It’s always difficult transitioning from one form of media to another. Most everyone who is a fan of the Harry Potter books have had some kind of problem with each of the movies. That being said, even though the most recent movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has its issues, it is arguably the best of the movies thus far. That’s not the concern here, though. The question here is whether the folks at Electronic Arts were able to take the movie and convert it into a quality game.
The key aspect of any game is obviously the gameplay. So what does Half-Blood Prince consist of? Basically, mini-games and exploring. Most of the game takes place on the grounds of Hogwarts. Although at the start of the game you will be limited to where you can venture, by the end of the game you’ll be able to wander off and explore the entire castle and grounds which are taken straight out of the movies for the most part. You can also collect crests while exploring which will unlock various things. If you’re ever at a loss of where to go then you can simply call Nearly-Headless Nick and he will guide you to the area you need to reach. It’s odd that you are not able to use the marauder’s map yourself, but Nick does make it more convenient. For the most part the controls here work well. Every once in awhile certain spells will be stubborn and not want to respond to your motions, but it’s not too bad.
Your actual progression through the game will consist of what are basically mini-games. You have dueling, Quidditch, and potion making. In the wizard duels you will face an opponent where you try to beat them by using various spells, such as stupefy and expelliarmus. Each spell has its own motion specific motion, but that’s where the problem lies. Once you learn a few spells, it can be quite easy to accidentally cast the wrong one. Even though each of the motions are different, the controls are finicky and often result in you casting protego instead of expelliarmus. Even with this flaw that can leave you wide open to attack, the AI is not fast enough to ever take advantage of this. Even in the final battles of the game lies no real challenge, which results in a very disappointing climax. As for Quidditch it’s pretty simple and has no control issues. The game has you aim the Wii remote at the screen and pointing where you want to fly. Finally, with potion making you will have to follow the recipe on screen and mix and stir together a potion, using the remote to pick up the ingredients or to stir. Potions is perhaps the most difficult out of the three, but at the same time none of them can really be considered difficult. Amid all this running about and doing various things for people, the actually story seems to become lost. You never feel the threat of the growing danger that is supposed to be there and it all feels like it’s crammed into the game as an afterthought.
There’s also some multiplayer to be found in the game in the form of dueling. There are several characters to choose from, and more to be unlocked. Each of them has some little difference, such as the amount of health or the speed of their attacks. It’s sort of sad to say that this is probably the most fun you will have in the game. Whereas dueling against the CPU provides no real challenge, playing against a human controlled opponent who knows how to dodge quickly and counter attack can get intense. However, this still doesn’t change the problem with the controls. In fact, the problem is more magnified here since you’ll need to react faster, and if the game happens to read your motions wrong (which it will), then you’ll often find yourself left wide open for attack, thus eliminating some of the skill.
As for the graphics, EA seemed to make a pretty big deal about how much they were improved. The character models definitely do look like the actors and are pretty good, but even on the Wii they could have been better. Facial expressions sometimes don’t seem to match the character’s mood, and while the lip syncing can be alright at times, there are some instances where it is off a good bit (or completely lacking). The castle grounds, however, are done well and everything looks like its straight out of the movie. The textures and details aren’t the best, but they do look good unless you go in to examine things closely.
With the music you can’t really go wrong since most of it is from the movies. For the most part the music simply accompanies the gameplay and doesn’t really let itself stand out aside from a few situations. The one real issue in the sound department is the voice acting. They did get some of the real actors for their characters, such as Ron, Ginny, and Luna. For the rest, we’re stuck with some voice actors that are rather lacking in the talent department. The main characters do a decent job at sounding like their corresponding actors, but their actual performance is what lacks. For instance, Hermione sounds perpetually aggravated, even when there is no reason for her to be (and based on the dialog she obviously isn’t). The others aren’t much better, and they only get worse the further down their importance goes.
As for the replay value to be had in the game, it all really depends on how much you enjoy what you’ve already done by the time you finish the game. If you enjoyed making potions or dueling, then you can take part in the various clubs to be found in the school. For each of these you can try for a better score and earn badges. If you want everything then you can go back for the crests at the end of the game once you have access to the entire map. There are 150 of these crests in the game, and depending on how much you try to get these on your initial run-through of the game, you could the majority of those still left to get afterward.
So did EA do their job at converting the movie into a good game? They certainly made it look the part, but honestly it’s just not all that fun and gets sort of repetitive. Sure, it’s a little fun dueling at times, but it’s easy and gets old quick. Quidditch doesn’t have much to it, having you do nothing except fly through rings. Potions can be a little more challenging, but it’s still not that fun. This is honestly just not the type of movie that will translate well into a game unless you allow for many changes. If you enjoy exploring and roaming the castle of Hogwarts then you might actually enjoy some of the game. The problem this game has is where it’s most critical. If you don’t have a fun and interesting game, then it doesn’t matter how well any of the other areas are done. If you’re a big Potter fan then you could give this one a rent but, in a game that can be beaten in about four or five hours, it’s not worth buying.
