- Title: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: Electronic Arts
- Developer: EA UK
- ESRB Rating: “E10”
- Genre: Adventure, exploration
- Pros: Esploring Hogwarts is fun; fans of the franchise will love it
- Cons: Way too easy; poorly told story; combat is lame; uneven graphics
Story
As you should probably be able to guess, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix the videogame follows the events from the book and upcoming movie about Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts. The basics of the story is that He Who Shall Not Be Named (no, not Jack Thompson) has returned, but the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts refuses to teach any defensive spells. Harry and friends decide to take matters into their own hands and form Dumbledore’s Army to teach themselves new spells. Their group is discovered, Dumbledore is removed from power, and the new headmistress is a real pain until they start to play pranks on her and trash Hogwarts. This all, of course, leads up to Dumbledore's reinstatement and a final showdown with Voldemort.
The story is fairly interesting, but the game does a horrible job of telling it. You move the story along by doing things like helping other students, exploring Hogwarts, and even going to your classes, but you only get little bits and pieces of the story and you never really understand why things are happening. If you haven’t read the books, the story is pretty hard to understand in the game.
Gameplay
The gameplay suffers in a few key areas, though. First, you learn spells that you cast with the right analog stick, but it can be hard to produce the spell you want consistently. Also, when you have to use the spells in actual combat rather than just for tidying up Hogwarts, it all really falls apart because you never know if you are actually hitting anyone, and it is hard to use the right spell when you want to due to the controls. Another issue is that the game is too easy. Presumably, it was like this to make it easier for kids to play through, but it was just stupid easy. You only fight less than ten times in the whole game, and despite the iffy controls, I never died. Basically, you go on fetch quests and clean stuff for about 8 hours without ever really breaking a sweat. Fans will love it despite its flaws, though, and that is all that really matters.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are another issue of concern because they are pretty uneven. Some areas, such as the grand staircase (complete with animated portraits and moving staircases) and some other specific rooms and hallways seen in the movies look nice, but the rest of the game is pretty bland and uninteresting. The character models look okay, and you can definitely recognize who all of the main cast are, but they aren’t really outstanding looking. In short, everything looks okay, but there isn’t really anything all that impressive.The sound is pretty good overall. Sound effects and music are just like what you hear in the movies, and some of the actors reprised their roles in the game. For characters that had to use a voice double such as Hermione, however, it isn’t quite so good.
Bottom Line
