Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

"Is that Sirius Black?"

Introduction
Even before the large number of people that became Harry Potter fans, I had already got in touch with the books a long time ago. I mean, I got the first book 2 or 3 weeks after it was released... Then, I got the books as they were released, but I don't think I'm a bigggg fan of the series, as most of the people nowadays. However, I think that it would be funny to try this game, so I did it, and I was surely surprised!

Gameplay
As soon as you get in touch with the first places of the game, you will notice how the basic gameplay is... You will be able to control Harry, Ron and Hermione, each of them having their own specific magics and so on... Then you will have to use their specific magics to advance in the many dungeons that you will find... For example, Harry has a spell that lets him see things that eyes normally can't see (like a hidden bridge...), Hermione can unlock some doors (not all of them, for some reason I don't quite understand...) and Ron will gain an ability during the game that will enable him to turn objects into jumping platforms... Also, during the time you hang on these dungeons (well, almost all the time that you have chance of moving your characters!) you will find random battles, that will be fought like in most rpg's... What??? RPG??? YEAH, this is an rpg, which means that the battles will be fought in a way that kinda reminded me of the Final Fantasy games. In those battles you will be able to also use magic spells, and the "fight" command is a spell that doesn't spend any energy at all... There are also other special moves that you can use, but in other to be able to use them, you will need to get certain cards of the wizards, which you can get during the game... I must also reffer that sometimes it may be somehow hard for you to know where to go next, mainly when you are not given any clues, like the first time you reach Hogwarts... Finally, there are some mini-games that you can unlock by playing the story of the game, as controlling a hippogriph and other games, but personally I didn't liked those at all...

Story
The game has almost the same story as the movie, only some slight details were changed so that the story flows better...

Graphics/Sound
The graphics are nice, as you will be able to recognise Harry and the main characters, however you won't be able to recognise the other characters, since I don't think they look like the ones that appeared in the movie or, even better, in the books. As for the sound, it isn't very special at all, so it's somehow the kind of music you can forget. I know what I am talking about, since I already almost forgot about it, LOL!

Play Time/Replayability
The mini-games that you unlock by playing across the game surely put some more play time into it, but apart from that stuff I don't think that you will like to spend much time with this game once you have finished it...

Final Recommendation
A game that is quite good for Harry Potter fans or for people who wanna try a different rpg. All the others could give it a try, but I'm not sure if you will enjoy this game or not...

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/27/04