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Best Potter Yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 39 / 42
Date: June 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

So far I am very impressed with this game. Overall it is the best recreation of the castle yet. There are no load times as seen in the previous games. So when you go from say the courtyard to the common room you can go straight there with no loading screens. There is a slight slow down when going between some areas but nothing really noticeable. For the most part you just walk up to a door and continue through it.

The Spell casting on the Wii is pretty fun. Instead of having to switch between them like they were items it is just a flick of the wand (or Wii Remote) to activate a spell. The spell used depends on the flick.

The graphics are beautiful and the attention to detail is amazing. In this one almost all of the paintings are animated in some way or another and you can talk to some of them.

I just can't get over how huge the castle is. The map is very essential to finding your way about. You can even select locations and the foot steps will appear in front of you to guide you to that location or person. The voice acting is well done though there is some repetition. But since they recorded the same lines several different times the character can say the same thing and say it a little differently each time.

There are also many mini games. So far I have found a game of Wizard chess, a version of shooting marbles (gobstones I think) and some sort of matching game.

If you are a fan of Harry Potter then this is a must buy. Its not for everyone (there are a lot of anti-potter's out there) The game is like the others where there are a lot of fetch and grab missions, not much on the fighting aspect of it though there are some times where you get into a duel with some of the other students and some bad guys later in the game.

() Game play: This is pretty easy since you have the nun chuck to navigate. Some of the spells are frustrating to pull off. Like the levitating spell the floating objects are difficult to get positioned exactly where you want to. I had one painting that I wanted to position on the wall get stuck behind the wall in limbo and couldn't get it back in the room. Though after leaving the area and revisiting it later the puzzle reset itself and I was able to complete it.

() Music: The music is great everything just works well where you are at and does not seem out of place. They did a great job on that.

() Graphics: These are some of the best on the wii. Nothing was rushed through. There are some low frame rates on the characters movement but nothing horrible.

() Lasting appeal: I don't know how long it will take to beat yet. And I always spend more time that necessary to find every thing. I think that the lasting appeal will be more for the younger crowd. My children still want me to get out the other Harry Potter games to knock around in, explore the castle, and fly around whatever. For the older crowd I think it will be like everything else where after beating the game it will only be revisited every so often.

() Overall I can say that this is the best Movie tie in game made yet that I have played. It just does not feel that they just rushed through this and slopped something out to sell.

Great for the WII

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 37
Date: July 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

My family rented this game for a week and My boyfriend who's 30 and myself love it. It's a perfect game for the WII since you actually get to use the remote as a wand and perform spells. You get really in to it. The only con is that there is a lot of walking around to find things and to do your tasks. There's some little bugs with the remote in doing spells, sometimes it will do a different spell than the one you want. My 9 year old LOVES it. He likes how it's interactive and how the characters are more real. He did have a little trouble with some spells but after practicing he did good. I would recomend this game for anyone who has a WII and likes Harry Potter

Gorgeous to look at, but can be very tedious

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 29 / 32
Date: August 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm a newcomer to the Harry Potter game franchise, so I can't compare this game to the previous entries in the series.

I'm a fan of adventure games in general, especially the classic titles from Sierra and LucasArts, so it was a great treat to have such a large and immersive environment to explore.

Hogwarts looks gorgeous, and the game designers have done a magnificent job making it look every bit like the sets from the Harry Potter films. The castle is HUGE, and you'll spend quite a bit of time discovering all sorts of hidden goodies. The voice acting is top-notch, using some of the actual actors from the film, and the character models do resemble their movie counterparts.

All that being said, the actual gameplay is tedious. Most of your time will be spent running errands. Advancing through the game consists of talking to a character only to discover that he/she needs an item in a wholly different area of the castle. Puzzles are sparse and not terribly challenging -- all you really need to do is figure out which of the spells in your repertoire need to be cast on the available items. For the most part, you'll be using Wingardium Leviosa to move objects around.

The Wii-specific wand controls are fun in their own way, and add to the feeling of "being there" but in the end the actual game isn't that deep or challenging. Replay value is limited, as there's really no deviating from the main tasks, besides hunting down every last hidden chess statue or broken masonry in need of a Reparo spell.

I can only really recommend this to hard-core fans of the Harry Potter books and films. As a game it's not that great, but it's a beautiful presentation of Hogwarts that you'll spend hours exploring.

Hogwarts simulator w/ a little OOTP Story & Chess

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 29 / 33
Date: August 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The previous Harry Potter Games all have their highs and lows as far as gameplay meets the Potterverse goes. This time around the focus is around the storyline of Order of The Phoenix specifically the film adaptation. The castle is a fully realized vision full of all the things you would expect and a few surprises. The Marauders map figures large into gameplay as well with black padfeet leading your way from destination to destination. This is all wonderfully implemented, the real issues here are a slighty subpar graphical quality at times (jaggy) and characters that look like lifeless CG versions of themselves. The wand controls can be problematic but if you use sublte hand movements versus big grand gestures you'll find that you can get spells to fire in a reliable fashion. The game is fairly short with the first 50% being made up of the search for members of the DA.. The voice acting is above average and the spell duels are engaging but there are too few. Overall EA has brought a respectable digital version of OOTP to the table, but in the end my favorite part of this game was the minigames. Chess and Gobstones which add some much needed fun diversion to a fairly straightforward game.

