Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Ever notice the similarity between "Flipendo" and "Nintendo"? It's a CONSPIRACY!"

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Look at the top children's book lists, and it's garunteed that a Harry Potter book will be on there. Yes, Harry Potter is one of the best book series EVAH! In fact, right now my sister is hanging over my shoulder, asking me if I want my little Hedwig plushie. Through a slightly crazy deal, the evil Harry Potter marketing daemons have partnered up with EA Games to make a series of video games about the little wizard. The first one stunk. But honestly, I don't give a hoot, as long as I get my game! Okay, enough blabbing, I gotta get to the review!

Graphics:
I can sum up these graphics in one word:
Purdy.
These graphics are truly awesome. Much better than any version of Sorceror's Stone. The animation is superb! Harry's glasses never ''disappear'', Ron and the Weasleys look Weaslyey, (I don't care if that's not a word) and Harry's cape even swishes when he runs! There's almost no slowdown, except when you cast spells in rooms with lots of enemies. The polygons are all pretty good, unless you have an akward camera angle. Then, they break up a little. The faces are probably the worst part. They all look like they're bugging their eyes out constantly.
Final Graphics Rating:
92/100

Sound:
The sound is all good. There's the main movie song in the title screen, a creepy song for when you're creeping around, a playful little ditty for Fred and George's shop, and the like. The sound effects are also good. A ''hunh'' from Harry when you pull him up on a ledge or when you jump, taunts from the gnomes in the Weasley's garden, (personally, I wanted to hear ''Geroff Me!'') and a spellcasting noise when you cast a spell.
Final Sound Rating:
83/100

Story:
The story is exactly like the book and the movie. I'm not going to go into too much detail, since you've probably seen the movie or read the book. In fact, I'll just take it from the manual! See, when you write reviews, you can do that.
''As a young wizard-in-training, Harry Potter can't wait to leave the non-magical world behind and return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for his second year. But during the summer holidays, a most peculiar visitor appears in Harry's bedroom with a dire warning-disaster will strike if Harry returns to Hogwarts!''
That's all of the story I'll give you, since I can't spoil the whole thing in a review.
Final Story Rating:
95/100

Gameplay:
Ah! Thank you EA, thank you for improving on this one and making it RULE OVER THE LAST ONE! Basically, you're Harry Potter. You have to solve the mystery of the sudden attacks at school, and learn along the way! I'll explain this in 4 parts, since there are 4 types of gameplay.
Exploration
This is the most common. Harry must explore through a certain section, solving tasks on his To-Do list along the way. Oh, and destroying some enemies and bosses. This one varies, depending on where you are. (I know this section is short)
93/100
Stealth
These are the second most common and are mostly at night. Basically, you must sneak by prefects, using items, spells, and the mighty ''Wall-Sneak'' to get to a portrait/door/tangerine/etc. Some people are a fan of these. Everyone else doesn't like them...or hates their guts. I fall into the latter. The prefects have amazing eyesight, and if they just catch a glance of you, they cast Locomotor Mortis at you, holding you in place until they walk over to you, which takes so FREAKING LONG! However, there is some value, 'cause you can reflect their spells back at them and run by. I like being bad like that.
37/100
Quidditch
Oh yeah! Quidditch! Quidditch rules! Basically, for those who don't know, each team has 7 players. 3 of those are Chasers. They score by tossing the Quaffle into a goalpost. 2 of them are Beaters. They whack around the Bludgers, which are balls bewitched to attack the other players. The Keeper guards the goal. The Seeker (that's you) looks for the Golden Snitch, which when caught awards 150 points to the team that catches it, and ends the game. So, you have to fly around and look for the Snitch. Easier said then done. This is great fun!
PERFECT 100
Dueling
Okay, this one is pretty fun. It's you VS. a Slytherin. You each have 5 points. Knocking down your opponent with a Flipendo makes them lose 1 point. But, you can also repel your opponent's Flipendo back at them! Sadly, this is only done TWICE in the entire game!
88/100

Overall Gameplay Rating:
80/100

Control:
Ah, smooth control. Niceness. I'll go over the actions.
Control Stick: Move Harry/Jump off ledges/Change Menu Selection
+ Pad: Change Menu Selection
A: Do action listed
B/X/Y: Cast spell assigned to button
C Stick: Rotate camera
Z: Inventory
L: Target Enemies/Spell-able Things
R(hold): First-Person Look
R(tap): Center Camera
My only gripe is the jump feature. Just make A jump when it doesn't do anything else!
Final Control Rating:
94/100

Challenge:
Ugh. First of all, most of the game is Easy! But what increases the score is the Stealth. Those get exremely hard!
Final Challenge Rating:
59/100

Multiplayer:
There IS NO MULTIPLAYER!
0/100 (n/a)

Replay Value:
The game is short. Very short. Possible-to-beat-in-a-weekend-short. But, you can attempt to collect all 101 Famous Witches and Wizards cards, which takes a while. Plus, the game is fun to play, so you'll be compelled to play it again!
Final Replay Rating:
69/100

Get ready to jog, 'cause we're gonna RUN DOWN THE RATINGS!

Graphics: 92
Sound: 83
Story: 95
Gameplay: 80
Control: 94
Challenge: 59
Replay: 69


Final Verdict: (all scores averaged)
81/100
(in GameFAQs score: 8/10)
It would be a great game even if it wasn't a Harry Potter game. (quoting CUBE magazine)

If this wins ROTD, I'll repeatedly cast Flipendo on myself.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/26/03, Updated 04/26/03