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Harry does it again!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 101 / 104
Date: November 07, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The Chamber of Secrets game follows Harry in his second year at Hogwarts as he attends classes, duels, and plays quidditch. The game opens with Harry meeting Ginny and Mr. Malfoy at Flouish and Botts, and we see Malfoy put the Diary in Ginny's bag. Ron and Harry fly their car to school and land in the Whomping Willow. Then, it's off to classes, just like in Game I, and we get to meet Gilderoy Lockhart. You also meet a lot of tiresome fire crabs and orange snails, which you not only knock out, you can push around. You get wizard cards and beans all the time. You'll need the beans to trade for potion ingredients.

Some nice improvements over Game I are: The character's mouths move when they talk, Harry turns around when you back him up, and you're told if doors aren't going to open so that saves trying again and again. Best of all, you can press Enter to bypass the cutscenes!

I don't like that you get a Loading Game screen every ten minutes or so. You can wander all over the school at any time, which, while fun, can get you off-track if you want to complete a challenge. The Save Game books are still too far apart. There are also long periods without music, and the music isn't as eerie as in Game I. But these are all minor things compared to the overall excitement of the game. (Hint: you'll need to make lots of potions to complete the Aragog and Basilisk scenes.)

It's definitely addicting and lots of fun for all Harry Potter fans, especially if you liked Game I. Have fun. (P.S. I hope you're not afraid of spiders!)

Great fun for any Potter fan

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 82 / 93
Date: December 03, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is now a computer game that's out for the PC as well as PS2 and other platforms. While they could have sold millions even with an awful game, this one is pretty good.

The game starts out with a reasonably good 3D model of Harry being rescued in a flying car by his friends. They fly back to Ron's house, where their mom promptly scolds them for their hijinks.

They're sent out into the yard where Harry (i.e. you, the player) start to learn how to use your controls. You're shown how to use your want, how to gather up beans. You move along to degnoming the property, which is great fun! You have to knock over the gnome and then whirl and fling him as far as possible.

You get Wizard cards, chocolate frogs, you play Quidditch, and try to earn house points. There's some button-pressing games which are quite fun, but there are also a lot of puzzles for you to reason through. While the game is one player, other people get involved in trying to figure out the riddles and offer advice. Even when the puzzles are figured out and the game is won, it's still a great deal of fun to go back and play again, to try to get an even better score.

This is sure to be a hit with any Potter fans, and is great for all ages of gamer.

A Game of Heros

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 46 / 52
Date: November 22, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the best PC games I have played so far! Harry Potter and the chamber of secerts Starts out with the narriotor guy from Game 1, only insted of the still pictures it has moving pictures. The narratior narrotars until the womping williow sence, were you must resuce Ron.
Then from there you go to classes! Your first class is with Lockhart but this time instead of having to trace the spell with your mouse you use your arrows to the places the hit!
In this game you also get to mix potians and explore the grounds as long and as far as you like. You can go to the Grand Hall and the Quidditch Picth and the Forbiden forest as much as you please as long as it isn't during class.
There also is a Weekly House Point ceriomony! The house with the most points can go to the bean room and collect as many beans as you'd like but you will be put on a timer...
Now, Fred and Geogre have also set up a bean trading post! This allows you to trade beans with potion ingreadants or a Nimbus 2001 or Wizard cards or all kinds of things!

HOPE YOU ENJOY!

Nice game...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 36
Date: March 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm not a gigantic Harry Potter maniac ...but I must say the game is good. The 3d graphics are very impressive, good music and easy-to-remember-controls: ctrl, alt, and arrow keys. But the end of the game is sort of shocking; the end shows Harry in the Great Hall with lots of other people clapping, and then the credits start rolling. And you think, "Oh. It's over." And then you just sit there and stare at the screen.
But the game is SO MUCH BETTER THAN THE FIRST ONE. The mouths move, Harry automaticlly follows the Snitch, the spells are easier to learn and there is more of Hogwarts to explore.
You can also use your beans once you find them. You can trade them for cool stuff. The characters are humorus and fit in with the game. But Snape wasn't mean at all. He was actually helping Harry make a Wiggenweld potion.
The spiders were awesome. The Aragog level was fun, too(I was the only one brave enough to do that level; my brothers and my mom were hiding in the kitchen)and a little hard.
There are more spells to learn too. But good ol' Flipendo is still alive and kickn'. But in the first game you used Flipendo ALL THE TIME. You even used it to defeat Voldemort(and it's supposed to be a FLIPPING spell!). But now you use Ritusempra, Diffindo, Skurge and Spongify(a REALLY fun spell!!!).
Hermione isn't folding her arms all the time in this game. It was really annoying in the first game. Ron is funnier and they wait for you when they are leading you somewhere(instead of letting you get lost in the castle).
This is great game. Get it!!!

