuver around him as much as possible in order to catch him off guard. This is monotonous to say the least, because the game WILL NOT progress until you do and it's just a matter of figuring it out yourself. Once you figure out the mechanic, it's really not hard and you can ace it in no time, but the game really should be telling you these details. 

The levels have the problem of being too open and the game has a horrible habit of not telling you a single thing to do. The stage where you're supposed to find the potion ingredients in Hagrid's Hut leaves you to figure out everything for yourself. There's some things that you can figure out on your own, but really not a whole lot. Figuring out where to go and how to collect the plants is left up to luck because you just need to know how to approach everything and the luck of having to dodge the gnomes that gain in number the longer you're there. These sections can be especially long and boring while you're sitting there trying to determine where to go and what plants you need to collect.

The glitches are also on full display here. You can do parts of the Hagrid's Hut level by simply climbing one of the roots and getting behind the waterfall without the platforms and having no need to activate the gargoyle behind the bars. I also had a part of one level where I searched one of the boxes, but nothing happened. I got stuck in the box and was forced to load my last save. These glitches aren't horrible and they're not especially bad, but there are just so many time wasting elements in this game. The game sometimes doesn't outright tell you when you finish a mission and so you're going around the level to try and find anything else you can do until you figure out that you can check your book and it will tell you there.

The openness in this game is a strength as well as its most glaring weakness. Sometimes, it is alright to tell us where to go or tell us when a mission is done. On the other hand, though, before you do anything in your actual missions, you can search Hogwarts to get more beans and pumpkin pasties. The more health items you get while you're at full health, the more health meters you get. It's fun to explore Hogwarts, but it's not so fun when you don't know which doors to go through and searching for ways to go can become stale and overly time consuming. 

Overall, the game is a mixed bag, but it's a decent Harry Potter game. Like Berttie Bott's beans, there are good and bad elements to it and honestly, exploring the school can be a little more fun than simply going through the story mode itself. The graphics and gameplay are far better than the original PS1 iteration of Philosopher's Stone, but it also has a few elements that deserve a bit more explanation. It's a title worth checking out if you're a fan, but remember not to spend too much money on this. Save your Virtua Galleons.  

Hogwarts Legacy (PS4) - Wizard Showboating

 

Just to get this out of the way, no, there will be no talk of the controversy, and no, there will be no speaking on behalf of either side of the argument. Video games are meant for escapism and that is how they will remain from here until whenever. For true escapism, you could do a lot worse than Hogwarts Legacy. This has been the fan's dream for decades and now they are able to create 4 of their own witches and/or wizards as they please from the comfort of their own home. 

While the graphics are not stellar, they get the job done and keep with the right tone. They're a tiny bit on the overly realistic side, but there is the cartoony edge of the character design that brings it home with the true atmosphere that the wizarding world is built around. Thankfully, this game didn't buy into the Harry Potter era, nor the Voldemort first war. We are a new student in a past era  of the late 1800's and there are a few ascendants from that era, but otherwise, it's a clean slate. 

We're supposed to pass off the fact that you're a new 5th year student, alright, fine. There could have been other ways of doing this, with wizarding home schooling, but it's a tiny contrivance. The main focus we're looking at is that there is a conflict building between wizards and goblins. Wizards are fighting goblins while other wizards are helping goblins fight against the establishment. That's the overall landscape of the plot, but really, you could have slapped a big troll invasion or a thestral uprising and it would have been about as enthralling. The plot and story progression, overall, seemed a little dim. 

The problem is the people you run into, aside from maybe Sebastian, are not especially dynamic. People generally just act like they like you and just kind of help you because it's conveniant for them rather than keeping to the Two Best Friend trio rule of devoted friendship. It may have been a better idea to maybe let players make 3 characters rather than just one. As it stands, it's more annoying to talk to a lot of these people than it is to actually try and care for them. The way they talk has a biting undertone of sarcasm and patronization and the result is you generally try to rush through the dialogue.

The real joy of this game comes from you creating your character and shaping them with the techniques that you choose with what spells you are given. For one single game, the mechanics incorporated a lot of the lore. The spells are very numerous and it's not hard to come up with a general technique of attack. So long as you make sure to keep a vast array of spell types in your arsenal, you will go very far. 

