Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"I solemnly swear not to recommend this game"

I don't really believe in 'guilty pleasures,' but if I did, then perhaps Harry Potter would be one. But what can I say? I feel no shame; I'll proudly say I really like the Harry Potter universe. It's an imaginative, enchanting world occupied by adorable personalities, whimsical tales and good, clean humor - pretty much the opposite of who I even am, but its charm touches my inner child at least. This particular installment, the third of a supposed seven, is the most important yet, a very personal and maturing chapter that introduces us to Sirius Black, a powerful wizard that apparently led you-know-who to Harry's parents to be killed - and he's escaped from Azkaban prison, looking for Harry.

With a couple of simple, but enjoyable video games under EA's belt already, I went into The Prisoner of Azkaban expecting more of the same Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time-based gameplay, just with the usual upgraded visuals and extra gameplay goodies one would expect in a sequel. Mostly, yes, that's how Azkaban turned out. Even more expansive now, exploration offers plenty of Ooohs and Aaahs, the towering castle, its twisted staircase and classrooms and the outside fields being wonderfully brought to life - this truly feels like Hogwarts. You're still able to wander about as you wish, collecting beans and points for Gryffyndor (your team) and whatnot. You're still able to start up conversations, either with fellow students or the professors. You'll still cast and collect various spells throughout this adventure, all useful and cool to execute. You still have easy to remember controls, still have straight-forward but immersive missions to undertake in creepy dungeons and you still have that lock-on combat system. Though Quidditch is sadly sidelined for this outing (the sport has its own game now), you can take to the gorgeous sky with Buckbeak, Hagrid's hawk-horse creature. Even the soaring orchestral music returns here, just as uplifting as ever. There's very little new here, though we are at least able to switch over to play as Harry's friends Ron or Hermione now.

And yet, it's just not the same.

In Azkaban, our heroes control somewhat awkwardly, not even being able to instantly swivel around. The lock-on system is pretty much broken, too. Trying to target a ghoul or a possessed object is practically random - you can line up a character perfectly to focus on a single enemy, but you'll probably catch something off to the side instead, or worse, something directly behind the enemy that's right in front of you, kicking your ass (arse?). The enemies aren't exactly Ninja Gaiden-like challenging to begin with, but couple these control and combat issues with a dead camera that often gets stuck - no, I don't know on what or even how, it just does - and fighting becomes a less than engaging experience. And this isn't even mentioning certain ghosts you must materialize first, then struggle to hit.

Just as before, there are multiple little dungeons to brave through - to collect new spells, rescue other students or advance the story - with inept creatures to (try and) fight and treasure boxes to open. These games have never had ICO's level of size, and something like Prince of Persia is infinitely more challenging and exciting, but they at least satisfied, and Azkaban does provide some mild thrills, even though there isn't much beyond the usual crate-pushing and rope-climbing activities. There are a few dungeons that make work of a newly acquired spell, but never to excellent effect, and all of these dungeons have been simplified - strange decision given that the first games weren't exactly made up of brain-racking design to begin with. And being the third game and all, this same routine is a bit tiring. Something fresh and dynamic should be available here, but no, just switching between characters. By being able to do so now, you get to maneuver them each around to lift up gates and stand on tiles together, but this isn't used as cleverly as it could've been, a nagging feeling that also sums up this game as a whole.

At least the trio's also outfitted with a technique all their own: Hermione can squeeze through tight spots, Ron can spot hidden passages and other secrets and Harry can jump (or auto-jump, rather). Hermione and Harry seldomly employ their tricks, though, and unless you care to miss health potions, keys and pretty much everything necessary to progress, you'll have to play as Ron as much as possible. Exploring for those secret goods is a little less exciting this time out, too, as you're discouraged to do so by you're own whining friends. "We really should be off to Professor Snape's class," "The dungeon is that way" and "Can we go now? I want to go to bed!" and other such inanities greet you every 20-40 seconds, like clockwork. Even if you are advancing the main quest.

This is bad enough, but Ron can only see these hidden passages by warping special effects, making it hard to tell the difference between what's a secret path and what's just ugly texturing. To be fair, not all objects look N64-muddy, and the game is quite crisp in certain areas, particularly the outdoors, where big blue skies and lush greenery are very beautifully layed out, but the in-door environments can be a tad jarring. The colo(u)ring tends to be very dark, but this is no Castlevania; instead of fixing up different themed locales to trot through, EA just threw a lot of black and dark blues and purples everywhere, never mixing it up enough. The Azkaban book and film have a troll butt's worth of dark, vivid imagination to them, but laziness prevailed here. The framerate is quite shaky, too, sometimes clipping even during a simple jog through the halls. This is made even more dumbfounding by the frequent and lengthy load times one will endure every few rooms: the PS2 breaks its back to load up pieces of Hogwarts, only to start hacking and wheezing again just as soon as you're playing.

The movie, despite leaving out much from the book, was simply brilliant, wonderfully capturing the spooky atmosphere and Harry's deep pain. The game decently recreates those dark themes and still provides us with a soaring score and enough little fun fan details - from fighting Draco Malfo and his blokes to bowing to Buckbeak to talking to the character paintings - so that it feels like a living, breathing Hogwarts. But while the earlier games were engaging Zelda knock-offs, this one stumbles greatly. It took simple design and dumbed it down even further, adding unnecessary hand-holding (I wonder what that switch does? your friends say, just as soon as you step into a new room). It took smooth control and easy to grasp mechanics and broke them. It offered up very little new in return for these errors, not even making good use of what it does. There's a fully-realized Hogwarts here, yes, but you won't want to experience it.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 07/03/04