Customer Reviews

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This is a game perfect for younger kids who enjoy video games. They can't die and will have continues fun that is somewhat challlenging. My son can't put it down. A must buy for little potter fans:]

Finally finished the main story line, it took me about 9 hours but I did try to go back and get more stuff in the middle and I got stuck a couple of times so I think if you just wanted to run through the story line you could probably do it in about 6 hours.

I must say I really like this game, when I was at work I couldn't wait to go back home to get farther in the game. I suspect it I will take me 6 hours to find everything in the game through the free play because after you beat it you have everyone you need to lock everything in another run through of the game. FYI as you play through the game the sections get longer and longer, some sections took me 20-30 minutes to get through near the end of the game, where the first couple of sections only took 5-10 minutes to get through.

Tips:
- Don't try to go back before you beat the game, because a lot of key spells you need to do get items in the free play are learned in the last book. So it's pretty much a waste of time to go back before you beat the game.
- Don't worry about getting true wizard the first time through, because you will have to go back anyways to get other items and once you get some special red blocks near the end of the story play through it will be easy peasy to get true wizard.
- There are a couple of glitches in the game that you will have to quit the level you are on and restart which is another reason why I don't suggest true wizard or trying to get everything in the first/story play because you might have to restart the level, and when you are nearing the end of the game it is a total bummer because you have to replay really long levels to get back to where it glitches sometimes.
- some of the glitches I have experienced - there are probably more glitch places but these are just ones I ran into
- when you're battling the spider and when you destroy the eggs if you move away from the spider before hitting it with the block, you basically have to restart because the spider moves down and no new eggs reappear.
- during the hogsmeade section I accidently ran into one of the wooding looking railings too fast and it got my character stuck in the railing... it was weird I couldn't do anything to get the character out of the railing, so I restarted.

Even with the glitches and having to restart very long levels it was a pretty enjoyable game, and I look forward to playing I through to get all the items I missed the first time. It might be too simple for hard core gamers though, if you are a causal gamer that likes harry potter, I would highly suggest this game. If you have never read the books or watched this movies, you will not understand what's going on because this game only highlights parts of the story, it doesn't tell you the story at all.

I am currently playing the PS3 version of "Lego Harry Potter" and having a great time with it; I also bought the DS version because I assumed that, like previous Lego titles, it would be basically the same game.

It's really, really not. Of course, the graphics aren't as good, but I expected that. My problem is that the game has been totally dumbed down. The game tells you what to do, rather than making you figure it out yourself. There's really nothing to do except run around and collect studs, and that gets boring fast. Also, the controls are almost completely stylus-based: some people may like that, but I don't.

If you have an XBox 360, Wii or PS3, buy that version. If not, I'd just skip this title altogether.

This game is so much fun. Its the best Lego game yet. I guess it is a little bit too easy for me, but its still a blast. It sticks to the movies pretty well, and I really hope that they make another game for the other three years.

I have Lego Indiana Jones, Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars for the DS.....so I guess I'm comparing Lego Harry Potter to those games. Unlike the other games, Potter has you using the stylus....pretty much the whole time because you have to use it to cast any spells. I am finding this game to be extremely easy...but I am an adult playing this game.

My biggest grump is that while playing....and unlike the other Lego games.....your viewpoint is not on eye level...instead you are looking down into the game (like you are sitting on the ceiling watching as you play). Another reviewer said the game made her dizzy....this might be why. Sometimes, going from one room to another....the adjoining walls become transparent so you can see where you are. This would not be the case if the game was played at eye level. And you don't get to see the character details this way. Half the fun of playing Lego Batman was getting to see your favorite characters made into Lego people and watching them (up close) as you play. You can hardly see any good details as you play Harry Potter (due to the overhead view)......instead, you have to wait until you finish the missions and then watch the little animated clips....which ARE really cute :) I like that there are MANY missions to do....although some of them seem very short. The stylus control was accurately described by another reviewer.....WONKY!!! Spell casting can be frustrating. To collect studs....you need to zap things with your wand by dragging the stylus between your character and the object you want to destroy. This often results in changing the character you are using. Also, building things uses the same circular motion as Harry spinning in a circle (can't remember the name of the spell) to stun his enemies. Sometimes it takes me 5-6 tries to build something because Harry keeps doing the stunning circle.

Overall....I think it's another Lego hit!!

My 6-year-old son loves this game. He had a little trouble with some of the reading but his big brother and I helped him.

My son loves this game on his DS lite. Keeps him entertained for hours and links in well with the story line of the books. Its a Lego game so not much more so say.