Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Great game. Graphics are great once adjusted in the game's options menu. Controls use both mouse and w a d s like in the older Potter games. I only started playing it for a few hours today but so far it's been really fun. Some of the spells take practice to do half way decent, like Wingardium Leviosa, and potion mixing.

EA took all of our opinions about the older games to heart I think because this time they included almost all of our favorite aspects that we loved so much in the previous games, and left out the stuff we hated.

In this one we collect crests, both hidden and obvious, cast spells, duel, explore, and Harry wears a gorgeous red cape in some parts. The flying is MUCH easier, so is quidditch. Dueling is easier, too.

It's storyline play is set up like the older games..Harry is assigned a task or two, then a cut scene (can turn on subtitles in options menu), then more tasks, more cut scenes etc. Harry sometimes has to follow another character somewhere but he doesn't always have Ron or Hermoine dogging his every move. There's freedom to explore the HUGE castle and its grounds. It's not like Goblet of Fire at all, it's more like Prizoner of Azkaban.

Great game, glad I bought it.

Make sure your PC system meets min requirements before buying. No less than 512 MB of RAM or more for Vista (256 MB min for XP), 1.8 Ghz or faster, 5 GB hard drive space, Direct X 9.0c or compatible video card.

My laptop is 1.6 Ghz processor speed, cut scenes are kind of slow and choppy on occasion but game play is fine.

---Just as a helpful note to those who buy this:

The game can be played two ways..either whizzing right through it by using Nearly Headless Nick all of the time and not doing any of the side challenges OR, by taking your time, exploring w/o Nick's help, talking to the other students and characters (walk up to them and hit Return key..they are the ones who dole out the side challenges), finding all of the crests and mini crests, joining the clubs, and earning all of the badges and rewards. If you choose to whiz right through, there is an 'Endless Day' after the credits role so you can go back and complete the other stuff but it's nowhere near as fun as taking your time and doing them all as you go along in the game.

Just wanted to point that out because if you whiz right through and ignore the rest you'll probably feel short-changed on the length of the game.

I have played all the previous HP games on PC and I have always enjoyed them, even though some were better than others. EA has done a good job with making the movies into enjoyable games through out the years. That being said, number six was good, but could have been better. So far I am enjoying the game. But there are some things I wish EA had thought more about. Here are some pros and cons:

The graphics are really nice this time! They have really evolved and the amount of detail in the Hogwarts castle is impeccable; so life-like!

I am glad they brought back dueling from the second game. This is a lot of fun and it actually can be challenging, which is nice. They also added potion making and flying. Potions is new whereas flying was in previous games. These are fun if you want to take a break from the story-line.

That being said, I think EA went a little too detailed in the story. I like how they showed what the story was (after all it is an adventure game) however the amount of cutscenes feels greater than the time of gameplay. There is not an even balance. There were many missed opportunities for some gameplay where EA just inserted a cutscene. For example, towards the beginning, they show a scene with Malfoy going to his initiation ceremony and Harry and his friends watch. Instead of making this a fun part of the game where players could have followed Malfoy to his destination EA decided to immediately skip to another cutscene. In this respect, i feel some gameplay time was lost to cutscenes in instances like this. There were a couple more where I was like wait shouldn't there be some mission or adventure here after the cutscene?

I also think EA may have sacrificed hardcore adventure for graphics and extras like dueling. The castle is amazingly realistic and I have to wonder if they spent so much time on this and the well-done yet many cutscenes that they forgot to add in some adventure for the player. It just seems like the story is being watched rather than played, which is not the goal of a videogame. I like cutscenes; they are part of any adventure game but I should feel like I am playing the game not watching it.

Even though EA seems to have given graphics a greater importance than gameplay, this game is still pretty fun. If you liked the other games then I would definitely go ahead and get this. It is also a cheaper alternative to the console versions (except for DS it's the same price). I played the Wii one and find the PC/MAC one much better. And all HP fans will have fun even if gameplay is somewhat lacking.
Don't get me wrong, the game is fun, there were just some instances where I felt they left the player out a bit in place of cutscenes. It is fun to collect items like in the previous games and unlock rewards.

Another reviewer gave some good advice I'd like to also point out : it is more fun to explore than always follow Nearly Headless Nick. As for side challenges, so far it has been mostly dueling but some of them are fun; like now I have to make a potion for someone.
And also if you are playing this on Mac like me it runs great!

So I would say go and get this it's not so expensive and though it has it's faults it's fun; I just played for like an hour and a half!
Have fun!

If you are an adult and enjoyed reading the Harry Potter books - why not give the PC games a chance? I find that I am really enjoying this game after a stressful day at work. What I like most is that the instructions are good for those of us who may not feel we are as good as the kids when it comes to using computers. I highly recommend this game to people of all ages.

After having played previous versions of this game, I was disappointed that some of the other lines of play had disappeared in this version.

However, this is a wonderfully challenging game. Even once your past the story line, provided you didn't collect everything along the way,there's a lot of items to collect and things to accomplish which makes it even more fun.

I do wish that they would have brought out a guide althought the new feature of Nearly Headless Nick escorting you around does provide relief from frustration of previous incarnations of the game.

