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I liked it at first...

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 1 / 2
Date: January 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

When we first got this game, we were all impressed. It was fun and looked nice. As some reviews have stated, it is usually very clear what you are supposed to do at each stage of the game. In an effort to not have the game be too simple, EA seems to have decided to make the controls just twitchy enough so it takes you potentially dozens of tries to accomplish certain tasks. All in all it is not an enjoyable game for us. The "challenges" are challenging in an annoying not entertaining way. In the end, I don't reccomend this game at all.

not worth it

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: December 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

rent it see how you like it, i would say that its not worth the money. The game has nice graphics but thats about it. The gameplay is simple but the camera is always off slightly making Harry hard to control, it is next to nothing like the book, don't expect it to be like the book or the movie the game is completley different. it's also far to easy, the game tells you exactly what to do. I would recommend the game for younger gamers 6-13.

VERY, VERY, VERY dissapointing

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: September 09, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is the worst game I have ever played! ok, so not as bad as Syberia for xbox but bad enough that I would rate it 2 stars! even though the storyline is ok, the game ended to quickly. Also, the battle scenes (Harry practicing his magic on the washing machine) was very fake and very boring. The washing machine moved in a pattern all the time so there was no surprise to what it would do next.

If you ever want to play this game, I suggest that you should be able to withstand the annoying save games (you can't allways save the game whenever you want). So go ahead and give it a try if you aren't afraid of wasting your money.

Good enough, but a little disappointing...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: April 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I'm happy to admit that I'm a fan of the Harry Potter franchise. I adored the first two books and the first two films and with the release of "The Chamber Of Secrets" in movie theaters last November (and now on video) came this game. It's a Zelda-esque adventure title that's good enough, but could have been better.

Before I get negative, I'll mention the high points of this gaming experience. First, the graphics are very nice. Harry's environments are detailed, the character models look authentic, and the spells Harry performs treat your eyes. Second, the game controls well. It pretty much plays like the 3D Zelda titles from the N64 and Gamecube; you assign spells and items to various buttons and use them, jump automatically when you reach a ledge, have an "action" button that lets you talk to people or grab things and all that other stuff. Movement using the analog stick is very fluid, as well; Harry will move in whatever direction you command without any trouble. Also, the game has many enjoyable mini-games, like Gnome-Throwing and Quidditch. In addition, when you obtain Harry's broom, you can fly all over the Hogwarts campus, something that I really enjoyed doing.

Now for the problems with this game. The first problem is that the load times are long and frequent. I thought when we left the 32-bit era, long load times would be a thing of the past. Unfortunately not, although this isn't the only game on the Xbox to suffer from this problem. Second, are the sound effects, voice, and music. To be fair, the audio in Chamber Of Secrets is good, so why am I complaining? EA didn't recruit any of the actors from the film to do voices in the game, and they didn't even get the John Williams score from the movie. The impersonators are good and the music is nice but I don't understand why they didn't go for authenticity on the audio front. This is very bewildering knowing that EA is one of largest and most profitable gaming companies around. Also knowing that EA got the original actors and score for "Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers" (PS2, Gamecube, Xbox) also from them, I'm wondering what was their excuse was with Mr. Potter. In my mind, there's no excuse for the omission.

Next, the camera has some problems. At certain times in the game, you have to sneak around without being detected, like in "Metal Gear Solid 2." During these times, you have to put your back to the wall. The camera zooms in too close to Harry, not allowing you to see the various guards you need to get through the area. Furthermore, the game doesn't have a first person looking feature that so many other 3D adventure titles have, so it's difficult to see where the guards are. Be prepared to be caught and have many house points taken before you successfully pass.

An additional problem has to do with the game's money currency. You have to collect Every Flavor Beans to buy things from Fred and George Weasley's shop, but whenever you're hit by an enemy like a flying book, you loose the beans you are holding (oh, by the way, I don't remember flying books attacking Hogwarts students in the books or movies). It's just like losing all your rings when you get hit in a Sonic The Hedgehog game, and in this case, that's not a good thing. Just like Sonic, you only have a limited time to pick up the beans you lost, although here, it's even shorter. So if you can't get them in time, you're out by a couple beans. This made me really mad, particularly when I had enough to buy a useful item only to lose them on the way back to Gryffindor Tower, not to mention how far I had to travel and/or how hard it was to find these things in the first place. My last problem, though, is that the game gives no indication of what to do in some sections, and thus, quickly translates into frustration.

