Product Reviews

There's a nagging feeling that this adaptation of the latest Harry Potter movie is actually quite a good game - as third-person adventures licensed from films go, at least. The trouble is that it doesn't feel as if it was intended for the PC. Games publishers seem to be under the illusion that a PC mouse is exactly the same as a Nintendo Wii remote. It isn't. You don't move a mouse through three dimensions of thin air as you do a Wii remote: you move it across the desk.

So what, on the Wii, may be an ingenious control system that evokes Harry's own wand-waving is simply awkward on a PC. This situation isn't helped by a hideous camera that often has you running in the wrong direction whenever you turn a corner.

The nuts and bolts of the game are interesting, however. Players use spells to alter the environment as well as for the game's (understandably bloodless) combat. You'll move furniture to find secrets or cast a repair spell to complete a task. It's a reasonably clever implementation of

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the innocence of Harry Potter's world. Unfortunately, like so many other licensed games, most tasks involve finding your way to a location on the other side of the game map, where either a fight or a cutscene occurs. Some of the voice-acting in these, even from actual members of the film's cast, is absolutely diabolical.

Despite this, the initial exploring is quite fun. Hogwarts school is a big place, modelled closely on its cinematic counterpart. Potter fans will get plenty of kicks simply from poking about in much-loved locations. After a while, though, everything feels unreasonably far apart, especially when the terrible camera means that getting there involves a lot of running into walls and accidentally going back the way you came.

Still, the game makes good enough use of its licence to entertain youthful fans regardless. All the visual requirements of Hogwarts are there, even if the graphics are distractingly crude and dated. The faces are recognisable (although, hilariously, Harry, Ron and Hermione have been shrunk to make them appear younger than the actors that play them), and that's probably enough for occasional gamers. There's a vast amount of stuff to collect, too, which unlocks video clips and power-ups. Those of an obsessive nature will be distracted for much longer than the surprisingly meaty storyline takes to complete.

Despite all its problems, this is easily the best Harry Potter game yet. The actual mechanics of exploration and combat may be wobbly enough to deter seasoned gamers, but as an interactive representation of Hogwarts, it's unparalleled.