Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

"A great treat for Potter fans, a light RPG for those not familiar with him"

With 3 Harry Potter games coming out on the same day (one for GBA, one for GBC, and another for PSX), and the fact that games made in America seem to have a bad reputation, my hopes where not high for this game. But when I borrowed it from my little cousin, I was a bit surprised.

Graphics: 8.0
The graphics are very good for the GBC. Highly detailed and brightly colored, the backgrounds help capture the feel of the book. Same goes for the portraits, which sport a large amount of colors for being part of a GBC game. The sprites, though, are a bit crudely drawn, even though Harry's sprite is animated nicely.

Sound: 5.0
The music is one of the problems with this game. I didn't really like it that much, as it seemed a bit scrachy and the usual GBC fair. The sound effects where a step above average, though, but nothing to get excited about.

Story: 4.0
This is the main problem of the game: it's geared towards the Potter fans. While they will get the story well, I didn't as I had not read the book, and had no idea what some of those words like Muggle and Flipendo meant. I wish they would have put more of the story in the game, thought it does follow the book very closely (at least from what I've seen and heard).

Gameplay: 9.0
The game itself is a very nice RPG with Potter as the star, and makes the game worth looking into. Battles are turn-based, and had me remembering the battles of the SNES Final Fantasies. There are a wide variety of items, spells, and cards to combine for card spells that keep the battles from getting tedious at places where it usually would. Also, it has a few minigames as well. A few minor gripes: 1, I wish I could have been able to have control of people other than Potter, 2, the difficulty is unbalanced at parts (some of the battles are fairly difficult, while other battles [as well as the minigames] are easy), and 3, I wish that game was a 2 player vs. mode so that there would be good reason for building up my Potter to his full potential.

Replay Value: 6.0
Though it is nice to collect all the cards, I just wish there were more things to keep this game going. Firstoff, it can be beaten in under 10 hours easily. Second, I wish there was more incentive to collecting all the cards. Third, I wish there could be a 2-player vs. mode so that there'd be a reason to getting the best equipment and getting good at the game.

Pros:
+ Good graphics
+ Nice RPG mechanics

Cons:
- Not much replay value
- Doesn't fill non-Potter fans in on the story enough.

Overall:
Potter fans, this is a great game to get for car trips. For others, this is a nice RPG, but you'll probably want to research a bit more before considering buying.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/01, Updated 11/25/01