Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"The Fates have informed me that this game will not impress..."

Harry Potter appears once again on our PC's screens, promising challenging puzzles of fun and adventure. One problem though: it's not challenging, it's not puzzling and it's not fun.

Story: (3/10) Only buy this game if you have read the book by J.K. Rowling, if not, you might just wonder how the threesome even got on that train.
Harry Potter, the only boy to live after taking a curse from the most powerful wizard alive is to start his third year in Hogwarts School. But he fears that Sirius Black, escaped maniac, is after him, there's this plot about a black dog and dementors, but I'm not going to get into that.

Graphics: (8/10) The graphics have gotten a lot better since the last HP games, but there's still something missing. The character sprites are a lot better, they look less block-like. Harry now looks like he does on the movies(why doesn't Daniel Radcliffe just dye his hair?). All the students look alike, too, so the Marauder's Map didn't promise much. Hogwarts now looks like the new director imagined it: like a big grandfather clock. Animal sprites are well done, no other complaints.

Sound: (7/10) Nothing too impressing, gongs are good, but the characters voices and their saying the names of the spells are irritating. The music's been recycled and put at the wrong times. Nothing worth over seven.

Gameplay: (7/10) I felt a dip here. Sure, the game let's you play as Ron and Hermione too, but there's no Character Change button and the computer seems to do all the important things. There is no more Quidditch! They reduced the sport to a cutscene! Buckbeak riding was cool, but it was too limited and you always ran the same courses. A new feature is that combined spell method, but it just makes you wait while your partners take almost ten seconds to notice they've got to help you. The Cards have gotten better, with voice-over narrating. But, even with all that, this game would still be on the shelf if I had gotten my Gamecube fixed.

Buy or Rent: Rent
But can you rent PC games? instead of that get a friend to buy it and borrow it from him. Or wait for a couple of months and pick this game out from my trash. Your Choice.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 10/23/04