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Don't buy this game

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: April 10, 2002
Author: Amazon User

While the game is good, it is unstable. It has crash mi iMac, despite following Aspyr's advice of reducing the textures and details to low... On my G4 it looses sound and also crashes the machine (though less).
When I say crash I don't mean the game crashes but rather the whole OS (and I am using Mac OS X which is really stable).
Avoid this game, is my advice.

THIS GAME STINKS!!!!!!!!!!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 5 / 14
Date: January 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Thank god i didn't buy this piece of junk, i borrowed it from a friend! The whole thing is completely different from the actual plot! Flipendo doesn't even exist in the real books, and it's basically all you can use. Half of the stuff in this game probably didn't even cross Rowling's mind! heres a list of pros and cons, (or rather all cons)

Pros.
the quidditch was the only thing i enjoyed about this game

Cons.
poor graphics
mouths don't move when they talk
no actual spells from book

hard to get coins from gringotts,(this took me about 100000 tries
so easy to defeat quirrel, devils snare, etc.
peeves looks like a circus clown
easy to get lost in the school
dumbledore looks like a pig
if you die, people talk all over again

in other word, I HATED IT!!

You might not have much fun....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

No fun if you use OS X: I cannot save a game. Ever. Or to be correct, a saved game cannot be reloaded - just produces a black screen. In other words you have to play the entire game at once!
The not at all helpful support from Aspyr initially just returned standard comments (I am surprised they did not write back: "have you switched on your computer?") and eventually they just ignored me.

Fun game...but those dang blackouts!!!

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: July 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I loved this game. You could do all the things Harry could in the book. You become a virtual wizard!

But then all came crashing down when the screen goes black. You quit the game and then restart it and your saved spot is black! All that hard work for this?! The patch won't fix it either. Don't bother with this game! I read all of the bad reviews about the screen going black and thought it could never happen to me. But it did. I am running the game on a brand new 2003 12'' powerbook G4 so it is not my computer. Buying this game is a gamble as I see some people don't have a problem with it. Another thing I don't like about it is how slow harry moves and how stiff her seems. This is for a little kid who doesn't care about aesthetics, just that he is in Harry's world. Though I am sure that the kid will be sorely disappointed when towards the end of the game the screen goes black and he or she cannot continue to the end, but has to start the game over. :(

Version on CD very glitchy

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: June 17, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The 1.0 version of this game included on the CD is so glitchy as to be absolutely unplayable in Mac OS X. It crashed my entire system several times, and that's hard to do in OS X! You MUST download the latest patch (just go to versiontracker.com and search for 'Harry Potter') before you even try to play it. Even then there are still plenty of bugs in the game. (As I write this, right after quitting the game, there is a strange line of black dots at the top of my screen.)

I bought this game because I'm not much of a hardcore gamer, and knowing it would be geared more towards kids, I thought I'd have a better chance of being able to get through it. It's moderately challenging, with most of the frustration emerging from the fact that you can only save your game at specified points which are few and far between, so if you're having trouble with a particular spot, it gets very tedious going back through a level over and over.

This game contains nothing very original or spectacular. The storyline is great, of course, because it follows that of the first book/movie pretty closely, but were it not for the Harry Potter name and story attached to it, this game would not have any selling points. Unless you're a big Potter fan, this software is to be avoided.

Harry Potter

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: August 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

I have an imac on system 9. The game works pretty well, but yes about once every 15 minutes the game screen goes black. I have to quit and start it back up again and it will work. It is very hard, because you will get stuck in places and have NO Idea how to get out!! I have been stuck for over 5 hours of playing, and evertime I go to this one place, the screen goes black!!! Also, it is very hard toplay in a quidditch game because you finally get on the team, and you get stuck in that place again!!! (ive started several games!) And all you basically do is click on blocks to cast spells on them, and runn over jelly beans and frogs. It's not very fun. I DO NOT reccomend it!

Good, but not all that I expected

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game is good, but not great. Especially if you like the books. I really enjoyed how well it followed the books and the different character voices. I tried it on a G3 and a G4 and it crashed on both. The first time I didn't realize that I had changed the wand setting so that I couldn't trace the design and learn the spell. The tech support is great, but I have had to call it numerous times.
My other complaint is that when you finish, you can't go back and pick up missing cards or secrets. If you collect all the wizard cards and defeat Valdemort, you get a special card, but you have to play a PERFECT game in order to do this...you can't go back and pick up cards you missed later. When I tried to play the game again, to get all the cards, the game kept locking up after certain cards. I finally got the game to stop locking up and going black after downloading a patch from aspyr. This did make a big difference in performance, but my playing comments stay the same.
Though younger kids may like Harry Potter, the controls make this a game better suited for adults. I had trouble and I have played computer games since the early days of computers. It is tough to get through, though fun when you complete a challenge. Still, you have to save when the computer allows it and you can't go back to a previous section. The computer saves only where you are at.
This version should have been a beta. It is okay, but could be a lot better! I toggled between 3 and 4 stars, but since I had too many problems, 3 it is. Great graphics and good sound, but hard to play.

Game patch available

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: November 13, 2002
Author: Amazon User

A previous reviewer mentioned a problem with screen blanking during gameplay. A patch is available at http://www.apple.com/games/updates/harrypotter/ that fixes this problem. This should ease some major frustration with an otherwise excellent game.

Its a really good game with some problems

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: November 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Macintosh works really well on my iMac. The only problem with it is that sometimes the screen goes black and you have to restart the game. Other than that, the game is really good. You get to go to classes and learn different spells and then go into these things where you can practice the spells you learned. You also get to fight Malfoy with crackers and don't forget to dodge them when he throws them and then run over then to pick them up. You also get to fight Peeves the Poltergiest. One of the most fun parts is Quidditch. All you have to do is avoid the bludgers (which rarely come after you) and catch the Golden Snitch. You always win the match cause the other team never catches the snitch. You MUST collects Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans because Fred and George will pop up and trade you 25 beans for a wizard card. I have'nt finished the game because I am stuck on beating Voldemort. I have'nt figured out what you do to kill Voldemort yet but I can tell you he is a BIG pain.

THE END

Decent All-Around Game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: April 25, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I won't go into details, because there are a lot of details to this game, but overall I think it is pretty good. The graphics are good, the gameplay is decent, and the storyline is pretty advanced. Two things that I really enjoyed are the combination of fighting/rivalries and puzzles, and the thrill of flying. There are many flying levels in this game, and all of them are very fun. Also, this game is not composed ALL of fighting/rivalries or ALL of puzzle-solving. The combination is excellent. Two things I really didn't like are Quidditch and twisting the plot from the book. Even though the storyline is very good, the plot twists a little too much from the book. Maybe I don't like the unexpected, but it seems to me that it strayed a little bit much. Also, Quidditch is very weak, even though I like the flying. The gameplay is too easy, and it seems that the only way to lose is to fall off your broom, which is easily avoidable. Overall, I recommend the game to those who like surprises and a combination of strategy and a little combat.

OVERVIEW

Pros:
-Mixing of Rivalries/Fighting and Puzzles
-Good Gameplay
-Flying Levels

Cons:
-Quidditch
-Strays too far from Book
-Easy Spell System

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