Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"Fun, but it's very, VERY short."

When I first saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban at my favorite store the first thing that came to my mind was, "It's probably a rehash of what 'Chamber of Secrets' for the GBA was." While I held no gripes about the previous Harry Potter games on the GBA, it didn't make me want to go out and buy them.

What was surprising about "Prisoner of Azkaban" for the Game Boy Advance was that it used the RPG format previously seen in the Game Boy COLOR versions of "Chamber of Secrets" and "Sorcerer's Stone." That really piqued my interest into playing this game.

Storyline: 6/10

The game is pretty faithful to the book, but while I was playing the game I felt like the time in "Prisoner" had been really compressed. Or rushed. Or both. It doesn't seem to give the feeling of spending the school year at Hogwarts.

Graphics: 7.5/10

The graphics look improved from both the GBA and the GBC games. The colors are bright and colorful during the day, and appropriately dark and dreary in the dungeons or during night. Harry, Ron, and Hermione look the way you'd expect them to look like. But home sweet Hogwarts, what happened to the character portraits? Harry looks pretty decent on the GBA, but I've seen better portraits on the Sorcerer's Stone for the GBC.

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Much improved over both GBA and GBC. You can see your enemies on the map, meaning you can choose to fight or run (a la "Chrono Trigger" or "Earthbound" for the SNES). The controls are simple and intuitive.

During battles, you have three choices: 1. Cast a spell. 2. Use an item. 3. Use a special move. Harry can use his cards to pull off a card combo to get the upper hand. Hermione's lecture skills can either raise a single member's defense/strength, or get extra experience after battle. Ron can toss Stink Pellets to stun the enemies or a Wizard Cracker to cause damage and net extra items after battle.

Outside of battle you can use a few spells to solve simple puzzles, such as using Flipendo to move a stack of books on a pressure plate to open a nearby door. While each character all have the Flipendo spell, they also have unique spells exclusive to them (ex. Harry can use the Lumos spell to light up dark areas while Hermione can repair broken paths with the Reparo spell).

In a nutshell, the puzzle elements reminded me of the previous Harry Potter games on the GBA while the battles strongly hearkens back to the previous Harry Potter games on the GBC.

Music and Sound Effects: 6/10

Nothing to get excited about. It's good for a few minutes, but after that, you might want to turn the volume down. The sound effects are pretty good, but still nothing to get excited about.

Longevity and Replayability: 3/10

Let me start off by saying this: This game is short. Very short. A first time run without doing much to level up your characters, collecting items, and filling out the bestiary will take about 5 to 6 hours. There's not a whole lot of sidequests to go on, even if you count collecting items and getting the bestiary filled as sidequests. While there are some mini-games to collect and play, they're nothing special.

The only thing as far as replayability goes is that you can try out different scenarios (if you picked to go with Ron the first time playing the game, you can try it again with Hermione the second time, and vice versa), getting the rest of the cards you missed, and filling out the bestiary.

Final Verdict?

If you'd played the previous Harry Potter games for the GBA, it might be worth a rental.

If you'd played the previous Harry Potter games for the GBC, you might get some fun out of "Prisoner of Azkaban," but be prepared to be let down a bit, especially if you'd played "Chamber of Secrets" for the GBC.

Score: 6/10. Rental for most, must-buy for Harry Potter fans/completists.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 06/07/04