Great fun for Harry Potter fans.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 25 / 26
Date: January 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a grandfather, but still like Harry Potter and family friendly computer games. This game is great. I have played it for many happy hours and have "almost" won the game. I am still missing 3 bronze wizard cards in my best effort so far. I can "barely" win at quiddich, but have managed to win all my matches, so you probably can to. I am quite slow on the keyboard and mouse, but this game requires more mind speed than eye/hand co-ordination. I had a mental block the first time or two through the game and forgot to look up. Who would think that magical switches could be on the roof ?

Wizard dueling is the key to success for me. I can get lots of beans and then buy lots of Wizard cards, spell ingredients, and quiddich armor.

All in all this is a very well done game.

This may be my favorite game of all time

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 21 / 21
Date: July 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is going to sound strange, but I don't think I've ever enjoyed playing a game as much as I enjoyed playing this one. I thought Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was a great game, but Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a hundred times better. Almost all of the minor issues I had with the first game were addressed more than adequately, and I have been all but addicted to this game since the day I got it. This is not some cheap game thrown out there to make money off of Pottermania; it is challenging, it is exciting, and it is absolutely addictive. Harry Potter's world really comes alive here. You start out at home on Privet Drive, visit Diagon Alley to get your school supplies, and fly right onto campus, into the clutches of the Whomping Willow tree, in Mr. Weasley's flying Ford Anglia. From that point on, you are immersed in the Hogwarts experience. The opening action is done quite well; while there is no tutorial per se, the game walks you through the opening scene, reminding you how to use the spells you learned during your first year at Hogwarts. At that point, you are ready to experience the events of Harry's second year from the first day of class with Professor Lockhart to the concluding House Points ceremony at year end. The cut scenes from the first game are gone, letting you see and experience every event, and the game is by and large simply beautiful. There is more interaction with the teachers this year, there are almost limitless nooks and crannies of the campus to investigate, and not only are there enough challenges to satisfy just about everyone, the challenges can all be completed successfully by even the youngest of Potter fans. If I can finish a game without resorting to a cheat or two along the way, then I know everyone else in the world can do it.

There are some rather significant changes from the first Harry Potter game. First and foremost is the ability to now skip through cut scenes; I did a lot of the challenges several times in order to accrue as many House Points as possible, and it was wonderful to be able to skip right past the opening scenes each time. The way you learn spells has also undergone a radical change; I prefer the old way, but this new method probably makes things easier for younger players. Speaking of something being easier, the Quidditch matches (and there are six of them, each of which you can replay as many times as you like) are radically different. The first game's Quidditch play was fun, but at times I thought I would never be able to grab the Snitch. In this game, Harry automatically follows the Snitch, making for much shorter matches. The fun part here, though, is the fact that you must battle your opposing Seeker; this means that you get to kick and punch the other player around, a most satisfying experience when you are going up against Slytherin and their new Seeker Draco Malfoy. The championship match even takes you underneath the trenches, trying to dodge wooden beams while giving Draco the business. Another great addition to this game is wizard dueling. Not only is it great fun to duel your classmates, it provides an easy way for you to increase your supply of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. These beans serve as the method of exchange on campus, and with them you can buy all sorts of wonderful things, from a Nimbus 2001 to Flobberworm Mucous to wizard cards. Wizard cards are important, and they, like the beans, can be found all over Hogwarts. There are fifty bronze wizard cards to collect, and each tenth card you find provides you with an additional stamina level. If you find all forty silver wizard cards, you get access to a special room. Even if you complete all your tasks, you will want to find or buy enough silver wizard cards to gain entrance to this room because here a final challenge awaits you, promising eleven gold wizard cards of the most important wizards in the world (guess who number eleven is?).

