Electronic Arts thankfully bestowed a lot of production value on this release rather than trying to cash in on a quick buck. Aside from the occasional pop-up problem that makes walls vanish quite unmagically, the graphics are beautiful and fun. Chocolate frogs (an appropriate health power-up) and other elements and characters from the book and film are wonderfully animated. The sound effects and, particularly, the voice acting are top-drawer, which helps suck the player into the Potter experience. Also, the gameplay is nicely varied throughout. Players go from learning a new spell in class to retrieving fire seeds for Hagrid to participating in magic fights against the Slytherin bully Draco Malfoy to riding the broom--which is especially fun. There's even a Quidditch level early on, but there's little to do and it's over very quickly.

On the downside, the game suffers from some really odd controls. Like many adventure games, jumping is really important, as many levels require you to clear obstacles or reach out-of-the-way items. But, unlike in nearly every other game in the genre, there's no jump button. Instead, players automatically jump from the edge of a platform from either a full stop or while running. It takes a lot of getting used to; if you're not at full run or full stop, it's easy to just walk right off the edge and fall. And, like too many other games, you can only save your progress at predetermined locations.

Another fault of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's S