Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

"Going to class never took so long!"

Introduction:
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is different from most Harry Potter games. One is obviously the use of the Wii Remote. But this game probably follows the story of Harry Potter least of any other Harry Potter games. This is good and bad. But, if you are not a Harry Potter fan this game will seem dry, and you will defiantly not want this game. The score doesn't mean that it's not fun, it just has some major flaws that bring the game down.

Graphics 8/10:
This is truly one of the best parts of the game. Everything is put to detail, and some scenes of gameplay can actually be compared to the PS3 or Xbox 360, in my opinion. It surpasses Zelda: Twilight Princess with accurate models of the Actors (excluding a few). There is detail put into almost everything from paintings that talk to you, or sleep, to exact replica rooms from the Harry Potter movies. It's a truly good experience. This brings the Wii new standards on what future games should look like. I just wish the game was a little more flashy. As in, when you fire a spell it doesn't look nice. It needs an extra touch that makes it stand out. Also, some animations look pretty unfinished.

Sound 9/10:
The sound is great. The music makes you feel that "magical" feeling. It defiantly makes the game have a different atmosphere. I never knew that it made that much of a difference. The sound of spells being used sounds OK. Not great, but it gets the job done. I just wish they used more of the speaker on your Wii Remote.

Voice Acting 4/10:
When I first saw the game I thought the voice acting was decent enough. But as I went through the game and the non-main characters started to be introduced I just wanted to turn the game off. Cho sounds like a she's plugged up in the nose, while Malfoy sounds like a little kid. This is why I split up Voice Acting from the Sound, this would bring down the score a lot. It's just incredible that they actually had a lot of the real actors as voice actors. They ruined it, BIG time.

Controls 3/10:
This is what brings down the score of the game. This is beyond the worst thing I've seen out of a game. While sometimes casting spells and walking seem awkward, this is not the main problem of the game. The almost non-existent camera isn't even the problem. How did they mess this up. Is locking on that hard? I don't know what the programmers were thinking but they need a new job. It is the worst possible thing I've seen out of a game. Now don't get me wrong, just because this has a score because of one thing doesn't mean everything is bad about the controls. If it wasn't for locking on, and sometimes the camera it would be pretty decent.

Gameplay 7/10:
This time around, Harry Potter isn't really about significant puzzles or fighting. It has a GTA feel to it. You do what you want when you want. Although there are many fights, this is not why you should get this game. It's basically tasks that you need to complete. Such as, finding people, fixing things, and well... just doing stuff. You see a broken statue? Fix it if you want. You see a pumpkin you don't like? Blow it up. You can attack random people and sometimes they will retaliate, causing a duel. Depending on if they're alone or talking to people, will decide how many people you will face. The rumbles are hard, and you don't really have health. So you can't die, so the game isn't exactly challenging. You can tell it was made for younger players, but that's not a horrible thing. It's still pretty fun. There are a lot of extra things to do. An extra cool thing is, you can use the invisibility cloak, which doesn't help that much except to get past people and such. You will have to be patient before it really starts to be interesting. You also have to use your head, if you see a curtain you have to think of what spell to use to roll it up, or if that curtain should be rolled up at that time.

Buy or Rent? I would say rent, because it's a fairly short game. But if you like it, then buy it because there are a lot of secret things and films to unlock.

Pros: Good Graphics, Decent Gameplay, and Excellent Sound
Cons: Bad Camera, Horrible Lock on system, Not challenging enough

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 07/06/07