I highly recommend this game for any Harry Potter fan.

This is my first experience playing a computer game for any length of time. I LOVE it. This game is extremely addictive. As a huge Harry Potter fan, I can tell you that every time you put the CD in your computer, you feel like you're at Hogwarts. The graphics are great, and many cast members lent their voices. There is so much to see and do in this game, and if you are new to the gaming experience, this is a great way to learn.

It does play pretty slowly in my PC--I had to lower the resolution and close any other programs running, but it's still very fun.

The game is pretty cool if you're a Harry Potter fan, but if you have game five, then just use that for the walking around Hogwarts fix. Quidditch, dueling, and potions are pretty awesome at first, but that's all the game relies on and they do get old fast.

Very, very little story related gameplay. There are cut scenes that explain what happens in the movie, but all the gameplay that have to do with the story is either exceedingly simple and easy or completely idiotic and pointless. Takes about 3 hours to beat the whole game, and the everlasting day or whatever at the end to collect everything you want is decent, but like I said, everything gets old fast.

I'd recommend this for a kid, or a really hardcore Harry Potter fan who will simply appreciate the atmosphere. But for anyone else, don't even bother buying. Two stars.

The only reason I bought it is to complete my collection of hp games. And I have to say this is the most boring game I had ever played. The graphics and the environment is almost identical to those in the OotP, only this time the game is 30-minutes long instead of over 5 hours. The dual is extremely stupid. All you have to do it to fire at your opponent rapidly. They even made it so that the aiming is not required. This "rapid-fire" technique guarantees you will win with ***** rating every single time. Yes, you can play "Quidditch", but all it amounts to is to fly around in the pitch and into the circles. Seriously, I had modeled a broom onto Microsoft Flight Simulator and played the game over there, and I got more fun playing it than I did on the "Quidditch" game.

If you really really want a HP game, don't bother buying this. Spending $20 over a game offering lackluster entertainment for 30-minutes was not worth it for me. I suggest you check out the Lego HP video game series, and if you want more, I would suggest you to play OotP, PoA(GBA version), or CoS.

This one was pretty good, they tried to keep with the 5th games theme of free roaming the castle and it being in third person. It wasn't as good in the reward system or the secrets system, and you had no marauders map you just called upon nearly headless nick to tell you where to go. It didn't feel like you had as much ability to do what you wanted when you wanted, but I still think its the 2nd best Harry Potter game of the 8

I ordered this game a few weeks ago (I patted myself on the back for completing some important homework) and I have played it every evening for the past two weeks, and I absolutely love this game. I have read other reviews on this game saying it was 'just ok'. Being a dedicated Harry Potter fan, I ignored the reviews. This game is loads of fun, and the music (for those of you who have not read the book (impossible, right?) skip this) when Ron accidentally ingests love potion is hilarious and also when Harry take Felix Felicis, its Jazz. The detail in this game is very very life-like. You feel like you're actually in Hogwarts battling Crabbe and Goyle, as well as battling Death Eaters. Playing Quidditch is also quite fun, especially when you beat Slytherin!! I must agree that this game does resemble the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Order of the Phoenix more than the Goblet of Fire (Excellent game by the way. Challenging with one person and extremely fun). This game is a hybrid and can be played on either Windows or Mac, which I have. Potion making is difficult, and needs to be worked with often to perfect.

Great game by EA, I would recommend this game to any Harry Potter fan of any age.

This game's best feature is a very real Hogwarts that you can explore. The game itself is fairly easy (except for making potions) but Hogwarts is incredible. It isn't just visually stunning, the aural environments are superb. On the suspension bridge you hear the ropes creak, on the wooden bridge you hear the bridge noises and footsteps as they should sound on a wood bridge. When you walk in a room with a tile floor and a rug your footsteps sound correct for each surface. The sound in a large hall or chamber has the correct hollow echoing. High sections have wind noise. In the forest you can hear the wind in the trees and birds. The combination of high graphical detail and sound make for a near virtual reality Hogwarts. Different areas have correct magical items working. Quill pens write in books in a classroom, watering cans water plants in the greenhouses, gears turn in the clock tower. The surface textures, the items, the ambiance are all just what you'd expect.

After you finish the narrative game you can still wander about Hogwarts searching for crests, engaging in magical duels, mixing potions and playing Quiddich. If you enjoyed the movies and books you will enjoy this game, not so much for the traditional narrative elements, but for the wonderfully realized school of wizardry.

You do need to nearly complete the game to see every part of Hogwarts available and some sections not in the Half-blood Prince book/movie, such as the kitchens or girl's bathroom with Moaning Myrtle) aren't included. Still, what is there is huge, detailed and accurate. I read that the developers used the movies, and drawings done by J.K. Rowling, to make the school correspond as closely as possible to Rowling's intentions and reader's/viewer's expectations.

Note: To get through the more difficult required potions I needed three controllers; a fairly precise trackball for moving items, a touchpad for the fine up and down motions to heat the potions, and a regular mouse for the large, gross circular motion needed for stirring. It was the least pleasant part of the game because you are stuck there and unable to wander about Hogwarts until you complete the potion.

If you're a fan of Harry Potter you will love this game.