I've been playing Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 and thought you should know what i thought (ok that's a lie, i wrote the review for the West Gamers blog).
Lego Harry Potter... The name says it all. There have been a long line of Lego games and while some were great, others were a bit disappointing. The basic idea is you take a famous franchise (in this case Harry Potter) then recreate characters, locations and famous moments in a way that would only be possible with Lego.
When it comes to the story of Harry Potter, there is a lot to tell and it would never be an easy task getting the story across using Lego characters who can't speak. The game tries to tell the story as best it can but unless you've already seen the movies or read the books, you'll probably miss the whole plot. However, Lego Harry Potter manages to make every moment of the story fun and hilarious without needing to really change anything. The little cut scenes will have you laughing at absolutely everyone including a certain character who will remain unnamed.
The environments look like they've been pulled right out of the actual movie tie-in games and are fairly faithful to the movie sets, but instead of the usual students and objects usually littering the halls, you'll find Hogwarts castle has been invaded by plastic characters of every shape and size, plus a whole heap of Lego desks, books, suits of armour, etc. Something else to remember, if you can see it and it's made of Lego pieces, there's a good chance you can interact with it. Whether you're launching spells at moving paintings, burning away living plants or levitating your classmates, spinning them around in the air and then launching them across the room (it was an accident, i swear) Hogwarts has been turned into a massive environment where anything could happen.
Also pulled from the movies is the games soundtrack. While the characters may not be capable of speech (although they can scream, mumble and laugh... how does that work?) the soundtrack manages to pick up the slack and keep you immersed in Harry Potter universe by using the trademark sounds of Harry Potter. Also, blowing stuff up with a spell delivers a suitable explosion sound effect, which is good because if you're like me, you'll be experimenting on everything to test it's explosive abilities.
The game covers years 1-4 (as pointed out by the game's helpful title) which means that you'll be experiencing moments ranging from when owl's first delivered Harry's acceptance letters to Privet Drive, right up to the death of Edwar-uhh, Cedric Diggory. Gone from previous games is the ability to choose what year you want to jump into though. Instead you'll have to play all 4 years start to finish although previous missions can be replayed later and as you progress through each year you'll unlock more of the castle to explore, so there's never really a dull moment.
If all this sound's like too much to take on alone (or if you're playing with your nephew/niece/child/younger sibling as an attempt to justify the fact you're playing a Lego game) you can also play co-op and Traveller's Tales have really outdone themselves here. Gone is the old way of trying to navigate on a camera zoomed out to the outer atmosphere because your partner refuses to follow you. Now when the two player's go their own separate way the screen flawlessly splits before your eyes allowing both players to have half the screen to run wherever they choose without disrupting the others view too much, and then when both players get close enough, the divider disappears and the screen merges back to a single camera.
Lego Harry Potter manages to immerse you in the magic of the Harry Potter universe and pull off key moments from the first 4 years while still making you love every moment. The simple gameplay makes it perfect for casual gamers, but the sheer depth and amount of interactivity means that even hardcore gamers will be pressed to finish the game quickly. Not all characters transfer well into Lego (Fluffy looks particularly bad) and some moments have had to be changed slightly because dialogue isn't available, but everything remains recognisable and the on screen antics could make even the darkest of wizards laugh.
Graphics 7/10 - It's Lego, so it was never going to be the most graphically intense game ever, but it merges the look of the two worlds together well.
Audio 7/10 - Familiar music will draw you into the world, but a lack of dialogue does have its drawbacks.
Gameplay 9/10 - Easy to play, Hard not to like and really well thought out.
Overall 8/10 - Lego Harry Potter is a great game that everyone will love. It's magic.
No comments:
Post a Comment