Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

"Well... this series of games was bound to fail sooner or later, it is done by EA after all"

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone was the first game (and movie) in the series, and mediocre at best. The graphics were terrible, even for the time it was released, the voice acting was nothing to write home about and the gameplay was pretty much the only thing saving the game somewhat.

The follow-up, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets improved a bit on the graphics, did nothing to improve the voice acting, and kept the basics of the first Harry Potter game's gameplay, tweaking it here and there for the better.

After that came Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. The graphics were improved greatly in this one, the voice acting seemed to be done properly for a change, and still the gameplay had kept its charm, adding new tweaks such as combined casting. In my opinion, this one was the peak of the Harry Potter games, although it was a bit short.

Now, the 4th game (actually 5th, but Quidditch World Cup isn't exactly based on a movie, so I'm excluding that) promises exciting co-op modes, stunning graphics and truly "magical" gameplay. EA should be sued for misinforming audiences.

Graphics
Simply terrible. They're better than Chamber of Secrets, but nowhere near the quality of Prisoner of Azkaban. This is exceptionally shameful due to the fact there are graphical marvels out there such as Half-life 2 and Quake 4. And even more shameful due to the fact there are NO display customization options what so ever. You're stuck playing at seemingly "low" display settings, and you just have to deal with it.

2/10

Sound
At least this isn't completely bad. The music is ok, and the voice acting lives up to the game's predecessor. I have, however, encountered some glitches with the sound, such as Harry, Ron or Hermione yelling out the wrong spell names. All the swishes and swooshes are your basic sounds. Nothing special.

6/10

Gameplay
But then again, graphics don't mean a thing if the gameplay is solid. Heck, I still play the first Monkey Island from time to time and current games make that look like it was made in Legoland. If only the same could be said of this game's gameplay.

Have you ever heard of the old saying: "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"? Well, the people at EA apparently haven't. They've completely changed the spell system, providing separate keys for separate "types" of spells. Now, that could've worked, if implemented properly. Sadly enough it isn't.

Another thing they changed is the camera angle. Instead of the camera being fixed behind you, it is now in an isometric angle, which is annoying to say the least, and it makes aiming extremely difficult. And the incredibly dumb semi-auto-aim thing isn't exactly helping in that department either.

And the lag on spells is ridiculous. Push a button, and if you're lucky, you'll be able to use a levitation spell on your opponent before it has slouched over to you from the other side of the chamber. Yes, charm spells are that slow.

Speaking of buttons, better get used to the game's default controls. Because there's no way to change them, unless you have a gamepad.

And last, no recent EA game is complete without a regular crash to desktop, and this game is no exception.

1/10

Buy or rent?
Neither. Hideous graphics, terrible gameplay, frequent CTDs (crash to desktop) make this a nerve wrecking game. Not because the game is difficult to complete, but because the game is difficult to get going properly. Really, you'll want to steer clear from this game.

If you really want to play a Harry Potter game that has beautiful graphics, play Prisoner of Azkaban or Quidditch World Cup. Both are far superior to this.

Reviewer's Score: 1/10, Originally Posted: 12/21/05