Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review
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Let me just lay this out there first. I LOVE HARRY POTTER. I love the books, the movies (well mostly) and I was really excited about playing a Harry Potter game. I am still a newbie to gaming but my lackluster skills seem to be improving a little. My first crack at a Harry Potter game was “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”. Ironically this was my least favorite book, but favorite movie of the series so far. I was really interested to see how they portrayed the characters, the budding romance and the final violent scenes in the Ministry of Magic.
Overall I was satisfied. The game takes you through the entire movie with cut scenes and game play and keeps you addicted. The graphics weren’t fantastic and the characters looked a little strange but the voices were pretty much right on and Hogwarts really looked great. The most frustrating part was trying to get around (running and walking). As usual Hermione and Ron follow Harry around everywhere and they just kept getting in the way. You couldn’t run through them and they never got out of your way.
At the start of the game you are picked up by Tonks, Madeye, and others and taken to headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix. You get to spend a little time there exploring but before too long you are taken to Hogwarts. The meat of the game takes place inside the castle. You, as Harry, are attempting to collect all the members of Dumbledore’s Army to meet in the Room of Requirement. Each member that you find assigns you a task to complete before they will go upstairs. These tasks include getting books out of the library, collecting ingredients for potions, etc. They take time but you get to explore the castle and discover neat things. The rest of the game is spent thwarting Umbridge and Occlumency lessons with Snape. At the end you fight Bellatrix and Voldemort just as the books and movies detail. It is challenging and pretty exhausting but rewarding.
Honestly although there were definitely issues with the game I truly enjoyed it. It was really nice to play something that drew me in and I really never came up for breath (until my eyes began to hurt). I would recommend this game for Harry Potter fans and new gamers who want to play a long game that they can challenge their skills and become more nimble with controls and general game play. Serious gamers- maybe not so much.
I can’t wait to start Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Check back for that review soon!
Rating: 6.9 out of 10
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