Customer Reviews

Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (Mac)

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

 

 

I can't believe I'm writing this with the likes of 6 to 13 year olds (I'm 24), but I had so much fun playing this game. I was skeptical at first buying a children's cpu game - ha, was I wrong! HP and the SS really does take you into the world of Harry Potter as you learn to cast spells, collect Bertie Botts Beans and Wizard cards. Best of all, you get to play Quidditch, where you can go back after joining the Quidditch team to play against all 4 houses. (beating all 4 houses is the toughest part in the game to be honest, which I still have yet to do) And I personally loved the graphics.

You start out in Harry Potter like Tomb Raider and Oni in the sense where you have to learn step by step how to do certain things (ie: climb, cast spells) in order to progress through the game and all of the terms are just like out of the book - incendio, alohomora and more. The game follows the pretty basic plot of the story where you get to meet Ron, Hemione, Hagrid and Dumbledore along the way - and teachers like Prof. Flickwick and Prof. Quirrell are the ones who will teach you the spells. Of course, you will face your foes as well - Malfoy, Peeves, Fluffy and eventually you will have to defeat you-know-who - Voldemort!

At times I did wish there were more monsters to challenge against but it's overall a very good game.

Hint: You need to try to collect all 24 wizard cards in order to reveal the very last card. I didn't do that when I first beat the game and had to replay the whole thing in order to get it. So be thorough.

Hint 2: Do download the patch from apple, otherwise you're going to be very irritated because you can't save your game if it blacks out on you. That was the only bug and I'm only on Mac OS 9.5 ...

A previous reviewer mentioned a problem with screen blanking during gameplay. A patch is available at http://www.apple.com/games/updates/harrypotter/ that fixes this problem. This should ease some major frustration with an otherwise excellent game.

I loved this game. You could do all the things Harry could in the book. You become a virtual wizard!

But then all came crashing down when the screen goes black. You quit the game and then restart it and your saved spot is black! All that hard work for this?! The patch won't fix it either. Don't bother with this game! I read all of the bad reviews about the screen going black and thought it could never happen to me. But it did. I am running the game on a brand new 2003 12'' powerbook G4 so it is not my computer. Buying this game is a gamble as I see some people don't have a problem with it. Another thing I don't like about it is how slow harry moves and how stiff her seems. This is for a little kid who doesn't care about aesthetics, just that he is in Harry's world. Though I am sure that the kid will be sorely disappointed when towards the end of the game the screen goes black and he or she cannot continue to the end, but has to start the game over. :(

I've played this game for PC and I have to say it's great! In it, you get to go through the schedule of Harry Potter from Defense Against the Dark Arts to Quidditch. You learn all sorts of spells, Tips and tricks from the weasleys, and get to go through all sorts of cool levels,challenges, and mazes.You fight Malfoy a lot though. It's a perfect buy for all HP fans, and next on my list.

I won't go into details, because there are a lot of details to this game, but overall I think it is pretty good. The graphics are good, the gameplay is decent, and the storyline is pretty advanced. Two things that I really enjoyed are the combination of fighting/rivalries and puzzles, and the thrill of flying. There are many flying levels in this game, and all of them are very fun. Also, this game is not composed ALL of fighting/rivalries or ALL of puzzle-solving. The combination is excellent. Two things I really didn't like are Quidditch and twisting the plot from the book. Even though the storyline is very good, the plot twists a little too much from the book. Maybe I don't like the unexpected, but it seems to me that it strayed a little bit much. Also, Quidditch is very weak, even though I like the flying. The gameplay is too easy, and it seems that the only way to lose is to fall off your broom, which is easily avoidable. Overall, I recommend the game to those who like surprises and a combination of strategy and a little combat.

OVERVIEW

Pros:
-Mixing of Rivalries/Fighting and Puzzles
-Good Gameplay
-Flying Levels

Cons:
-Quidditch
-Strays too far from Book
-Easy Spell System

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Macintosh works really well on my iMac. The only problem with it is that sometimes the screen goes black and you have to restart the game. Other than that, the game is really good. You get to go to classes and learn different spells and then go into these things where you can practice the spells you learned. You also get to fight Malfoy with crackers and don't forget to dodge them when he throws them and then run over then to pick them up. You also get to fight Peeves the Poltergiest. One of the most fun parts is Quidditch. All you have to do is avoid the bludgers (which rarely come after you) and catch the Golden Snitch. You always win the match cause the other team never catches the snitch. You MUST collects Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans because Fred and George will pop up and trade you 25 beans for a wizard card. I have'nt finished the game because I am stuck on beating Voldemort. I have'nt figured out what you do to kill Voldemort yet but I can tell you he is a BIG pain.

THE END

While the game is good, it is unstable. It has crash mi iMac, despite following Aspyr's advice of reducing the textures and details to low... On my G4 it looses sound and also crashes the machine (though less).
When I say crash I don't mean the game crashes but rather the whole OS (and I am using Mac OS X which is really stable).
Avoid this game, is my advice.

This game is good, but not great. Especially if you like the books. I really enjoyed how well it followed the books and the different character voices. I tried it on a G3 and a G4 and it crashed on both. The first time I didn't realize that I had changed the wand setting so that I couldn't trace the design and learn the spell. The tech support is great, but I have had to call it numerous times.
My other complaint is that when you finish, you can't go back and pick up missing cards or secrets. If you collect all the wizard cards and defeat Valdemort, you get a special card, but you have to play a PERFECT game in order to do this...you can't go back and pick up cards you missed later. When I tried to play the game again, to get all the cards, the game kept locking up after certain cards. I finally got the game to stop locking up and going black after downloading a patch from aspyr. This did make a big difference in performance, but my playing comments stay the same.
Though younger kids may like Harry Potter, the controls make this a game better suited for adults. I had trouble and I have played computer games since the early days of computers. It is tough to get through, though fun when you complete a challenge. Still, you have to save when the computer allows it and you can't go back to a previous section. The computer saves only where you are at.
This version should have been a beta. It is okay, but could be a lot better! I toggled between 3 and 4 stars, but since I had too many problems, 3 it is. Great graphics and good sound, but hard to play.

This game you can experience the wonder of Harry Potter! I could not believe how many reports there were saying how bad this game was! I haven't had any of those bugs mentioned, and i have a mac os x!

This game is pretty cool. The spell lessons are kinda hard at first, but after a while you get the hang of it. Fred and George keep popping up all over the place, and if you have enough beans they'll give you a wizard card. At the end you battle Voldemort. I haven't gotten past this part yet, but I'm confident. I really recommend this game. It's fun!