Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Hopefully, we’ll never live to see Harry Potter and the Closet of Porn.
Tags: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Categories: PS2 Reviews, Reviews
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Feb 14th, 2006
| Title | Players | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (title page) | 1 | ||
| Developer | Publisher | Genre | Online |
| Platformer | No | ||
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The Harry Potter games are usually solid, reliable platform action titles that stick closely to the movies from which they are inspired. In the case of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, however, the game sticks almost too closely to the movie, rarely veering off-course from the film’s plot to introduce additional game play elements. While that’s sure to keep younger gamers who are fans of the books happy, it means that older gamers might be put off by the title twice: once before they see the movie, because they don’t want it spoiled; and again after they see the movie, because they already know the story.
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Compared to Peter Jackson’s King Kong, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire seems just a bit handicapped. The Kong game was blessed with plentiful movie footage, which made its way into the game to enhance the “play the movie” experience. Unfortunately, Harry Potter: GOF has surprisingly little movie footage in the game, which may not be that uncommon to the series, but ends up feeling like a handicapped when compared alongside Kong. Of course, the age range for Harry Potter games and Kong are slightly different; Potter is rated E for Everyone and Kong is … a bit too intense for the truly younger set. Let’s just leave it at that.
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Naturally, gamers get a chance to play as Harry, Hermoine and the whiny Ron, though this time there is a cooperative mode that allows a group of three friends to play the game together in several stretches, with all three characters being simultaneously playable, with the help of a multitap. However, there are segments of the game that are strictly single-player, primarily the tri-wizard tournament parts of the game, which Harry must tackle solo. This is truly unfortunate from a parental standpoint. Imagine getting you child and two friends to settle down and play a Harry Potter game together. For a couple hours, everything’s peachy. Then they get to a tri-wizard tournament segment and suddenly you can only imagine the chaos. “I want to be Harry!” “No, I’m Harry!” “You got to be Harry last time.” “Fine, be Harry then you big baby. This is boring. We’re going.” “Hold on! After this, I’ll need you both for the next part!” “Too bad!”
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Clearly, no one who developed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a game that’s only co-op play SOME of the time actually has an eight-year-old at home. Or, they are so engrossed in their job coding a new Harry Potter game every year, they’ve fallen out of touch with raising their kids and need to talk to their spouse about the chaos their “co-op/single player/co-op again” game design is causing on the ol’ home front. That being said, the game’s graphics have evolved since EA’s first Harry Potter game, delivering a smoother-looking title with better spell effects.
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Voice acting from the movie cast is much appreciated, although certain phrases are repeated ad nauseam, such as Harry’s spell-casting power word. Ugh! But maybe it’s just me; after all, the game’s primary audience is the pre-teen set and I remember when I was that age never tiring of the catchphrase of a certain Saturday morning live-action superhero show: “Shazam!” (Yes, I’m dating myself with that little revelation, but what’s a person to do?)
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Anyway, the main problem is one not uncommon to Harry Potter games: the puzzle solving involves a LOT of back-tracking through areas you’ve already been through and conquered. That gets boring after a while, which causes the game to drag. Still, each time you enter a new area, the initial exploration and puzzle-solving is pleasant enough and doesn’t become quite so complex as to become frustrating. What is more bothersome are the collection quests; I know they are a staple of this genre, but I’ve never really liked them in any game and there’s plenty of them in Harry Potter: GOF. Too bad, though if it’s something you enjoy, it may come off less annoying to you than it did to me. The point of collection quests is to encourage thorough exploration of the game world, and at least these accomplish that task, though it simply exacerbates the problem of backtracking through familiar areas even more.
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In the end, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire accomplishes what it sets out to do: it offers young fans who’ve seen the movie a chance to play through the same story. The only real downside is that that might not be quite enough to hold the interest of gamers who’ve hit their teenage years and beyond. So it’s good to keep in mind that those gamers are not EA’s primary audience here. And for their intended audience, this game is good enough not to be a disappointment; not bad, considering that EA’s having to chuck a new one out every year, right around the time each new movie is released.
| What Works | Score |
|---|---|
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+ Modestly improved graphics, though they are still a bit muddy on PS2. + Reliable, if not exactly inventive, enhancement of the movie’s storyline. + Three-person cooperative play! |
7.7 |
| What Doesn't | |
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– Switches between coop play and Harry solo play may cause family disputes when they other two have to sit through the solo bits. – Too many collection quests. – An awful lot of backtracking in puzzle-solving and collection quests. |
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| Under the Shrink-wrap | |
| Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire delivers the expected “you’ve seen the movie, now play it” goods, though tedious collection quests and a dearth of fresh material that goes beyond the movie storyline will limit the game’s appeal to the teen-and-up audience. | |
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Tags: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Posted by Craig "American Idle" Hansen on Feb 14th, 2006 and is filed under PS2 Reviews, Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.
