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Docked two stars because of JK's strange scoring system.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 21 / 24
Date: November 24, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I bought the Gamecube version of Quidditch World Cup so that my ten-year-old daughter and I could play it together on our widescreen TV. For the most part, it's very fun, and it DOES have a 16:9 anamorphic widescreen mode for those of you with widescreen TV's. I wish more Gamecube games had this feature. Very cool.

The single player game is quite fun, and worth the price of admission for sure. That's been covered in other reviews. But I have to cover the two-player aspect here, and that's where it gets docked a couple of stars:

In the books and movies, the scoring system (150 points for the snitch) always seemed strange to me. It was as if the only thing that mattered was catching the snitch. The only time that the rest of the game would be important is if it dragged on for an unusually long time and was a particularly high-scoring game. Without that, the rest of the game is just killing time until the race for the snitch happens.

I'd hoped that EA would somehow come up with a gameplay mechanic where the rest of the game meant something. They didn't.

When you play Quidditch World Cup, it's even worse than in the movies. There's actually no way to play a game where the base score matters. No match ever lasts long enough to score highly enough for the snitch capture to become strategic. The snitch always appears too soon, before the base game has had a chance to really make a difference. And when the snitch finally appears, it's the end of the game no matter what. Someone has to catch it, you're locked into the snitch chase until the capture.

In addition, the snitch capture itself is iffy. Between the two players, one player almost always has more speed boost power than the other. The player with the most boost power always wins the snitch capture. Frustratingly, there is nothing in the in-game tutorials which tells you how to gain more boost power. You must crack open the manual to glean the following information: Boost power is increased by performing passes and combo moves during the regular game.

What this means to the game... Since the base game score itself is meaningless, and only the snitch capture matters, then the gameplay during the base game becomes a competition for who can do the most passes and combo moves. Not who can score more goals. Making the base game score even more meaningless.

I think that EA could have done a few things to make the snitch capture more strategic:

1. Allow the base game to last longer. Don't make the snitch appear so soon. Allow for higher scoring games.

2. Allow the snitch chase to be "missed" instead of railroading you into a capture. Make it so that if you miss the snitch, the rest of the base game continues a while before the next snitch appearance.

3. Allow for the two players to have a more "even" competition when racing for the snitch. There is a key which supposedly lets you "barge" the other player during the race (again, only mentioned in the manual, it's not in the in-game tutorials), but I never saw it work.

However, with the above off my chest, I can wholeheartedly recommend the game for single player play. The above complaints only count for a two-player game. In single player mode, it is great fun, will provide many hours of great gameplay, and very much worth the price. My daughter loves it.

Five Stars... For Potter fans at least.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 19 / 21
Date: November 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

In my head, I've been clamoring for this game since I first read through the Potter books in 2001. Quidditch is simply too well-realized a sport not to enjoy a video game incarnation; now, finally, we Muggles can play it whenever we wish.

From the first tutorial training challenges, Quidditch World Cup is immensely satisfying. The character animations and special effects are breathtaking, always worth the brief cutscene following any special move. Controlling the three chasers (the only position over which you have direct control until the end of a match) is simple and intuitive, though passing can get tricky at times. Whacking a bludger at an opposing chaser is always a sadisitic good time, and chasing down the snitch at the end of the match is appropriately exciting.

Are there problems with Quidditch World Cup? Absolutely. Most glaring is the utter lack of customization options, a staple for any respectable sports title. There is no way to slow down or speed up the snitch meter (when the meter fills up, the snitch chase begins, thus ending the match), and no storage of team or player statistics. These are minor gripes, and EA has plenty of time to resolve them in a sequel. All in all, these problems would probably only be an issue to non-Potter fans, who won't buy the game anyway.

All said and done, Quidditch World Cup is a charming and addictive realization of the fictional sport. And seeing as it's the only way any of us is ever going to get to take a turn on a Firebolt, it's at the very least a must-rent for Potter fans.

