Customer Reviews

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

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

 

 

I evaluate this game in three parts (playing at "normal" level):
1. exploration/discovery
2. tasks
3. dueling

1. exploration/discovery - 5 stars
Hogwarts castle and surrounding scenery are truly spectacular on the PS3. Everything from the owlery to the Gryffindor common room to the grand staircase is amazingly detailed and beautifully rendered. As a fan of the series, it was a joy to seek out the nooks and crannies, gain "discovery points", and feel like I really lived there.

2. tasks - 3 stars
The tasks in the first half of the game were my favorite - finding all the students in the DA. These tasks gave me a reason to explore the castle and grounds, and find hidden objects and secret passageways. They also required improving my spellwork using the PS3 controller. I found some of the tasks after Christmas tedious, however, and sometimes I felt bored or downright irritated (especially when tasks required too much repetition.)

3. dueling - 1 star
Here's where the game really missed an opportunity. I thought I was practicing my spellwork with all those tasks so I could become very good at dueling when the time came to meet Voldemort, Malfoy, and other baddies. Instead, it felt like the game practically took over for me, and I'm not sure I had much influence on what happened (although I do cast a good protego!) This was a shame, because OOTP has good fight scenes.

My game has hung once, and charms practice in Prof Flitwick's classroom has a bug and doesn't work properly.

I'm still pleased to own the game overall, for the sheer fun of "being at" Hogwarts and discovering fun treasures and clever rewards (I love the prefect's bathroom!) I also love seeing all my old favorite characters and hearing the real voices of the actors and the wonderful music. EA put a lot of effort into the game. They missed in some places and exceled in others. For fans, I'd say it's worth the investment.

Bought this for my son for christmas but discovered he had already completed the game for the Game Testers Club he goes to. So have returned it. He enjoyed the game but felt it was a little too quick and easy for him (he's 13). Probably better for a younger child who make take longer to complete it.

This "game" sucks. The castle and grounds are really well-done and it was fun to explore.... for about 30 minutes; after that, there really was nothing going on but a weak story and a lot of mundane chores. Also, not being to control the camera angle was aggravating on many levels. I often found myself wanting to blast Ron and Hermione for being constantly in the way and contributing nothing. Chamber of Secrets, with the poor graphics and all the cartoonishness was 10 times more fun because it, at least, had some challenge to it. Save your money.

I recently bought a PS3 after not playing video games for years. Since I'm a big Harry Potter fan, I bought this game since it was the most rated among the Harry Potter series. I'm about 60% through the game and the challenges that Harry goes through in this game are mostly ver boring. They're mostly comprised of figuring out ways to climb on top of things and retrieve items. I had expected that the game will provide for some exciting challenges / puzzlers like the actual books / movies do. I would give the graphics and Hogwarts visualization a 4 star, so all in all I think the game is just mediocre. If you can get it for $10 or less, go ahead and try it out, not worth more than that to me.

This game takes a LONG TIME, as you have to run across the castle constantly. Also this game forced me to fell a strong resentment for a one, Zacharias Smith, I can honestly say I hate that kid. The castle is oddly laid out as well, not really matching up to the books or movies. Spells are a lot of fun though so it is worth playing, though definitely not $50 worth playing. They also have these weird mini-game tournament everywhere, which I absolutely fail at.

The gameplay is mildly enjoyable, and it lasts about as long as you'd expect a 3D game based on a movie to last (a few weeks playing a couple hours a day if you're trying to get all the points possible). It has some beautiful scenery and recognizable characters and voices from the movies. Fans may enjoy getting a feel for walking through and seeing the layout of the land described in the stories and movies. There are also a number of activities, puzzles, and interesting mini-games, and spell-casting is kind of fun if you can find the right things to cast spells on.

However the number of spells is limited to about 6 normal spells and 6 battle spells, and the battle spells don't get used much. Also the goals/puzzles are relatively simplistic and local. And each puzzle has one solution that you either find/perform or don't. For example, there's no such thing as an inventory. You can't carry things from place to place. Most of what you're doing is casting specific spells at a particular location to get points, and many of the "puzzles" don't really even involve much thought (although there is one "aha" puzzle in the game that I had to think a moment about). You just get points for seeing things that you can manipulate and manipulating them. I think the most sophisticated puzzle involves stacking things in order to climb on top of them and reach something. The rest of the points are awarded for trying the right spell on the right target, and often times they make very little sense.

