Customer Reviews

LEGO Creator: Harry Potter

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

This game is actually pretty cool. However, be aware that it is an extreme challenge. The instructions are pretty bland. I find that the greatest challenge is moving around. Also, be aware at what this game is. You actually BUILD the Hogwarts interior, meaning the building is set up, but you have to place the furniture. Try to split your activities up, because constantly just placing furniture can get boring. It actually is a very cool game, but the controls bring the rating down ALOT. They are really confusing. It would have been better if lego had put a simple key bord movement-maybe even strafes. Having to controll a trax ball that is super sensative and page movements that you have to time or else you lose site completely can really start ticking you off. So, if you can figure controls out easily and get used to them quickly, this is the game for you. If not, then strongly reconsider this game.

I bought this because I thought it looked like alot of fun. It...was I suppose. Why then, I hear you ask, did you give it only TWO stars? Well...
1. this is probably my main point...whenever you put a decent amount of stuff in 1 area, so that it actually looks cool, the background and most of the objects there go brown until you set the colour setting down to it's lowest, whereupon your carefully designed characters end up looking like little yellow bricks, and the spiders little grey bricks etc.
2. Relating to the first point, there is a limit on how much you can put in, and it's TINY! Just when you think you've got it looking brilliant, you try and dump in the people and it says you've got too many items! I find this HIGHLY irritating.
3. The trains. It is IMPOSSIBLE to put the Hogwarts Express together. IMPOSSIBLE! You can't even connect the carriages to the train.
4. It is really hard to master the building techniques. It took me 4 tries before it finally clicked, and my PASSION is computers. I even beat my Computing teacher. So I would not recommend this to ANYONE who doesn't like fiddling with computers.
5. It is eternally freezing. I have a VERY fast computer, and it still freezes up every other time I play it.
6. If you get a decent looking place, when you activate it it makes a strange buzzing noise and the characters walk and interact like badly designed ungreased robots.
7. Following characters and telling them what to do, although considered to be one of the main features of the game DOESN'T WORK! I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT! I read the manual 5 times before coming to the conclusion it just wouldn't work. You can't cast spells, mount broomsticks or do anything that the manual suggests from the player. You can't even direct them properly, they won't move for like 5 secs after you give them the order.
8. If you finally manage to get it working, like I did, on bad resolution and simple plans, it just isn't enormously fun to play. You can't play it for more than an hour before getting bored.

**Now I hear you cry, "you must have a faulty programme!". Nope. I've replaced it twice, and it just comes out the same. My advice is, read the books, see the movie if you want, but don't waste your money on this game.

Avoid this game. They did not get it right. First, I could not get it to work on XP. Oh, well. I should have looked more closely at the package. It makes no Windows claims. I did get it to work on Windows 98. But my 9-year old and I had a very slow go at figuring out how to make it work. The graphics are poor. Everything ran slow compared to our other games. (Working with 256MB memory, 32mb video memory, lots of free defragmented disk space.) The help is disfunctional much of the time and extremely slow the rest of the time. Too bad the Harry Potter enterprises did not contract with the Humongous crowd to do this. (Humongous are the makers of Pajama Sam, Freddy Fish, etc.)

I first installed the game for my 6-year-old on a PII 300, 192 mb memory, 16 mb video card computer. This is not very far above the minimum system requirements, so I wasn't very surprised when it didn't run. I then tried to install it on a P4, 512 mb memory, 64 mb video card computer. I have gotten past the sign-in screen exactly one time in about 30 tries. The program locks up the computer and only a hard reboot will get it up again. An e-mail to Lego got me the standard yada-yada about updated drivers. The drivers on the P4 are all up to date. Reading other reviews leads me to believe that this is a bug-ridden product released untested in order to coincide with the release of the film. I know quite a few smaller companies release iffy products to cash-in on the holiday rush, but I am suprised that a large firm such as Lego would release a product that is sure to disappoint many children. If you do get this game, try to run it before telling your children that you've got it. Good Luck.

Really disappointed in this one! I could not get the game to work
properly. My new PC(WindowsME)locked up 4 times! After I installed and reinstalled several times I called the Lego tech line but they were unable to suggest anything beyond the usual installation guidelines and seemed unaware of any bugs. I've really enjoyed some of the other Lego titles and it's a shame that they appear to have rushed this one out in order to coincide with the movies' release.

