LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

by Warner Bros

Product Features

• Explore iconic settings from Diagon Alley, the Forbidden Forrest, Hogsmead and, of course, Hogwarts castle. Hogwarts castle is a grand, immersive 3D environment and the largest, most detailed LEGO game location every built.
• Play as Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger as well as other favorite characters; over 100 playable characters.
• Attend lessons, cast spells, mix potions, fly on the broomsticks and complete tasks to earn house points.
• Conjure up fun with a friend and play through Harry's first four years at Hogwarts as a team with Drop-In, Drop-out co-op play.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B002BSC5HA
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches ; 3.2 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #762 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #10 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > Adventure
  • #33 in Video Games > Nintendo DS > All Games

Product Description

Platform: Nintendo DS

Build the adventure from Privet Drive to the Triwizard Tournament and experience the magic of the first four Harry Potter stories - LEGO style! Explore Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learn spells, brew potions and relive the adventures like never before with tongue-in-cheek humor and creative customization that is unique to LEGO videogames!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars It's an OK game - probably more fun for kids, VERY quest oriented and Easy, June 30, 2010

By 

AlexJouJou (D.C.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Video Game)

I have been waiting for this game to come out for what seems like forever. I'm a huge Harry Potter addict and I've also enjoyed some of the different Lego video games. I had some quality issues with the other Lego games (like Batman "falling" into the side of a building and crashing my game)but overall felt I more than got my money's worth in terms of play value.

So how's Harry? Well. OK. If I was 6 I might say pretty good. I wish I could say "Stupdendous!" but, alas, I cannot. I'm playing this game concurrently with my kids playing the Wii version and boy is there a big difference. Not a direct port, feels more stripped down than any other Lego DS game to me.

Graphically, of course, this is the DS. However I'm a tad bit disappointed with the boxy pixelated graphics that we got. Maybe this is all we can get but I've seen some other games that have really pushed the DS limits. Lego HP does not. It's just boxy all around in terms of the cut scenes. The humor is still there but there are times you cannot really see it through the graphics. The ingame graphics are pretty good - the colors appear muted at times (especially compared to watching the Wii version) but overall mostly satisfy.

Game play wise it is like most of the other Lego games. Run around collecting studs and blast everything in sight. However you do not jump on things or push things like you do in the other games unless it specifically sets up for you to do so and then you are told and shown what to do. So the free exploration of the levels is very stripped down from previous Lego games. There are also some control issues. First I do have to say that the touch screen blue sparklies at the end of the wand are cool. Nice touch. You use your wand to blast things but sometimes the touch screen is just slightly off. You end up switching characters or using a different spell then you intended. All in all the touch screen controls are just a little wonky - it doesn't always track right and your level of control is not what it could be. It's not game breaking but I think adults (like myself) will end up with the buttons for a lot of movement. They just work better and allow more precision control. Some of this is typical for the touch screen and is why I generally prefer the buttons anyway. I also find that the screen when the character moves seems to jump a little - if I am running all over I've gotten a little nauseated (I get carsick too) but this has never happened before in a Lego game. Not sure others would have this issue but thought I would point it out.

Music is fun - repetitive but from the movie so the games ambiance is very good. As far as voice acting it is limited to an occasional "hm" or "eh" or "mm" or similar strange vowel type sounds. Odd but slightly endearing when it goes with a facial expression or action. Quirky in a cute way.

Difficulty is the other area - it's not. At all. Easy with a capital E. Almost painfully so. Everything is pointed out to you and told to you. If you need to interact with something someone will tell you or the item will have a green ring around it. If you can't interact with it there will be a red ring around it or a red X above it. Basically it goes like this: Go to new area, talk to person with yellow above them and get quest. Do quest by doing what was asked and interacting with characters with blue above them. Complete quest. Huh? It would have been nice to have been forced to talk to everyone or interact to see what you were supposed to do - but as far as I am you never do so. It gives it too much of a go here and do this feel and less of a "cool world how fun and let me check that out and OH look at that and let's see if I can blast this" and so on. It brings a bit of monotony into the game - makes it appear a bit too much like the console versions poor cousin from the country.

Also, the minigames are something I feel confident a 3 year old could handle.

In the end what happened for me is I got bored after a while. I've played for several hours but with many breaks in between to do other things. It's not as addictive to me as the Lego Star Wars.