Wii cannot save this game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 16 / 19
Date: December 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok, I am an older gamer. Played Zork 1 when it came out (the original), anyway. My wife and I love the Harry Potter series. I bought this for her for Christmas to play on our Wii. The controls were difficult often impossible. Some areas the camera blocked the view of where you were supposed to go. Sometimes there are places you just stand with no indication of what you have to do (other than the marauder map giving you clues). The bridge scene was the final straw. Tack it up to me being old if you will, the bridge scene where the kids were beating up Nevil took me 45 minutes to find out that we had to do a spell at the torches 50 feet above us.

The animation is ok, the graphics are pretty bad. Whenever a character talks they open their mouths. The teeth are just 1 pixel thick and look like white cardboard in their mouths. You can often see through the back of a persons head as you are moving around. Overall this game was rushed to line up with the movie release and therefore it is pretty bad.

BRILLIANT! Best Yet!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: July 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am a definite Harry Potter fan, having seen all the movies, played all the games, and read all the books to date. I have played and completed this game, but am still trying to get all the goodies. This Harry Potter game is definitely the best, and I think the Wii gives it the edge. It was a major improvement from the last one, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was TERRIBLE. Here is a rundown on how I think this game was.

--Graphics/Hogwarts: The graphics were good, but was really mind-boggling was the castle. It is HUGE! I just saw parts of the first three Harry Potter films yesterday on TV with my kids, and the castle was exactly like it. Every room, every staircase, every torch, every courtyard, every bridge or any other type of room looks exactly the same. You also get to visit other places, such as the Ministry of Magic and the Black house. They really outdid themselves. AWESOME!

--Game play (navigation, spells): As I stated before, the Wii gave this game the edge. You must have the wii remote and the numchuck to play this game. Using these to remotes, you can move throughout the castle or produce different spells by moving them with different motions. You can battle or you can use spells to earn experience points (see Repeatability). To navigate, you have to use the Mauraders Map. You simply select the location you want to go to, and footsteps appear on the ground leading you to that location.

--Story: The story followed the movie's plot, like the last four games. The Order of the Phoenix is my favorite book, movie, and now game to date. J.K. Rowling's twists, turns, and brilliant imagination really made it great.

--Repeatability (after you finish the story mode): Throughout the game, you could do tasks, some large, some just involve the flick of the remote, to earn experience points. Experience points make your spells more powerful, unlock videos with interviews about the game, and unlock cups (statues) for doing certain tasks. After you finish the story mode, you can continue your game in Endless Day mode, where you try to complete everything. I, for one, see me playing the game again once I have completed the Endless Day.

--Problems: I have heard some complaints, some being shaky cut scenes, but I had no problems with this game. I've heard some say when you say hi to people (hit the A button), they just say hi and go back to what they were doing. So WHAT? Would you rather engage into a long conversation about how homework is going, or how the daisies are beautiful in the garden? You have to remember that Harry isn't well liked in this game because he says Voldemort (the bad guy) is back, which is not a popular theory.

--Overall: This game was GREAT! I think this game is every thing a game should be. It is definitely worth the money. Children and adults will love it. It may not be as long as some games, such as The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess for the Wii (which I POSITIVELY recommend), but it is still a good length. BRILLIANT!!!

even a love of harry potter may not redeem this game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: August 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'd like to say first that I am a HUGE fan of the Harry Potter books...so this review is not coming from the point of view of a "neutral" player. Despite this, sadly, I still can only give this game a 2-star overall rating.

This game is essentially like most other game-from-a-movie games, i.e. very low quality. They know it will sell tons of copies, because come on, it's Harry Potter, and why waste time and money making it good (or even DECENT) when you can sell just as many copies for much less effort?

It is true that the graphics are quite good for
Wii games we've seen to date, and the sheer size of the Hogwarts castle and grounds which you can explore is probably the game's main highlight.

When I bought this game I expected being able to use the Wiimote like a wand to be another big highlight, but I was sorely let down. The controls for this game are AWFUL. Everything feels heavy and imprecise. Rather than a z-targeting system, they seem to have been attempting to simulate wand use more "realistically" by having various targets become highlighted when you point at them, which sounds fine in theory; in actuality you just end up frustrated as it's often impossible to lock on to the object you want while the game keeps trying to direct you to something else, and casting spells over and over in a general direction while fighting with the camera to give you a decent angle the whole time. It's even worse in the duels with other students as then your targets are moving...

I would point out that Harry himself also moves rather clumsily and sometimes it can become difficult (especially with the terrible camera) to explore that wonderful environment mentioned earlier.

Also, the pacing of the game itself is extremely sporadic and there are a lot of strange 2-second long "cut scenes" that lurch on and off your screen and the story in general would be very difficult to follow, i imagine, for people who have not read the book.