The best gaming experiance ever known to man.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: February 01, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game was the best addition to my nintendo gaming systems! After playing the Hogwarts School games for every nintendo system, (gamecube and gameboy)I was furious at how boring and simple the quidditch games were compared to how excited I got while reading the quidditch scenes in the seiries. This game Interested me at the time they were advertizing it on the television because it was only concentrated on quidditch and the trailer looked like it would be like a real great quidditch game.
The best part of this game is the world cup where the player can become the controller of an international quidditch team and fight there way to the top of the league. Befor you can get to the world cup you first have to beat the Hogwarts cup, which seemed to me to be like an enterance into the controls of the game. In this game you can play as all of the Hogwarts house teams and some of the international quidditch teams mentioned in the Harry Potter sieries. One team that you can not play as is Ireland which is dissapionting to me because it is my favorite tem that was in the Harry Potter sieries because they throuhgh out fake gold coins to the crowd of the Quidditch World Cup in the fourth book, as a joke.
The controls in this game are set up so that they are very easy to us while it still looks complicated on the screen. This game is set up like a Tony Hawk game where you buy new tricks the better you get and the more tasks you complete. The game has great graphics and teh best audio in any of the Harry Potter games. You can play this game no matter your gaming level since it is made up of differnt levels determined by how many quidditch cards you have or the broom you fly.
Even if you do not know what quidditch is get this game you will learn fast because you will be playing it so much!

About Time!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 12
Date: July 22, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I've been looking for this game for three years now, and they finaly made it. Now I'll tell you why I'm so exited. This is a Harry Potter game that breaks away from the books to focus on Quidditch. It is increadible, in all the other games all you got to do was fly through hoops after the snich. In this game that all changes, you start out at hogwarts allright, but you can pick any of the positions on the team, which are played to the extent they were meant to. After that, if your good enough, you could just get on a national team and play for the World Cup! This is one of those games you just have to have.

Played it today

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: November 01, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I had the opportunity to play the game for a few hours today and couldn't be more pleased. I've decided to break down the game into a sort of rating system.

Graphics: A-
- The stadiums are amazing, especially Spain's (in my opinion). The characters are very, very well done, with individual faces and likenesses. The reason I can't give it a higher grade is because there are ocasional flaws. When you're trying to catch the snitch or sending a bludger at someone the graphics change a bit.

Gameplay: A
- It's exactly like the quidditch that you see in the movies or read in the books. During the game you are prominantly a chaser, trying to score the goals. The chasers have a variety of moves, passes, and shots, most of which you need to earn by doing a skills thing before you play your first game. During a game you can become a beater and send a bludger at the opposing chasers. This was the hardest part to grasp because you have to actually direct the bludger with the directional stick so that it avoids the beaters trying to defend the chaser and actually achieves the goal of knocking the quaffle into your hands. There is a meter at the top of the screen that indicates when the seekers are getting closer to the snitch. I still am not sure how this works but apparently you can give your seeker a better chance by doing certain things during the matches. Kind of like a momentum shift. You actually become the seeker at the end of the match and try to snatch the snitch away from the other seeker. It's actually very tough despite the fact that you are given a sort of track to follow. During the game, when a special move is done, it will sort of take over the screen and show you what happened. It is actually a really cool feature once you get used to it.
Replay value: B+
My friend and I won the quidditch world cup with England. You have to play four Hogwarts matches and then 17 World Cup matches, unlocking stadiums and cards that help you buy new brooms and such. At the end you unlock another level, which you play with the hogwarts teams. It's going to take you a while to beat the whole game with all the teams so I'd have to give replay a good rating.

overall its a great game and i definitly recommend it, especially to Harry Potter fans.

