Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Review from Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna and Anna - Saturday, 03 October 2009 @ 2:11pm

So you liked the movie? And playing on the Wii? Then I can recommend this game. That's the game in a nutshell.

It plays closely to the movie. This might not be new for those who have played the previous Harry Potter games but I've kept a clear distance from them since they were first produced. Most, if not all, movie tied in games are disappointing to say the least. I'd say the one of the worst points of them is that you know exactly what's going to happen next because you buy the game after you see the movie.

Just in the Nick of time

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince plays like an Activity Centre with too many cutscenes. Or a movie with too many special interactions in order to continue. In that sense, it's more suited to the younger generation, who are more likely to prefer playing through the story with just enough interaction to keep them going, but not so little that it practically is the movie.

I have to say that including Nearly Headless Nick as a guide was a pretty awesome move. I'd hate to have to wander around Hogwarts looking for the Potions classroom without him as the castle layout can be confusing before you learn where the stairs are hidden and where the passageways lead. The guide made up for having a less than ideal map, you use the Marauder's Map and as you progress, more areas of the castle are unlocked for you. Plus, following a character to a destination is faster than having to pull up the map every two seconds or trying to remember which similarly designed corridor at which you're supposed to turn left. You don't have to use him but for the sake of efficiency I used him as much as I could.

It is not fun to know that prolonged play of this game (on the Wii version at least) will give you Wii elbow. For those of you who have the pleasure of never having to play on the Wii for a lengthy period of time, I assure you that Wii elbow is one of the most irritating gaming-related injuries I have had the misfortune to endure. Yes, worse than trigger thumb (was it mashing A or B supposed to help raise the likelihood of catching the wild Abra?). The first time was when the Wii was released and a whole day of Wii Sports and Twilight Princess brought on the pangs within hours. It comes because of the whole waggle motion you are forced to make in order to make anything work on the Wii. This game came out at the same time as Wii MotionPlus and would have benefited immensely from implementing it. The amount of times I had to redo a section because the system didn't accurately read my waggling was frustrating to say the least.

It was a fine balancing act, avoiding the fumes from a backfiring wand

Duelling

This was the worst, I'd have to say, in terms of over-design in the waggle department. To send a normal attack or 'Stun' you waggled the Wiimote, to dodge, you press A and to disarm (Expelliarmus) you waggle both the Wiimote and the Nun-Chuk. Waggling for five odd minutes to keep up a barrage of attacks while pressing A to dodge the oncoming attack occasionally is a recipe for Wii Elbow and thus gains negative points in my book. Though putting up a shield is pretty cool as you cross your arms over your chest – with rather satisfactory results when you get your timing just right too.

Potions Brewing

Again, MotionPlus would be handy here, if only to make things more accurate. There are various liquids that you pick up with a flick, move across and turn the Wiimote to pour it into your potion concoction. It's all based on colours for some reason, so as your cauldron bubbles through the rainbow (again and again and again) you have to make sure that the additions get it to the right colour without causing smoke to appear magically and make you waggle until it goes away. You also have to waggle to heat the pot and thus, again, make it go through colours. It's unnecessary for this much waggle! Honestly, if it's not fun, why put it in there? It's not even challenging! It's just annoying! Bahhhhh.

Quidditch

Point Wiimote in the direction you want to fly. Make sure you go through the hoops. Miss two in a row (as a rule) and you start over. Keep up the good work and you catch the snitch. Some dodging involved.

Gotta catch 'em all!

I loved Harry Potter. All the way until they decided to make movies about it. I didn't really follow the books after the fourth one and though I watched and read the rest of the series, there was no fire, no energy, no nothing! They do a good job of making the game less awful than it might have been, I can give it that. There are so many ways the game could have been worse but for what it is, it does a good job. The voice acting doesn't make you cringe too much, the graphics are well up there for a Wii game and the gameplay, while with excess waggle can be annoying, isn't the worst design I've seen in my time.

Actually, as much as I get annoyed with this game, I have to concede that it's not bad. At least, for a Wii port and a movie tie-in game. The most disappointing part of it is that it uses waggle too much for it to be fun at all. Yes, it's rather novel the way you have a Wiimote, Harry has a wand and you use it kind of similarly... but too much time spent waggling gets you that Wii elbow and it's not fun. Not fun at all. It's also the fact that it presents itself as a game when it's little more than an activity centre that takes you through the movie and while the activities aren't bad (though one of my pet hates in games at the moment are timed challenges), there are only those three I mentioned earlier. While moving between them you can engage with the castle, secret passageways and hidden points in certain objects if you waggle in their direction but essentially it's an activity centre aimed for an audience a tad younger than its movie audience.

Pros

Wiimote = wand (not quite but it's enough), music and sound is of similar quality to the movie, quidditch is at a level that makes it easy and enjoyable without being too punishing - great for the game's audience.

Cons

Dealing with teenage hormones, too much waggle for the Wii resulting in Wii elbow, only three different kinds of activities.