My son got this game for his birthday. As for the game itself, soon after we installed it, we were stuck. There was no help, the UI was very non-intuitive, we couldn't find anything in the instructions on how to recover. We killed the task and started over. Although we've had similar experiences on subsequent play, my kids have gotten sort of used to the experience and still return to the game. For at least that desire to attempt to get further in the game, I'd give this product 2-3 stars.

On the technology side, I simply cannot recommend this if you're buying this for your kids and you use Windows 2000 or Windows XP. We use Win2000 specifically so that we can have a kids account that is limited to 'User' only capabilities. We explicitly did not want our children to have full read/write/delete capabilities that the 'Administrator' account has. However, these ridiculous game REQUIRES your child to have full administrative powers over the system which means that they can delete portions of the operating system. The software designers that made this decision are brain-dead. Coupled with the amount of hard-disk space required and I give this 1 star for its technological requirements.

This game is pretty fun, but has some errors.

1.Playing

You can play in Daigon Alley, Platform 9 3/4, Hogwarts Grounds, and Hogwarts. Depending on where you are, you can build things that transport you to areas like Hagrid's hut, the forbidden corridor, and other places.

2. Building

You have a giant virtual model book, which has different things in each area. You drag models into the world, like people, scenery, and animals. Then, you hit play and they run around, greeting each other and casting spells. They react differently to each other depending on which house they are from. You can even make your own students and sort them manual or randomly into a house!

In the workshop, you can build your own models to either make building instructions for to print out to build them with real bricks, or place them in the world for decoration.

Pros:

1. Enourmas flexibility

2. Entertaining minifigures

3. Original Idea

4. Fun tutorials

Cons:

1. Only works on a powerful computer with lots of uncompressed space. (Like mine)

2. You can't put any model anywhere

3. DIfficult to use controls

OK, maybe I'm a little dense. My 8 year old son decided to purchase this game with his own birthday money and spent three days trying to figure it out.He has given up completely. My wife and I spent a lot of time too but we can't seem to have any luck either. We followed all the directions but we can't seem to make anything work properly and just get fustrated.There is no fun here!! I would love to hear from someone who has had luck so maybe they can teach us. Good luck!!

Lego Creator: Harry Potter is a dumb game. It has tons of errors.
It's slower then a snail. I get very bored when playing this. Lego should of tested this a ALOT MORE! In the Credits and the website it says that it was tested and passed the standerds. There standerds must not be very high because this game is horrible. It frezzes on my computer alot. I figuired I didn't meet the System Requirements...but I did. In fact, I was higher then it recommeded. It asked for 65 RAM. I have 128 RAM. It asked for Pentium 2 266 MHz. I had that. It asked for a 4x CD-ROM drive. I had 56x! Lego hurried through the process of making software. They hurried because they wanted it to come out when the movie did. I had read the other bad reveiws but that did not make me stop wanted it. I got as a present for my birthday. The reviews were right after all. It did what it said it would do. In the beginning when you start the game they have a intro movie (I got to say it is pretty funny!) and it shows Hogwarts changing all the time and stuff like that. After that you get excited and want to play like crazy! And then it stops completly and its crashed. Then the fun and excitment go's right out of you. Before it crashes it's still itsn't that fun. It's slow and every time you place a mini-figuire or a model it dosen't place it in the world. Plus you got this annoying little wizard thing that talks and talks and talks more. He is a help opition but most the time he dosen't help you. You can turn him off but still he dosen't talk as much but still does! I am 10 years old and I even get mad when it frezzes. This can be annoying to 5 through 8 year old kids. It comes with a free demo program. I installed one of them and it crashed before it even showed the intro movie! I installed many others and they do the same thing! That shows that Lego hurries through there Software products.

A Short Pros and Cons List:

Pros:
Build in the workshop and anything possible!
Build your own people or mini-figuires.
Go inside Hogwarts and install furniture.

Cons:
Frezzes Up ALL the Time.
Very Slow.
Dosen't paint it's self correctey. (Example: Somtimes grass is red!)
A Annoying Help Wizard is always with you.

This is not the first problem we have had with Lego software. Everyone freezes our computer(s). I e-mailed them and am waiting for a response. I would also think that a large company like LEGO would stand behind their products and offer a refund. If not I will be at Toy's R Us with a copy of all these reviews!