Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Includes Child Movie Ticket)

by Electronic Arts

Product Features

• Immerse Yourself in Magic—Interact with magical objects, ghosts and portraits in every room, corridor and courtyard—all faithfully recreated from the movies.
• Perfect Your Wand Work—Cast spells to unleash powerful fifth-year magic.
• Lead Dumbledore’s Army—Recruit fellow students and teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts.
• Relive the Magic of the Movie—…from the Dementor attack in Little Whinging to the epic battles at the Ministry of Magic.
• Unleash Advanced Magic—Play as Sirius and Dumbledore as they fight Lucius, Bellatrix and Voldemort in the Ministry of Magic.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B000QY9C04
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 25, 2007
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #19,018 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Harry’s fifth year at Hogwarts is shaping up to be his most dangerous yet. Fearing that Hogwarts’ venerable Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, is lying about the return of Voldemort in order to undermine his power, Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge appoints a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher to keep watch over Dumbledore and the students. But Professor Dolores Umbridge’s ministry-approved course leaves the young wizards woefully unprepared, so Hermione, Ron and Harry form “Dumbledore’s Army” with the goal of preparing themselves and other courageous young wizards for the extraordinary battle that looms against Voldemort and his Death Eaters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Potter Yet, June 26, 2007

By 

Brent S. Boswell (High Point, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Includes Child Movie Ticket) (Video Game)

So far I am very impressed with this game. Overall it is the best recreation of the castle yet. There are no load times as seen in the previous games. So when you go from say the courtyard to the common room you can go straight there with no loading screens. There is a slight slow down when going between some areas but nothing really noticeable. For the most part you just walk up to a door and continue through it.

The Spell casting on the Wii is pretty fun. Instead of having to switch between them like they were items it is just a flick of the wand (or Wii Remote) to activate a spell. The spell used depends on the flick.

The graphics are beautiful and the attention to detail is amazing. In this one almost all of the paintings are animated in some way or another and you can talk to some of them.

I just can't get over how huge the castle is. The map is very essential to finding your way about. You can even select locations and the foot steps will appear in front of you to guide you to that location or person. The voice acting is well done though there is some repetition. But since they recorded the same lines several different times the character can say the same thing and say it a little differently each time.

There are also many mini games. So far I have found a game of Wizard chess, a version of shooting marbles (gobstones I think) and some sort of matching game.

If you are a fan of Harry Potter then this is a must buy. Its not for everyone (there are a lot of anti-potter's out there) The game is like the others where there are a lot of fetch and grab missions, not much on the fighting aspect of it though there are some times where you get into a duel with some of the other students and some bad guys later in the game.

() Game play: This is pretty easy since you have the nun chuck to navigate. Some of the spells are frustrating to pull off. Like the levitating spell the floating objects are difficult to get positioned exactly where you want to. I had one painting that I wanted to position on the wall get stuck behind the wall in limbo and couldn't get it back in the room. Though after leaving the area and revisiting it later the puzzle reset itself and I was able to complete it.

() Music: The music is great everything just works well where you are at and does not seem out of place. They did a great job on that.

() Graphics: These are some of the best on the wii. Nothing was rushed through. There are some low frame rates on the characters movement but nothing horrible.

() Lasting appeal: I don't know how long it will take to beat yet. And I always spend more time that necessary to find every thing. I think that the lasting appeal will be more for the younger crowd. My children still want me to get out the other Harry Potter games to knock around in, explore the castle, and fly around whatever. For the older crowd I think it will be like everything else where after beating the game it will only be revisited every so often.

() Overall I can say that this is the best Movie tie in game made yet that I have played. It just does not feel that they just rushed through this and slopped something out to sell.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BRILLIANT! Best Yet!, July 11, 2007

By 

T. Woodbury (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Includes Child Movie Ticket) (Video Game)

I am a definite Harry Potter fan, having seen all the movies, played all the games, and read all the books to date. I have played and completed this game, but am still trying to get all the goodies. This Harry Potter game is definitely the best, and I think the Wii gives it the edge. It was a major improvement from the last one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was TERRIBLE. Here is a rundown on how I think this game was.

