Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"Not the best game evar!!!!! But it's really good for a HP:OP game."

Someone needs to go back and fix up all the old HP games. They sucked balls. This one however is very enjoyable. Free-roam, missions, duels, mini-games, quests, rewards, etc. In this game you actually get to push teh analong stick for teh wand!!! OMFG. Unlike the other HP's, this game uses certain directions of the right-analog stick to move the wand. Let me tell you now, buy this game for $36, or less, it is fun, however I often get pissed off at this game......

Graphics
8/10
For a PS2 game, these graphics are average. They're not 1080p, and they're not 8-bit, they're in the middle. You can notice many of the people, but usually you'll have to get closer to them. Hogwarts also looks nice, compared to the other HP games. If you look out from a bridge, you'll notice the mountains, other parts of Hogwarts, the wood, and lake. So they took graphic support into consideration when they made this.

Controls
7/10
Although you can walk and run, cast spells with the RAS, climb things, and talk to people with different buttons, the controls aren't exactly easy. After a while, I got used to them, but their were still often parts where I had to find out on my own. It wasn't the happiest part of the games[that would be free-roam, ^_^], but I still got used to them, anyways.

Story/Plot
7/10
The story is fairly good. Running around getting people for Dumbledores army, doing what teachers say, it makes sense. If you haven't had previous experience with HP[Book/Movie], your likely to not understand it. That's why the main target of this game is fans. Now I'm not saying that other people won't enjoy it, but I doubt they'll understand it as much.

Gameplay
9/10
Free-roam is one of my favorite parts, so if you've played this game, and wondered at my score for gameplay, it's because of the free-roam. Free-roam is one of the best key-factors in the HP games. They took it out of a few[Goblet Of Fire, Chamber Of Secrets] but it's still awesome. And with no load times for each room, that also makes up for a lot. They're isn't very much Quidditch which sorta pissed me off, but I understood it. I was hoping that you could use your broom thing to fly around the outside, the lake, and the mountains. Hmm...maybe they should make a mod of Elder Scrolls IV for HP:OP.

Audio/Music
7/10
The developers obviously took Audio into focus when they made this, also. They didn't say, "Hey, let's bust in the theme song and have it loop 24/7". However, your VERY likely to hear the same tone/song a couple times. What HP:OP lacks in Audio, is the fact that audio doesn't change to fit the environment your in often. However, it still has the same HP feeling of Audio I would have expected.

Playtime
6/10
The game doesn't really last long, IN THE SENSE of the story. Even after you've beaten the game, you can still enjoy the puzzles, duels, tasks, etc. However, the challenges/missions/tasks really PISSED ME OFF. Your very often going around to teach someone something, find them, get somebody for someone else, etc. I was hoping for, "Enter the forest and defeat the troll."

What would you say about this game, Snow?
[Rent/Buy/Neither]=[Rent, then if liked, buy.]
I would say, unless your a big fan of Free-roam, then you MAY not want to buy this game. Duels, puzzles, etc. are still fun now and then, but the main key-focus on this game, in my POV, was free-roaming the castle and outside. You'll probably just free-roam, and then randomly run into people, but your still likely to enjoy this.

-SnowKid32.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 08/17/07