Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"An excellent improvement"

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a definite improvement from its two predecessors- Sorcerers Stone and Chamber of Secrets. Most of the game play and combat systems have been completely re-done and it actually makes me want to play through this game. The only freelance system of running around shooting Flipendo at random enemies and scrubs has been changed to an RPG of sorts. It took them two tries to figure it out, but this is an excellent improvement. On another happy note, this game is the first time you're allowed to play as Ron and Hermione, and sometimes have to go off on missions without Harry.

Graphics (8/10)

They aren't bad, but they aren't perfect. They have improved from the previous versions, definitely, but they still could be better as the GBA system allows. My main gripe about them is the conversation portraits they use in the conversations. They are to say the least, very ugly and not a good representation at all. Hermione even looks like some sort of 19th century pirate or something. I may have rated this too high in some people's opinions, but in honesty graphics do not mean too much to me. It's an RPG and it's about storyline/game play after all.

Storyline (5/10)

Well, I can't say this is all that great either. It generally follows the storyline of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, to a certain degree. It seems that every single class involves "getting through a maze collecting something" to put it lightly. It's complete nonsense, but the game producers were obviously looking for many more reasons and ways to allow you to use your combat spells in their RPG battle system. It doesn't really make any sense why Hagrid would send 3 kids into his dangerous garden to fetch 5 dangerous books, but who am I to judge the guy. The given the rating comes from the fact that the storyline generally stays with story in the novel.

Gameplay (10/10)

Firstly, this score is based off of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in comparison to the two previous games in the series. Compared to these, this game is God in the game play department. As I mentioned earlier, the old freelance combat system which consisted of aiming one attack in 4 directions to kill enemies and solve all puzzles has been replaced (yay!) by a fun to use RPG system. Similar to Chrono Trigger (best reference I can come up with, don't hate me), players can see enemies on the map, disguised as first until they have correctly used the Informus (identify) spell on them to reveal them on the map for all future meets, and enter combat once touching them. No random encounters here!

The combat system, like any RPG in my mind is quite fun. Here you can select from a variety of spells, from the basic 'Flipendo' charm which costs 0 mana, to others such as Incendio and Petrificus Totalus. Some of these, like Petrificus, are simply status effecting spells. All spells also have a chance to level up once you've used them enough. Different spells effect different enemies, and it tells you which ones for what enemy once you gather information on the enemy (Informus charm)

Navigating the 'dungeons' is somewhat the same. Spells like Lumos, Alohomora return with a few new ones, such as 'Glacius' which is used to freeze water to make paths and snuff out flames. This is generally the same as the two previous games and quite fine in my mind. The puzzles are somewhat easy, but hey, this game was made for younger audiences in mind. Don't let that discourage you from playing it through once anyways :)

Controls (9/10)

The first thing I noticed is that when you're navigating normally and casting spells such as Flipendo etc. in Dungeons, you now have more than 4 possible directions. Yay. There is nothing really much to say about the controls for the game. They are easy to learn, and quite standard to most GBA games. They allow the player and easy time without worrying about complex controls.

Music (7/10)

Once again 'good but not great'. The music in this game is actually somewhat good. It's not repetitive and changes depending on your environment... as it should. Special music for boss fights, or just depending on location. No real annoying sound effects. Another good improvement from the first two previous games. Nothing really more to say about this here.

Overall (8/10)

If there was one thing I'd change about this, it would definitely be the Storyline. While it's short, and somewhat off track from the novel, it is still decent for giving you many opportunities to get in harms way. The RPG system overhaul that the producers added for this version was a HUGE plus. I enjoyed fighting my way through this game, and it gave the dungeons much more of a purpose. I still don't know why the heck Hagrid would keep such a garden (as this never comes up once in the book, yet always in this series of games), but overall it's good. You can run around the Castle now between classes to search everything out, and even play mini games in your spare time. One of these times, I may actually find the non-existent Girls Dorm. They go somewhere, yet there's no door for it. Blasted magic I tell you.

If you're a fan of the series, go give this a try, you probably wont want to buy it. It's rather short. If you're not a fan of the Harry Potterverse and you tried the previous two, please try this to see how the game series can actually improve in ways you probably didn't think were possible. I'd for sure myself call this one a rental instead of a buy, but I found it fun for the times I was playing it through.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 06/02/04