--Graphics/Hogwarts: The graphics were good, but was really mind-boggling was the castle. It is HUGE! I just saw parts of the first three Harry Potter films yesterday on TV with my kids, and the castle was exactly like it. Every room, every staircase, every torch, every courtyard, every bridge or any other type of room looks exactly the same. You also get to visit other places, such as the Ministry of Magic and the Black house. They really outdid themselves. AWESOME!

--Game play (navigation, spells): As I stated before, the Wii gave this game the edge. You must have the wii remote and the numchuck to play this game. Using these to remotes, you can move throughout the castle or produce different spells by moving them with different motions. You can battle or you can use spells to earn experience points (see Repeatability). To navigate, you have to use the Mauraders Map. You simply select the location you want to go to, and footsteps appear on the ground leading you to that location.

--Story: The story followed the movie's plot, like the last four games. The Order of the Phoenix is my favorite book, movie, and now game to date. J.K. Rowling's twists, turns, and brilliant imagination really made it great.

--Repeatability (after you finish the story mode): Throughout the game, you could do tasks, some large, some just involve the flick of the remote, to earn experience points. Experience points make your spells more powerful, unlock videos with interviews about the game, and unlock cups (statues) for doing certain tasks. After you finish the story mode, you can continue your game in Endless Day mode, where you try to complete everything. I, for one, see me playing the game again once I have completed the Endless Day.

--Problems: I have heard some complaints, some being shaky cut scenes, but I had no problems with this game. I've heard some say when you say hi to people (hit the A button), they just say hi and go back to what they were doing. So WHAT? Would you rather engage into a long conversation about how homework is going, or how the daisies are beautiful in the garden? You have to remember that Harry isn't well liked in this game because he says Voldemort (the bad guy) is back, which is not a popular theory.

--Overall: This game was GREAT! I think this game is every thing a game should be. It is definitely worth the money. Children and adults will love it. It may not be as long as some games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii (which I POSITIVELY recommend), but it is still a good length. BRILLIANT!!!

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good game but instructions leave a lot to be desired., July 18, 2007

By 

Walter E. Anderson "wandrson" (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Includes Child Movie Ticket) (Video Game)

I think I respresent the target audience that Nintendo is going after with the Wii. I have not liked video games much even though I am technically savy (programmer)--though I was fond of pong!

I just purchased the Wii and this is my first game purchase (other than Wii Play). Overall I enjoyed the game--largely due to the fact that there was very little time sensitive actions (like fighting and whatnot). It is mostly about puzzles and exploring.

I have two major gripes about this game--and I suspect they are probably universal for most video games.

1. The instructions are not complete. As an example the most used spell in this game is Wingardiam Leviosa. Executing it is simple--but moving an object in 3d space with only a 2d view (TV) is something that takes a lot of practice. I was toward the end of the main portion of the game when I discovered that when using the WL spell if you get an object close to where it is supposed to be and hit the A button it will be placed correctly and the spell will be completed.

This is not mentioned in the instructions. I suspect this is because this type of functionality is something that gamers just know to look for. Since the Wii is marketed differently I suggest that those who develop for the Wii rethink there approach to documentation.

One final clarification point, I am not suggesting that the documentaion reveal clues or solutions to puzzles, but simply explain the controls and how to use them -- COMPLETELY.

2. Point number two is related. Including a practice mode that allows the user to interact with the game to develop the feel for the controls used with real time feedback before immersion into the actual gameplay would be helpful for the rest of us who may not want to go through story lines 10-15 times to get a feel for gestures, controls, etc... Providing useful feedback would also be helpful. One example of poor feedback is that when casting spells with the Wii the gestures used do not correspond to the movements of the characters on screen--I assume that this is so the character movements can be uniform across platforms. Whatever the reason it is very distracting and made the learning curve steeper than it should be.