Overall, Harry is a decent game, but various problems drag the experience down a little. It's not a bad game, and it's better than most of the licensed junk out there. At least rent this game, though; you may like it a little more than I did.

Much Too Short

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In three words that really sums it up for me. The game itself is pretty fun, but I ended up beating it in a day because it was just too short. I was also disappointed with the ending being much too easy and hurried. Additionally, I second whoever wrote in their review that the camera angles are just not helpful and that the issue of losing your beans every time you're hit is such a pain. I suppose that was it really.. most of the levels are pretty fun, just not long enough.

Great for the kids, not for the parents...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 19, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Please keep in mind that my rating is based on an adult perception. My thoughtful sisters(aged 17 and 15)bought me this game for Christmas knowing that I was a covert "Harry Potter" fan. The game is great for kids. Challenges were both unique and well constructed throughout the game, and were kept very simple for the young'uns. Moving through the game was made simple by a system in which all you do is walk around and when an obstacle presents itself, you push a button to do what the system tells you to. This was probably the most annoying factor I found in the game, but again it IS a kid's game. Maneuverability was greatly hindered by the difficulty in the controls. I found it very hard to turn and such while the game maintained the correct camera angles. Graphics were very stunning and kept up with the outstanding performance the XBOX is known for. The character interaction was a little lacking, and mainly pertained to the task at hand. The game did a great job of following the storyline of the original book, though. Of course it had it's own embellishments to keep the game exciting. In conclusion, go ahead and pick it up for the kids, or for yourself if you enjoy the "simple pleasures" in life.

Hmmmm.....

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 02, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for PC right around the time it came out. I did not have an Xbox at the time. It was really fun on PC with lots of time to explore the castle, collect beans, play Quidditch, and trade beans for different items, not to mention learning magic.

I liked this game so much that when I got an Xbox 360 I decided to get this game for it as well.

I was very excited and the game was fun at first. It did have a recurring problem though, where the the picture moved very slow but the audio moved at regular speed. But it was really no big deal and I kept playing the game. The environment around the school was very cool and it was fun exploring the castle.

Then it started getting really challenging when you would sneak out at night or do a "Spell book challenge." Like many people have said before, the camera angles do not do anything to help you jump in the right direction. This led to falling off of a platform and losing all of the beans I might have been carrying. It was extremely frustrating. Also books, ghosts, and flying jars for some reason attack you, causing you to drop your beans. The fire crabs get extremely annoying too.

Overall I was not too impressed. At times it was fun but mostly just frustrating. To be honest, I would much rather play the game on PC. There is so much more to do and it is so much more fun.

Fun game with a few frustrating spots

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 11 / 11
Date: July 05, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This was a really fun game that basically goes through the plot of the Chamber of Secrets story line, letting you play Harry. The graphics are great, and the story line is well done. There's a good mix of the linear storyline with the option to go off exploring "at night" to collect wizard cards or play some games.

The one thing that I found incredibly frustrating was some of the "jumping" quests where I felt like I was fighting camera angle and the game implementation rather than doing anything that required real skill. I almost got to the point of giving up on the game at one point.

good but room for improvement

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

This was a great game overall, but it could have been better. The graphics were pretty good to. I thought the game was to short and to easy. But if your a true Harry Potter fan like me you will play it over and over like I have. The worst thing about the game was the quidditch, it was fun and everything but I thought it would be alot different. I mean if your a half-decent flyer then it will be really easy for you.

Pros:
-good graphics
-fun game
-you can play flying and gnome mini-games
-at the end of the day you can roam the Hogwarts halls as you wish
-lots of things to accomplish

Cons:
-way to short
-kinda easy
-bad quidditch impression
-you cant save it when your in the middle of something, you have to go to a certain spot and save it

Extremely fun but too short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: July 13, 2004
Author: Amazon User

ok so basically when I bought this game I couldnt wait to play it. it was really addicting but then all of the sudden I was at the basilisk. all in all, its super fun but its too short. (the quidditch is my favorite part) I ended up beating it in 2 days. I was just disappointed. the voices in this game dont even resemble the real voices of the characters. ok so there's only 6 days and on each day you do 1 class except for like 1 day you do 2 classes. Iwould not recommend this game to people who like slightly challenging games. its cute for little kids but i give it one thumb up.

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