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets also makes it easy to maintain your health (although falling into pits, which I frequently did, pretty much turns you into the boy who didn't live); you can locate and/or buy Flobberworm Mucous and Wiggentree Bark, the essential ingredients needed to concoct Wiggenweld Potion. This potion restores stamina, and my best advice to the future player is to acquire as much of this healing potion as you can before taking on the basilisk. You can win beans by dueling, so any time you find yourself in need of more funds, just zip down to the Great Hall and show your opponents what you are made of. I was woefully unprepared for my first two confrontations with the basilisk, but I actually didn't mind because it gave me an excuse to start a new game and do everything again. It takes longer than you might think to actually complete Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and I have no thoughts of putting this game away now. It is as much fun to play the second or third time through as it is the first.

Best Kids PC Game Ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 28 / 35
Date: November 20, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game manages to combine beautiful graphics and really fun gameplay while keeping true to the Harry Potter stories. I've watched my kids (ages 9 and 12) play for many hours, finish the game, then start all over again because there's so much to find and explore. We don't even have a very new computer and it still works and looks great! You cannot go wrong with this game!

Pros and Cons

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 26 / 33
Date: November 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I purchased HP a couple days ago, expecting a game like last years. Boy, was I ever wrong.
The graphics in this game are laughable, I can remember many times where Harry's wand was stuck to the outside of his hand, or sometimes when you could see Harry's leg sticking out the back of his robes.
However, the gameplays is great, the Dueling Club is the best innovation I've ever seen made to a computer game, but the Quidditch is shockingly hard this time around.
This game has enough secrets to keep even the smartest wizard baffled. If you like Harry Potter, this game is definently for you.

Great fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: January 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is overwhelmingly cool and fun. I was VERY pleased with all the improvements to graphics and gameplay over the Sorcerer's Stone game. Almost all of the little things that annoyed me in the Sorcerer's Stone game have been improved. Here are some of the biggest and best improvements:
-The option to skip cutscenes
-Characters open and close their mouths when speaking
-When learning new spells, you no longer have to struggle to trace the shape with the mouse
-Hogwarts is even bigger and better
-Quidditch is optional
-Dueling is optional (after dueling Malfoy)
-More hidden items to discover
-Better graphics and animations

Overall, this is a really great game. I found it to be challenging, but not impossible. I have lots of fun playing it, and I don't mind playing it over again. The only thing that annoys me is the longer wait when different areas of the game are loading, although I must admit it's worth the wait. I have found very few in-game glitches (virtually all of which did not adversely affect gameplay), and so far I have only had one minor issue which caused the game to crash.

If you love Harry Potter, then you'll love this game--as long as your computer meets the minimum system requirements. :-)

Captivating, because it's just plain FUN!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 14
Date: January 05, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I confess, I bought this for my kids, and now I play it as much as they do. I had no intention of playing it, but just being in the room while they played was fun. Every time Harry casts "Flipendo", my wife and I would call out "Nintendo". Harry would cast "Rictusempra" and we would call back "Rick December". Before long, I was at the computer and the kids were teaching me how to play, and yelling "Nintendo" at me.

I don't play a lot of games, so I can't review this compared to all the other PC games out there. What I do know is that, much like the Harry Potter books, this game is fun and entertaining. It mostly leads you where to go, yet there are neat surprises for looking around on your own, too. You can always go to the wizard dueling, flying practice, or repeat challenges for fun. In any case, the graphics are pretty clear, and the spoken words are all subtitled, so even if they aren't clear, you read them. The motion is mostly intuitive and feels realistic. Some of the sounds are odd, though, with Harry grunting and groaning everytime he jumps, lands, or climbs. Still, even when it may or may not be realistic, it's funny!

I think the game is pretty good for critical thinking, as several times one of us has gotten stuck, and had to try to figure out how to move forward. Getting Harry out of the Slytherin common room, after the potion wore off and he morphed back from Goyle to Harry, was one example. My son and I got there in different ways, and it took us a while to figure the way back out.

One weakness that I've noticed is the method in which the games are saved. There are only six "slots" for saving them, which seems a bit lacking (why not an infinite number?). More pointedly, though, is that the slots are simply numbered, with no way (at least, none obvious to me) to identify which is which other than by the number. We've used all six slots, and have a hard time remembering which is which. My wife wants to start playing the game now, too, and one of the games will have to be overwritten -- I hope it's not mine!

Bottom line: it's fun. I play this more than I play The Sims -- a game I bought for myself. Naturally, my son, who has conquered the Chamber of Secrets several times, plays this Sims more. But still, even having "won" HP:CoS, he still plays it again and again.

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