Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

"Good but not up to Harry Potter standards"

This game would be good for a beginner level gamer. I am a big fan of Harry Potter but, I was very disappointed when I got this game.
The one good thing I could find about this game was that it stayed fairly close to the storyline in the book. Some things were different but you pretty much have to change some things around to make a game any fun at all.
The one thing I was very disappointed in was the graphics. They were horrible. I'm not saying this to be mean, this is a nightmare when it comes to graphics. The characters looked as if they had been made out of Legos.
The controls for this game were OK but not great. I had a problem with Harry moving to the left when I wasn't even touching the control stick.
I was also disappointed with the wizard's duels. They were fun, but, they could have been a lot better. It would've been better if you were able to use all of the spells you knew instead of just the Knockback Jinx. I really didn't get the concept of special jinxes being hidden inside items. I found that stupid.
Quidditch was probably my favorite thing about this game. I simply loved chasing Malfoy underneath the stadium. The one thing I hated about the Quidditch was the camera angles. It was sometimes hard to see the snitch because of them.
This game really needed two things. First, it needed to be much longer. I beat this game with all the Famous Witch and Wizards Cards, Quidditch Matches done, all of my Gold Wings, and all of the founder duelist cards, in 22 hours. Secondly, It need to have different difficulty levels. It was far too easy.
Buy or Rent? Rent
In summary, this would be a good game for little kids, or new gamers but very bad for good gamers or real fans of Harry Potter. It is fun the first time you play but afterwards it is boring because it never changes.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 08/07/04