Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Better than Barney's Hide & Seek, but not by much"

Back in 2002, as one of the last original games for the PlayStation that wasn't a sports game, EA Games released another Harry Potter game; this one being based on the 2nd book in the series (Chamber of Secrets). I've always heard they are fun and very Zelda-like, and seeing as Chamber of Secrets was my favorite book in the series, I decided to try it. Is it any good, though?

Story
The game follows the same plot as the book and movie of the same name, where Harry, getting ready to return to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, is warned by a house elf to not return, for something bad is going to happen there. Even if you're read the book or even seen the movie, there are a few new scenarios to keep things interesting. About the only thing that drags it down is the awful voice acting, but if you get past that, it's still just as great as the book.
Story: 9 out of 10

Graphics
For a game from 2002 and being one of the later PlayStation games, you'd expect the graphics to be a lot better than this; all the characters are very blocky and lack much detail (Harry having the most detail out of all of them), plus the areas throughout the game are dull and don't really stand out. It's sad when much older PlayStation games, like Metal Gear Solid, actually look better than this.
Graphics: 3 out of 10

Controls
Outside of the story, this is one of the few areas they got right. For most of the game, the controls are tight and responsive, though sometimes it isn't that great in some of the mini-games (Especially the one where you're flying a car through a tunnel). Still, it works most of the time and is comfortable, which allows it to get by with a decent score.
Controls: 5 out of 10

Music \ Voice Acting
The music and sound effects aren't anything really special; not bad, but not that great either. The main reason I have this section here is to discuss the voice acting. It's among the worst I have heard in a game; tied closely with the first Resident Evil. The voice acting is flat, has little personality, and sometimes it's just down-right awful to the point of being unintentionally funny (I cracked up when I heard Harry shout "Wah-hat!? Speak up Her-my-on-ni!"). Still, the voice acting drags the audio down further.
Music \ Voice Acting: 4 out of 10

Gameplay
This is the game-breaking moment. Everyone said it's like Zelda, but I really didn't see how the two where alike. While there is some exploration, there aren't many puzzles to solve or enemies to fight; you'll spend most of your time playing pointless, boring mini games. That's right; this is basically a mini-game compilation with some exploration parts tacked on to tie it all together. The mini-games aren't even that fun to begin with (Most of the ones close to the end of the game are just repeats of earlier ones, but with a different setting and/or different characters to make it look like it's a different game), so why they felt the need to build an entire game around them confuses me. Also, there are escort missions (With characters who are not very intelligent), and there's the dreaded Potions Class mini game. In it, you are required to enter in a series of button combinations within a very short time frame that gives you no room for error at all. While you might think you could just exit the mini-game and just explore around until you feel like you're ready to tackle it, it won't let you do that; you must complete the Potions Class mini-game before you can continue in the game. They even went as far as to have the game automatically save your file at the point right before the mini-game begins, preventing you from doing anything else in the game until you finish it. While I had no problem doing something like this in any of the Mario Party games, it was far more hellish in Harry Potter because this happens to be one of the points in the game where the controls don't want to work right for you.

It does have a redeeming factor that keeps it from getting a 1, and that's the exploration parts. While these parts where a nice break from the mini games, before you know it, the exploring comes to a halt as you're forced into playing yet another boring mini game. Had the developers put a heaver emphasis on exploration and puzzle solving rather than boring mini games, this game might have managed to get a decent score.
Gameplay: 2 out of 10

Overall
This is one game that is best avoided, even if you're a Harry Potter fan. If you're looking for a Zelda-like game on PlayStation, go with Mega Man Legends instead.

Reviewer's Score: 2/10, Originally Posted: 02/06/09

Game Release: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (US, 11/14/02)