Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"What is wrong with Harry Potter?"

I considered buying this game. I am a fan of Harry Potter, but not really a maniac. However, I chose to rent this game first at Blockbuster for a week. I was in for a big surprise.

Story: The story follows over-famed star Harry Potter as he continues his education in his second year of Hogwarts. During the school year, something awful starts to happen. Harry and his friends take it upon themselves to try and solve the mystery. They seem so confident about themselves it is annoying!! 7-10

Graphics: The graphics in this game are decent, but not the greatest. You definitely won't see graphics in this game as you would see in Metroid Prime or Eternal Darkness. Probably the thing that bugs me the most about this game is the poor framerate rate. I'm not exactly sure how much it is, but I found that, when I was controlling Harry, he would often slow down and make sporadic movements when there was something going on. The game has average graphics, at best. 6-10

Sound: The thing about this category is that there is not that much sound. The character voices are pretty good, especially since whoever you talk to will talk back at you with a real voice. The music in the game is barely noticeable. 8-10

Gameplay: At first, you will think that the gameplay is pretty decent. However, the game starts you off playing a few lame minigames to get used to the controls. That sort of sets the stage for the rest of the game. Besides Quidditch (which I'll talk about later), the game features continous minigames and dungeons and puzzles that get very old very quick. Something fun about this game, though, is dueling. You will be able to duel against a couple characters. However, when I say a couple, a mean two characters. It would be a lot better if you could duel 5 or 6 times, but only 2 times? Where's the fun in that?
This game reminds me a lot of Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone for the GBA. When I say this, I am talking about the dungeons and puzzles. They're basically the same. I got bored with the GBA game very quick becasue of this. In the GCN game, the puzzles are back and you have to do several of them. They can get annoying and painful. The boss battles in this game are extremely easy. Even the final battle only takes on try, and it is a lot easier than some of the others that you will encounter.
The best part of this game is Quidditch, and that isn't saying much. You are the Seeker. (If you are reading this article, you should know exactly what I am talking about right now. If you don't, go pick up a Harry Potter book, read it, then come back here and read this.) Anyway, you job is to catch the Golden Snitch. You ride on a broomstick, with Bludgers, players, and other things try to knock you away. You have to fly through rings to get enough speed to catch up to the Snitch. This minigame is extremely easy, but genuinely entertaining. While you are flying though, the rest of your team is scoring points and you can hear the commentary in the background. Pretty cool!

Rent or Buy: PLEASE!!! Go and rent this game. This is definitely not worth buying. Let me tell you something shocking. I rented this game on a Friday afternoon. I finished the entire game the next day, which was a Saturday morning. YES, the entire game!!! Pretty sad!!

Pros:
+ You're Harry Potter!!!
+ Good voice acting.
+ Quidditch is fun, but too short!!
- Repetitive gameplay
- Average graphics
- Hardly any story
- Stupid puzzles
- WAY TOO SHORT!!!
Overall: 6-10

P.S. You will never see my name on a review screen with a 10-10 on it. I do not believe that there will ever be a perfect game. Every game has got to have some flaws. Anyone who rates game 10-10 should not be writing reviews. Thank you.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/16/02, Updated 11/16/02