You are free to explore the entire landscape pretty much as you like, which is nice. But that kind of freedom isn't sufficient for me. The number of locations to explore is limited. They are visually deep, but there's just not that much to explore and do at these locations. I expect a little more from a PS3 game in that regard. I prefer something deeper with more exploration, and a greater variety of mechanics and interactions with other characters and objects.

The game lives up to my mild expectations given the background and price, but it's nothing spectacular.

I got this game because other HP games were somewhat fun and with the new HD visuals it should be awesome, right? Well, while the game looks good on a nice HDTV, the gameplay falls flat on its face. The design of the objectives and extras are ho-hum and there is nothing that makes you want to play it again so its replay value is very low. Harry sometimes can't open doors because of a programming bug and there are occasional graphical glitches. The tasks in the game make it feel like you are doing your chores at home with your mother nagging you the whole time. It was a very disappointing entertainment experience. However, the game does one thing very well-it will cure any insomnia! Just don't tell the FDA or they may try to regulate it as a drug.

Even my brother, who has read all the books, owns a replica wand and calls himself "Headmaster" (At least until he found out that Dumbledore is supposedly gay), thought this game was super boring.

If you are a big Harry Potter fan, then go ahead and rent it first.

The graphics are astounding. The game, however, is short; my wife beat it in about 4-5 days. None-the-less she loved it, and still plays it from time to time.

The Harry Potter video game series has been a mixed bag since the beginning. There have always been some really nice elements to the series--the quidditch scenes in the earlier episodes, for example, were quite fun. But when it all comes down, these games have been about finding stuff. A *lot* of stuff. If you like finding stuff in the environment of Hogwarts, you are going to love this game more than any of the others.

This game tells its story only by sugestion. There really is little hope of following the story line unless you are already familiar with the story. I suppose that it really would be asking too much of the game to tell such a complex yarn, but still, with such great source material, one could hope for a little more. That is the biggest complaint, in my opinion.
If you already know the story, then you will be able to follow on without issues. The graphics are really lovely, and at times are actually breathtaking. Hogwarts, more than ever, is a fully realized environement. Threre are secret doors and moving portraits, gliding staircases, and hidden entrances galore. There are tons of people to interact with, although the types of interaction is a little limited at parts. You are tasked with a lot of finding of secrets. If you are (like me) a little obsessive in your approach to video gaming, you are going to be enchanted here. You literally have hundreds of secrets to get. You get little rewards when you collect enough of each. There are also a wide variety of tasks to complete--unfortunately, most of these are simply of the "find the x" category.

Cut scenes are nicely rendered. There are some mini games that are actually quite fun (playing gobstones against the other houses), and some that are more frustrating (playing wizards chess against the other houses). I found this frustrating not because the game was bad (it wasn't) but because I am not a chess champion, and you literally cannot complete every task unless you can win in chess against a pretty good AI.

All in all, we ended up playing this game for about 25 hours, prety steadily, and although at times we wished it were a little more varied, we couldn't stop. I guess that is ultimately a testimony in favor of the games.

I would hope that for future installments EA will try to use a little more creativity, but based on past performance, probably not.

This game is recommended for HP fans (Hogwarts is so beautiful and so fun to run around, it alone is worth the price of admission), and for folks who enjoy finding tons of little things in games. Otherwise, rent it.

This game is no fun at all.. it is boring and a waste of time. We have had this game for a couple of weeks and played it maybe twice. The quests are a joke.. the special items you can win are movie clips and interviews with the cast.
They only good thing I can say about this game is that the creators really did a great job with the graphics.. Hogwarts was huge.. but it reminds me of a virtual book or virtual movie.. there's really nothing to 'do'. The controls are akward, changing the view just can't be done unless you completely reposition the character.. and when you do.. 9 times out of 10, you're bumping into someone behind you.

We have really enjoyed a lot of HP games.. Prizoner of Azkaban was great.. but it seems that the creators are really overdoing it with the graphics.. but losing the point of 'why' games are played.. they're supposed to be fun! Personally.. I'd rather have cartoon graphics if it means that the game will hold our interest...

The only reason this game got 2 stars overall from us is that the graphics were good.