While they are rather late in the game, the unforgiveable curses are very well worth the wait. The Killing Curse is the last one you learn if you do all of the spell quests in order of receiving them and there is your troll killer. Now, anytime there is a huge, heavy armor mob with scary clubs, Avada Kedavra! It is very slow to cool down in your menu, but with so many other spells to choose from, that's not a tall order. Glaceo, Bombarda, Confringo and any number of others are fun to toy with, especially coming up with effective combos. 

The game shines in some of its side quests when you develop your own useful Room of Requirement and start getting large amounts of magical creatures. You feed them, groom them and collect valuable resources. These are used in upgrades to your gear and make your spells more powerful, only bulking up your already very potent magical prowess. 

The late game is where this title really suffers. To say the very least, it is not worth going 100%. It is not even worth reaching the O.W.L's for the "proper" ending that isn't very proper at all. You'd think there would be something more of unlockable content or more in the ways of achievements, but no. You get a very poorly done ending with a built in glitch. Oh, yes, dear readers, there is a glitch in it if you put a certain boy through the cold hands of authority after he murders his father. Even though he is in Azkaban, you still wave to the air where he is not. The cut scene is awkward enough with the extreme lack of students cheering. It looks like the real party has already taken place and the B-Team get to have 15 minutes of jumping and cheering.

Reaching Level 34 is just flat out not worth it. The grind is only so fun and trying to finish every quest is a slog, especially when it's taking on the Merlin challenges and/or finding every bit of ancient magic. You don't need the ancient magic, it's already badass enough with a couple of extra meters. The fact that you can do it to multiple people in quick succession is already pushing the boundaries. By the later levels, your Stupefy charm will be enough to take down whole dark wizards with its partial damage. You are basically Doomguy levels of awesome when you get to around 30. 

The replay value is not through the roof, and a little bit more of a New Games + option would have been nice. You can try out all four houses of Hogwarts, but the differences in the story are miniscule. The game can get repetitive, yes, but there is still plenty of good material for Harry Potter fans and muggles alike. It's a fun game that you can pick up and play, but of course you youngsters sure seem to like your downloadable content and updates, so maybe it's not quite ready yet. That's right, I'm going to rag on that until my dying days. Virtua Deal With It!!

Harry Potter and the Gameboy Advanced

 If you would like a good time capsule of its age and a mirror back into the past, look no further than the era of the Gameboy Advanced. One look at the library, and you will see titles that will open up that wonderful sense of nostalgia for all of those with fond memories of the time. It is chocked full of films and TV Series you may only have on DVD rather than Bluray and more than one of them may have been dubbed by the now defunct 4Kids! Anything from this era was put on the Gameboy Advanced and that is hardly a joke.

Back then anything was up for grabs when it came to video games. If it had anything of a following, you give it a tie-in game to capitalize on it. If it was popular in any way, it was probably given a side-scroller and/or beat'em up game of some sort. This was a chaotic time in gaming history, because the whole idea of being awesome, having fun and looking cool while gaming was becoming more and more popular. Streamers were gaining a bit of traction on the internet and it was a sprint race to see who could throw out more products to bank on this. 

Harry Potter was a beacon on a mountain top on the summit of Olympus, as it was one of the catalysts that started this entire consumer phenomenon in the mid-2000's. While Pokemon was reaching its peak, Harry Potter was soaring on money-feather wings, leaving behind a trail of profit in its wake. Every single movie of the time got a port on every single console they could get their grubby little hands on and the Gameboy Advance was taking on ANY and EVERY game that came its way. This came to an end when the game sales began to dwindle at the fifth entry, so there was no port of Half-Blood Prince or Deathly Hallows. By then, the Advanced was reaching the end of its hayday, sadly. What this meant was, while there were so many awesome retro games getting ported to the GBA, it was also getting a reputation for being a bloated consumer product that was releasing more commercials than actual "games". 

The Harry Potter games put on this system, as a result, were wholly uninspired. While they did explore an interesting array of different types of gameplay, it also threw garbage at the wall, if you catch my drift. Sometimes, gameplay just doesn't belong and that didn't seem to matter when it came to putting Harry Potter on a portable gaming device.

Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup 

Giving credit where credit is due, it is really cool that you get to pick which team you want to play. A lot of games of the era normally kept with the main characters and put you on Gryffindor regardless of preference. Does that fix the control problems this game clearly has? No, not really. While the gameplay is rather simple and can even be labeled as decent, the controls are exhausting to your thumbs. The D-Pad's simple commands are relegated down to grinding your thumb. This is especially bad when you try to pass or shoot your Quaffle, you need to keep your thumb firmly on the D-Pad for your direction or you're going to shoot it wherever the game thinks you should, which is wrong! Still, the game is not bad, once you get the hang of the controls and the Chocolate Frog Quidditch Cards are pretty fun to collect. Of all the games, this one can be labeled as "not bad". 

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Well, it's better than Flobberworm Fritters, but not by much. This is a whole lot of running through the hallways and searching doors while occasionally getting some boring gameplay and stilted dialogue. The puzzles are ridiculously easy while also being staggeringly boring at the same time. Either mimic wand movements or just flat out fail at shooting weird creature things, this is a slog. Now, is it completely without merit? No, actually, it does have you collect Bertie Bott's Beans and you get different, nasty flavors. That gave a good chuckle. It has the Harry Potter essence about it and the childish charm may strike you, but don't expect that to make Hogwarts interesting.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Even with the abridged scenes, this game manages to be as boring as studying bird migration. This is what happens when a game with little to no means of doing so, attempts to stick too close to the lore. The game is "go to the place and get the thing". While the graphics during the overhead gameplay are passable, it is still a game of nothing but backtracking and trying to remember where you were supposed to go as you're in the vortex of dizzying boredom. 

On the flip-side, seemingly mundane tasks suddenly turn into DEATH DEFYING FEATS! Somehow, getting your gold from Gringotts turned into attacking creatures and collecting Knuts (bronze coins) throughout a harrowing journey. The gameplay is very mundane, but at least the graphics and a bit of the charm seeps through a bit. You've got your good Harry Potter flavor as you play, but sometimes, it would have been nice if that didn't always include traveling through samey hallways and talking to people who tell you to do more things. 

To its credit, the puzzles and switch-finding can be considered quite satisfying. To its detriment, the platforming is absolutely terrible with the controls. The game needs to choose whether it wants to be precise or just a simple aim-and-shoot beat'em up. Injecting some adrenaline in the combat and maybe tigthtening the gameplay beyond collecting things and finding passages would be a big help overall. As it stands, this is one of the less favorable.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Once again, we see the developers thinking that walking through hallways with a top-down view makes for interesting gameplay. This time, instead of firing clumsily at goblin/elf things, you're firing at big bright blob things. It doesn't affect them but you can shoot them! They're actually your enemies and you walk into them to fight them in your normal RPG combat. It's turn-based, which is fine for the most part, but at the same time, you're fighting rats, bats, spiders and... Redcaps? Well, that's an unexpected bit of lore, but even Redcaps do nothing to help the monotony. You're still grinding to get levels and going through a series of events that either never take place in the movies/books or are extremely loosely based as such. This is a slog! Even if you do, somehow, make it through the Leaky Cauldron it is another drag to get to the next plot point. 

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Once again, I am flabbergasted by this one port. For some reason, this is the installment that all consoles somehow get right and yet retain so much of its other port's gameplay, it shouldn't work at all! These sorts of mechanics of point and cast spells makes sense with the 3D perspective, but this is a top-down! Somehow, moving objects and working your way through the levels still works! It even has Ron shouting "BEANS!" When I wrote the other Goblet of Fire review, I had no idea that was a meme.

With the sense of urgency without the ticking time, the game keeps up the pace while not becoming overly clunky with a stupid time limit. Even with the top-down view, it does combat a lot better than these other titles on this list. How this one installment into the series keeps coming out on top in quality is a mystery but at least there is a title we can all hop onto without much of a fuss.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

After the peak in the series, of course, there has to come a downward slump of epic proportions. It's as if one massively awesome game was just too much for the spectrum to bear, so it switched it right downward. This is the walking and talking simulator you never knew you never wanted. The graphics are such an enormous step-down, you'd almost thought it was a port of a Gameboy Color game. This is exaggerated, of course, but just look at this! They wanted to go so realistic without any means to do so and this is the result. It looks like cell-shaded dread on a screen! This game is so boring, you'd think they wanted to novelize a game of a novel but didn't know how to novelize, so they just put pictures on the screen. There is no point to the point and click gameplay, but the game seems absolutely stern on the fact that you need to go to the place and you need to push the button to get people to say things. That's the gameplay, and if you don't walk all the way to the part of the screen you need to go to, you will stay on that screen no matter what.