On the positive side, in addition to the huge, completely realized castle and grounds, the game does have the license to "Hedwig's Theme" for the soundtrack and the music is quite good and contributes to the overall ambience. Most of the characters are voiced by the actors from the movie, contributing further to the immersive aspects. Also, as Harry levels up you unlock special interviews with various movie cast members which, as an avid HP fan, was an actual reward for me and was one of the few things I enjoyed about this game.

Overall it's difficult to say who this game is best for. Potter lovers who don't play many games should be able to overlook the control and gameplay problems and just enjoy immersing themselves in the world, exploring, absorbing the atmosphere and completing the same easy puzzles over and over to access the rewards.

On the other hand, the constant frustration thanks to the awful gameplay may ruin any potential suspension of disbelief and break the spell for other fans. Personally, I would say just go read the book again if you are still thirsty for more Harry Potter.

Waste of time

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 5 / 7
Date: January 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In addition to all the other comments already posted, I'd like to add a few of my own:

1. Frame rate issues everywhere. The poor little Wii doesn't seem to be able to keep up with the game engine's insane level of detail, leading to really choppy scenes and movement. Thing is, the Wii SHOULD be able to handle this - I think it was just poorly ported.

2. Random weird sound effects. There are some rooms where you enter, and it sounds like you're under a herd of stampeding cattle for no reason. It's annoying and after a few minutes in the room, it just makes you want to return the game for a refund.

3. You don't feel particularly heroic. Going around levitating things for other wizards (who apparently can't master the most basic of spells, so they ask you to do it) feels contrived, pointless, and ultimately not why we play video games. There are several places in the game where I swear I'm not playing Harry Potter any more, but instead I'm playing Box Stacker(tm). (For those of you who don't read The Onion, go Google for it. You'll get what I'm saying then.)

4. People have mentioned the lurching pace of the videos; I describe it as if someone had rented the DVD version and accidentally sat on the fast-forward button. I mean, how hard would it have been to add some sort of crossfade between scenes? Come on.

5. The "Occlumency" portion of the game is just plain laughable. I literally laughed out loud at how ridiculously simple and boring it was.

To sum up, clearly this game was rushed to market. It's frustrating to play, the game itself is a series of boring chores, and the "rewards" are nothing but self-serving videos of the actors and EA staff telling you how great the game is. It's nice having a bunch of DVD extras, but not for the price they're asking, and not for the price of 20+ hours of my time. Seriously, even if you're a huge Harry Potter fan, this just isn't worth it.

I give it two stars for the voice acting, music and environment, and hurling benches at students is at least some fun.

Some small control flaws mar this otherwise enjoyable game.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 10
Date: July 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Wii is a fun game, I will say that much. Is it a perfect game? No. Several flaws detract from it's overall performance.

First of all, I must say that I have not finished the game, yet, so I am not in a position to judge. But from what I have seen (and played), the game suffers from serious control issues. Despite the different gestures for each spell, the game frequently confuses them and in one point in the game (fairly early on, in the first Luna Lovegood Thestral mission) I threw my Wii-mote down in disgust.

Furthermore, in this game, you lose the ability to switch characters between Ron, Hermionie, and Harry. This is not a major complaint; it just slightly irked me.

Also, despite the wide, expansive grounds to explore on, certain parts of the game felt strangely railed. There are perplexing "invisible walls" through all of Hogwarts and you sometimes see things in the background, only to find them disappear when you turn around again. The inability to jump in the game contributed to the railed feeling also.

Another complaint of mine is the awkward camera. Often it does not show what you are looking at at all, and you have to center the camera on Harry every now and then.

But don't get the opinion that I dislike this game; quite on the contrary. It has many enjoyable and creative aspects to it; the idea of using the Wii-mote for the wand, by itself, is worth almost half of the game. All in all, despite these flaws that decrease the quality of the game, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Wii is a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Wii version

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really love the Harry Potter books, and I like the movies (although I do wish they'd stick to the books closer). This game is based on the movie of OOTP, not the book. However, the game is really fun. I thought that this game would be very structured, as in you must do this task and then this assignment in that order. However, it was much more like a RPG, in the fact that it let you pick from quite a few tasks at once and do them in any order. Also, you can free roam around the castle at any time (except for the movie sequences).
There are many things to "discover" at Hogwarts. From fixing broken furniture to playing wizard games like Gobstones, chess, and Exploding snap to sweeping leaves, it all gives you "discovery points" which then lead to rewards (as well as a 100% finished score).
At the end, you go into an Endless day where you can find all the stuff you missed while doing task. You can get the last new portrait passwords, finish up the last chess game, or just light the lamps, it's nice to just walk all around Hogwarts to see it for yourself.
The only reason that I gave it 4 stars out of 5 is that the Wii remote is a bit hard to use at times. It is fine for walking, but there are 12 different spells (6 combat, 6 non-combat), and they work by doing a specific motion with the Wii remote. However, I found that sometimes the game would think I was doing a different spell then the one I was trying to do. That did get a bit frustrating.
Upside of the Wii version is that it is cheaper than 360 or playstation version.

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