Fun but not as good as it could or should be

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: March 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

To start I would like to say that I am not that big of a harry Potter fan. But I have been gamming for a very long time. This game at first is very complicated. I bought it expecting it to be high paced and hard hitting. To be quite honest the game is borring afrter an hour. The concept is too basic. Get the ball throw it through the hoop, attack the man with the ball throw it through the hoop. I mean it's the same thing over and over and over. It's really not hard at all. At the very end the Golden snitch comes out but all you have to do is stay in it's lit up path and you'll win.It could be found fun on the first day of having it but after that it could put you to sleep. The best part of the game are the special moves which are tricky combos but are done in cut scenes. There just isn't enough action or violence or speed. If youve read the books you know the game is supposed to be violent and thrilling. This game just makes it seem boring. I bought this game because i had read how awesome the Game Quiditch was supposed to be but the game is just way too repeditive and anticlimactic. Sorry thrill seekers this is not the game for you. Die hard Harry Potter fans give it a try.

Controlls 6
difficulty 1 (There is no skill needed just the patience to play the same thing over and over)
fun 4
graphics 7
gameplay 5
sound 3 (the anouncer is increadibly annoying)

Very intoxicating

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: June 12, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I've played alot of video games and but there isn't one even close to Quidditch. It's not just playing in a quidditch match either. There are different challenges to complete that help make you a better player and gives you cards to get higher levels of play. I love the aspect that you can play all players. From watching the movie I thought the only interesting player was the seeker, but now I know that I would definately be a beater, but a chaser is very fun too. There are tons of places to play and every stadium is extremely different from one another. The first day I got it I played it for 8 hrs straight, but the only downside is that my thumb got a blister :( Otherwise this is one of the best games ever. I highly recommend it.

Not Quite Quidditch

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: July 13, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I was very excited to see that EA was creating a "Quidditch World Cup" game. I'm a huge fan of their real sports titles, so I expected this one to be very good. J.K. Rowling has clearly defined the ins and outs of this imaginary game played on broomsticks in her books, and it seems like it would be a wonderful game to play if it were real. With that said, I'd love to give this game a four or five star rating, but I have to say that it only deserves three. Why? For many of the same reasons that others have given. The games do get quite a bit redundant and are very easy to win once you've mastered a few of the special moves. The celebration scenes by players when they've scored a goal and the special move sequences also become very redundant and boring after awhile. Also, the beaters and bludgers take some time to get used to. I must also agree with another reviewer that I was a little let down by the fact that Ireland didn't get a team on this game.

There are some good things about this game, though. EA took great care with the design and look of the stadiums and the individual players on each team. Fans of the books and the films will recognize Quidditch players like Harry Potter (obviously), Viktor Krum of Bulgaria, Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff, and a whole slew of other characters from all of the houses of Hogwarts and the international teams. Students from the individual houses, including Potter's trusty friends, Ron and Hermione, teachers, and others are spectators at each of the games. The stadiums look wonderful, and each has its own signature features such as the jack o'lanterns on the U.S. field (my personal favorite).

Everything is in place for a great "sports" game with "Quidditch World Cup," I just hope that EA goes back and refurbishes a few of the monotonous things about this game and gives fans of Harry Potter and Quidditch something to really get excited about. This one will suffice for now, but I'm sure that with the major success of this franchise, there will soon be an updated version of this game.

A Great Ride

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 04, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I bought this game for my Game Cube, even though I was really hesitant about getting it. I really found quidditch to be difficult when playing "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and I was afraid that this game would be more of the same torture.

It turns out that I was most pleasantly wrong. I am having the most fun playing this game, and I am in the middle of the World Cup as we speak. The graphics are fantastic, the sound effects are good, and the controls are fairly easy to learn. I know that some people have complained about playing quidditch just for catching the snitch, but I don't have a problem with that. I'm still learning the game, so I'm not going to get the most goals every time, and there's still a chance the computer can catch the snitch and beat me even if I do have more goals.

I haven't played around with the two player mode, but as someone else said, the one player mode is immensely satisfying on its own. What a winner!

Quidditch!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 27
Date: June 29, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This new Harry Potter game looks like loads of fun. Unlike playing quidditch in other Harry Potter games where you fly through a bunch of rings to get the snitch, you actually get to play the game in any of the positions. You do tournamants and other stuff like that so you can tell this game is going to be great.

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