The other day my girlfriend convinced me to split the cost of the new Harry Potter game on Nintendo’s Wii. After some thought, I agreed and purchased the game at my local Best Buy. The following is a mini-review based on my initial impressions of the first couple hours of gameplay.
Using the Wiimote as Harry’s wand feels great, for the most part. In fact, there’s really no reason to play the other versions of this particular title because this is one instance where Wii controls really do embellish the experience. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that the graphics look, well, fantastic… if you can believe that. They’re not PS3 fantastic, but definitely better than standard Wii fare. Sound effects and music are also spot on. Most importantly, the gameplay is usually pretty fun. Players get to roam free in a virtual re-creation of Hogwart’s… Not quite Grand Theft Potter, but you get the idea.
Where the game falters, like so many other 3rd person adventure games, is in camera control. Fifty percent of the time, you can press the “C” button to center the camera behind Harry and get a better look at the terrain. The other half of the time you can’t really do much of anything at all, the camera reverting to a semi-fixed perspective. This, of course, leads to some awkward moments where you’ll have a difficult time simply getting around. Anyone who has played a 3-D adventure game in the past 10 years knows how frustrating that can be.
The other major gripe I have with the boy wizard’s latest videogame is his inability to lock on to things with his wand. I believe this was a well-intentioned stylistic choice on the part of the developers, but in practice the mechanic just doesn’t work as well as it needs to. See, what I think the devs were going for was a more seamless environment where one simply needs to stand facing an object – say, a chair, for example – wave the Wiimote and cast the desired enchantment. No locking on required. This all sounds well and good, but when the environments are as littered with objects as they sometimes are in Hogwarts, it’s virtually impossible to know what you’re interacting with until after you’ve cast your enchantment. Add in the cumbersome camera control and it’s easy to see how controlling Harry could go from fun to annoying in seconds flat. And it often does.
When the game works the way it’s supposed to, it’s a pretty solid experience… fun even. When camera and targeting issues crop up, however, the game becomes a big chore. In other words, there’s a real love/hate dichotomy happening here for me. Ardent followers of J.K. Rowling’s sect will, most likely, be able to look past the shortcomings. Muggles like myself, however, probably not so much.
I got the game for the woman because I was hogging the Wii playing Zelda (Getting ready to face Zant and almost 60 hours into it, btw). I really wasn’t that impressed with the game personally, but I know that most games made for a movie really aren’t that good anyhow. You hit it on the head when you were talking about the 3 dimensional movement. It’s difficult at times to refocus. The other issue she had was that Hermoine and Ron are always in Harry’s way. There should be an “Excuse Me” button to move their asses. Targeting in on an object can sometimes be deceiving too.
I guess if you’re a fan of the series, you might find more enjoyment. I personally don’t read Harry Potter so after playing Zelda, this was extremely lackluster. If it makes her happy, I guess it was $50 well spent.
Cory, i recently (last night) finished the game, and, i have to say, my opinion of it has gone way down. i might blog about it, but i think i’d rather just put the whole mess behind me.
…it turns out you CAN lock on to things, despite what my mini review said…. there’s just absolutely no indication that you’re locked on.
Alright, it’s downright painful watching the woman play the game. After watching her spend 20 minutes trying to move cogs on a clock tower and float the gears around, I finally grabbed the wii controller to take a crack at it. Then I had problems! I’m not dumb, I’ve played Video games my entire life, and just beat Zelda. I’m not new to 3D gaming. The tasks are pure monotiny, The Footsteps are hard to follow, and I hate how Hermoine and Ron are always in the way. Ugh. Anyways, I started into Resident Evil 4. It is teh n00 hawtness. I killed a large Bass and put it in my briefcase. How cool is that?