Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban review (PS2)

Light seems to have a strong effect for puzzles. Doors open, monsters flee and even water fountains begin.

There is a certain stigma attached to making video games of movies (even if they originated as books) and generally they end up disappointing gamers and reviewers (Terminator 3, Enter The Matrix, you get the picture), yet because of the cash-in value, they keep being made. Harry Potter is probably the hottest movie property of the moment to be gameified (that’s obviously the official term) and I’ve been lucky enough to be playing it for the past week, much to the amusement of my friends. Fortunately, none of them are brave enough to play through Silent Hill 3, so I still have one up on them.

I hardly need explain the premise behind Harry Potter, yet knowing my luck if I didn’t explain that Harry was a young wizard going to Hogwarts, an out of the way boarding school that teaches magic and various other methods of cheating at cards, the one person on the Internet who hadn’t heard of him would be reading this review. This third year sees Harry being stalked by a prison escapee (of Azkaban no less) named Sirius Black. An average year at Hogwarts if it weren’t for the Dementors, kind of flying smokey cloaked figures that seem remarkably familiar to The Lord of the Rings’ Ringwraiths, that are moving around the school searching for Black and take a special pleasure in sucking the life out of Harry too.

Would it have been better if the game had come first?

Ahaa, another jumping puzzle. This time with a Dementor chasing you.

While the game starts gently to allow players to get used to the gameplay, controls and how to cast magic, you are thrust into action stations from the get go and it certainly keeps things interesting. Your current objectives are always clear (mainly because of the task list that you can access by hitting select) and generally it’s pretty obvious what to do in the most part. If you’ve just learnt a new spell then the chances are it will be useful in some way to progressing through the game.

A certain amount of artistic license has been taken with the story, so certain set pieces that you may be expecting to play are notably missing, while learning new spells, such as the Dementor defying Expecto Patronum are managed by entering a dungeon (through the wishes of your teacher), solving the puzzles and defeating the enemies within.

What a visual effects budget!

Our trio of school-wizards. Go on, show us a trick!

While the gameplay remains generally simple (though with a few rather clever puzzles thrown in to keep us all happy), the visuals remain very much in line with the world that the films have made visible. Characters look well detailed and the animation deserves to be acknowledged and while the locations look the part, and close to the filmic equivalents, they remain rather undetailed at some points. Spell effects and general magical touches are present throughout and seem to be done well (though the paintings in the main staircase could have done with a little more life in them).

While the characters look like their real life actor counterparts, the way they sound isn’t quite so appealing. None of the original actors have lent their voices to the game and while some characters such as Ron and Hagrid are replicated well, others such as Professor Snape and Harry himself sound more like they are new characters themselves, which serves as quite a disappointment. Fortunately however the music remains beautifully close to the style of the films, adding to the atmosphere strongly.

I’m in Ravenclaw

The Eye Toy games remain rather unique considering the options. Eye Toy and Child not included.

The PS2 version of Azkaban contains bonus mini-games called ‘after school games’ that let you compete in various EyeToy enhanced scenarios (assuming you own the add-on camera). Initially, you must have your picture taken, when the sorting hat places itself on your head and chooses which house you are to be in. Apparently because of my wit there was no better house for me and how the hat knew that about me I’ll never know. You then compete in multiple games, each of which are reminiscent of the classic EyeToy: Play games, but normally with an interesting twist (and always a Harry Potter style).

Some games demand that you catch as many sweets as possible and occasionally a ghost will appear to block your view and generally hinder you. Here is where an easily forgotten feature of the EyeToy is brought into use, where to scare off the ghost, you must shout at it until it flees. The on camera microphone picks up your various shouts (hey, it wasn’t as embarrassing as playing SingStar) and that generally does the job. Some games even require that you squash items in your hands by clapping, using a combination of the motion sensor system and the microphone it seems to work very well to only allow claps to catch certain items. All in all, a very welcome addition to the game.

My greatest fear is the Bogart

Ron pulls Harry away from danger. Just guess whose hand that is in the bottom left corner.

Gameplay in the single player game is kept varied by reasonably regular (i.e. generally at the end of each mission) boss battles, including Harry facing up against his worst fear, a Dementor. Some clever techniques for dispatching each foe are normally required, although it will no doubt involve the spell you have just picked up. While the replay value of the game is extended by certain collectable tasks (there’s no way I’ll be able to find each of the 250 every flavour beans littering the game) and certainly by the EyeToy games, it does feel like the main game is trying to do the bare minimum possible to remain fun.

A die hard Harry Potter fan will no doubt love visiting the world and for the first time in a game, you have the ability to switch control between Harry, Ron and Hermione depending on whose skills are required (as each have their own special spells that they can pick up and further abilities that render switching more than just a cosmetic afterthought). If you’ve never seen the draw of Harry Potter, then perhaps this game isn’t for you, although with nothing too complex to get your head around and the ability to out-magic Malfoy and his troop, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban spells more fun than a lot of movie-to-game conversions.