It is not as difficult and challenging as the Indiana Jones Lego games and lacks the charisma of the Star Wars one. It does follow the movie/books very well so far (even having the same lines from the characters). There are cute touches here and there that make for some chuckles. It is fun, in limited amounts, albeit too easy. This is more of a game I can see myself playing for several months a little at a time then something I can see myself playing obsessively for hours and hours.

I suspect children under 10 or so will have a different opinion and I gotta say for that age group this game probably is easily 5 stars. They tend to be more tolerant of repetitiveness, like the fetch quest concept and are generally more forgiving of gameplay flaws provided it doesn't increase difficulty. So as an adult DS game this gets a 3 stars from me. I gave an overall 4 stars to reflect that I do think young kids might have a blast with this game and that the package overall for the DS (not in comparison to the console Harry Potter versions) is still good enough to pick up or try out via rental. I wish they would have done more for free play exploration within the story levels themselves (without going back to them) and cut the hand holding as it takes all challenge out of it. Still it has its moments of wicked fun as Ron Weasley would say.

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Lego Game yet, July 3, 2010

By 

Sara Cooper "xxstaindrosesxx" (Birch Run, MI USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Video Game)

First of all, I have Star Wars Lego (the one that has all 6 movies) and both of the Indiana Jones Legos. I think Harry Potter Lego is the best one yet, despite a few of the other reviews left by people. Some say it's mainly for kids, and don't find it challenging enough, but the DS is focused more around children, so of course they're going to make it that way.

With that said, I love how you use the stylus throughout the entire game to cast spells. Some people get completely irritated when you cannot use the stylus, so if you're one of those people, then you would probably love this game. There are tons of spells you learn throughout all four years: Accio, Incendio, Wingardium Leviosa, and much more. Basically each year has you're learning more spells to unlock and do more things, although a majority of the spells are in the first year.

As for someone mentioning that the graphics were not as great, that everything looked more boxy, well, it's lego! Of course it's going to look boxy. They're squares! I honestly think the graphics were amazing. I loved how instead of just going through one important event in the game, you also had quests included as well. The other Lego games didn't do that. Sure, you had to unlock certain areas before you could move forward, but this one had quests too, which added to the game play. Going through one part of the movie was boring after awhile in the old ones.

A few basics of the game include going through different parts of each movie. For each part you have to go through story mode first, then you unlock free play mode. The more characters you find by collecting chocolate frog cards, the more you can purchase and use for the game, especially the making your own character. Each level also has 5 golden sorting hats, one which you get for being a true wizard, which you do so by filling up the yellow bar when collecting studs. There are also hidden red legos that you can unlock. They don't do much, except more hearts, more studs like x10. There are a few spells you can purchase with them, but they're for fun and laughs only, not to use throughout the game, or not that I've discovered as of yet.

I think my biggest complaint about the game would be the lack of mini games. I half expected them to do like the other lego games and make a room where you have golden legos and you play mini games. Each time you complete one, you get a golden lego. I thought that's what they would do, and include some games like wizard snap, gobstones, etc. I was disappointed when they didn't have this, but I'm assuming they are going to do another lego game for the last three years, and perhaps they are going to include it then. Other then that, the only thing that was a bit disappointing had to be the lack of stories to go through for year four. It kind of felt like there wasn't as much compared to the other years, even year 3 didn't have as much, but still enough to suffice. I kind of wonder if they started to run out of space on the game and cut it down. Would have been nice to even have some sort of Yule Ball game like they did in the Goblet of Fire game where you had to match the dance moves or something.

Anyways, an overall enjoyable game, and I think it's the best Lego game yet, especially if you want to cast spells and follow along with the movie. Also, the clips are pretty humorous. Can't wait to see if they make one for the last three years.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Loving it more every day, July 2, 2010

By 

Chris (United States) - See all my reviews

= Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (Video Game)

Like others, I have been waiting for this game to be released since last year. We have a Wii but my main platform choice is DS.

I have to say this Lego game is pretty good now that I have played it for a few days. My only real complaint is that unlike the previous Lego DS games you CANNOT use the buttons on the right to perform any of the spells like you could in the Lego Star Wars and Indiana Jones games to perform stunts, punch, etc. For this game you must use the stylus because of how the "spells" are performed. I found it a little annoying at first, but now it seems completely natural.

And since you need the stylus out to do any of the spells you find it is easier to "guide" Harry or whoever around the game instead of using the directional keys to walk your character around like in the previous games. I can see this being where the dizzy feeling can occur until you get used it.

I also agree about the sensitivity in using the stylus and either changing characters or doing the spinning stun thing in error time after time.

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