They even have Dudley say "Help! Daddy! Boohoo! Dementors!" Seriously! Someone was taking the piss, and we all know it was the customers who bought this utter rubbish! It is a serious red flag when you gloss over the gameplay of fighting off Dementors in favor of repairing tables with absolutely horrific controls and mechanics. By this time, I was entering hour 4 of Harry Potter on the Gameboy Advanced and it was quite telling of what was in store for this title. Clearly, Order of the Phoenix was the worst of the bunch. 

While some of the reviews were rather harsh, it's mostly because there was potential here that was never tapped into. With tentative steps made into gameplay and lore along with clear burnout after releasing a game every single year, EA was obviously running out of ideas. The games weren't selling after a while and while the fourth installment had a small burst of inspiration, the fifth book was just their way of throwing up their hands in surrender. There is no real judgment on this front, because there should be no reason that these become annual releases. Game development is very complicated and not every idea can be translated into a game. 

The Gameboy Advanced is a handheld console that deserves its own series, so our execs at the higher up Tribunal of the Virtua Tribunal have decided to make this so. Harry Potter is a fandom that has lasted for years, and the legacy of the GBA should also be investigated as a clear bit of nostalgic treasure for all to revel. Be ready to learn this important bit of gaming lore, but do not visit the forbidden section! It's called the FORBIDDEN SECTION!  

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (PS2) - Magic it Again!

 

There was one comment in the earlier Harry Potter Video Game Review. I said that they ran the gambit between great and dreadful, in a nutshell. Guess what? This one took extra steps to be extra boring and repetitive. Harry Potter is a lot of things, but trying to make a straight game from book/movie to Video Games, apparently, people ran out of ideas. 

The real problem with this game is that it tries to make it look more exciting than it actually is. It puts you in weird puzzle arenas and makes you think it's exciting by putting a time limit in the mechanics and there's your action sequence, enjoy. The puzzle platforming gets old. You can only move so many platforms over so many death falls so many times and keep the gameplay fresh. Working villains into the end of puzzles where you shoot people with spells is not a good way to pad out your gameplay. 

There is also no cooperative mode, when there very well could have been. If they got rid of the platforming mechanic and tighten up the gameplay with some sort of combat mechanics that work, this could have been a good title. It could have been a great title if it just would have stayed closer to the books in story and combat, but apparently they thought there just wasn't enough puzzles. Everything needs to be more complicated, whether it be getting an object and moving that object somewhere, or just getting to stairs! 

It obviously doesn't stay with the books or movies to any real extent, but it does keep to the fact that Dementors are annoying. Anything having to do with the Dementors is just going to be tedious and usually rather repetitive. Obviously, they're going to be a bad enemy, given their status as sucking happiness out of you and making you freeze, but really, we should have done something more with Boggarts. 

Anything having to do with the story or the dialogue in this game is going to be awful. Even for PS2 era, these graphics are rough. The portions with flying around on Buckbeak look terrible as a result because the surroundings look flat and lifeless. There's no music, only the sound of the afforementioned ticking clock that gets more and more monotonous as time goes on. Speaking of dialogue, did I tell you that it gets very repetitive?

The controls are not terrible, but anything flying around that you have to click on or catch, and you're going to be there for a while. Controlling everything with a PS2 controller was not always as glamourous as Old School gamers will attest. Yes, PS2 came out a while ago, it can be considered old school at this point. Anything with this level of repetitive voice acting gets the retro stamp any day. Speaking of dialogue, did I tell you that it gets very repetitive?

It's still a charming game and some of the gameplay can be pretty fun, but it's marred with serious problems. Unlike the Goblet of Fire for the PS2 (as there are many versions, mind you), this game is very hard to get into. The audio is awful, the graphics are problematic, the puzzles are dreary and boring and trying to keep interest in it is highly difficult. Don't bother with this one.