Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - spells and smells

By Mike Bantick
Thursday, 30 July 2009 05:28

Entertainment

So as a raving Harry Potter nut, you just have to have everything branded as such, just like the boy wizard is himself, right?  Well, with the new movie interpretation of the books just in cinemas, is this game something else to add to your collection?

Harry Potter is taking his Quidditch, magic and awkward teenage romance skills into his sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. 
And probably, during this difficult time of life, would rather just be left alone.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
	Developer	EA
	Publisher	EA
	Rating	PG
NDS, PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Reviewed on WII

Instead, hoards of fans continue to lap up his books, films and inevitably video games.

A small confession, I am a Tolkien fan, and once I read the first Harry Potter book, I was not hooked.  Whilst I recognised the lore’s excellent affect on young readers, for me it felt somewhat derivative and obvious.  As such I haven’t followed his adventures in subsequent novels and movies, but by all accounts this may be an error.

Still with game tie-ins, quite often I can get away with an interactive crash-course in how the pubescent warlock is getting on.  Never was this as true as with this latest movie cash cow piggy-back game.

The Half-Blood Prince follows Harry’s struggle to unmask the identity of the titular heir and a climactic battle with the creepy Death Eaters.

This won’t take long; much of this game consists of a set of core mini-games, with a smattering of others that can be unlocked as the movie progresses.  I say “movie”, for the main aim of each mini-game is to get Harry to the next cut-scene and keep the plot moving along.

The core mini-games are combat/duelling, Flying and Potions.

Duelling provides the quintessential moments of wizardry in this title; Harry learns new offensive and defensive spells that are cast with individual waves of the Wii-mote.  Once you get the hang of knocking opponents down with a well placed Expelliarmus and then follow-up with a barrage of Charged Stupefy spamming, your on screen Harry will be well on the way to surviving just about every encounter.



CONTINUED on PAGE 2