[360] Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix

Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix 

Maximum Players 1 Minimum Players 1

Type of Player To Accommodate: Potter-Mania!

This was more of a boredom purchase – ill admit it.

JK did capture my imagination just like the nation with the first couple of books – but once puberty was past – I did prefer chicks to literature.

However, that being said – this game was quite tasteful. Not really for kids I would have to say, as the casting of your arsenal of spells not only requires a ruddy good memory (they ‘aint easy – and there’s loads to remember) but also the dexterity to perform these funny movements on the Analog Stick.

With practise and enough hours of gameplay – you really do get a sense of an idea of the game and wizardry. You are given a bounty of tasks to complete that do have a horrid tendency to snowball. “Ask Fred to Join”, “Hi Fred, Fancy Joining”, “Only If You Get Scotty To Give My Ball Back”, “Scotty – Can Fred Have His Ball Back”, “Only If You Convince The Queen To Marry Me” and so fourth…

But you can’t scratch these tasks out quite quickly – apart from a few ludicrous biggys, but gameplay is flowing and fun. It has its drawbacks such as walking speed. As you progress through these tasks, you do manage to get your hands on ‘passwords’ – which open paintings in the main corridor. But these little beauties only manage to shave 30 seconds off a 3 minute trip… It can be frustrating. The ‘Marauders Map’ does light up where to go – and well animated Foot Steps can be followed – but the heart ache of seeing your objective on the other side of the castle is really quite a downer!

But once you’ve managed the quest itself to get there – it is quite fun. The animations are great, the graphics are amazingly lifelike, and the unlockables (cast interviews etc) are actually quite watchable!

All in all, this is a good game, well deserving a chunk of time in gameplay.

Perhaps you might want to keep your receipt handy when playing with kids as the nimble movements will take patience and practise – but if there’s plenty of in-game tutorial to get you good at the actions – so you can find out if its your cup of tea within a matter of minutes (perhaps 45ish)