Game: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Console: Nintendo Gameboy Advance
Developer: Griptonite Games
Release Date: 15th November 2001
In the unlikely event that you're thinking that I've reviewed this game before, you'd be partially correct, as I've taken a look at the Game Boy Colour and Playstation versions of the game. Excitingly enough though, there are five completely different versions of this game across as many platforms. I've still got to play the PC and Playstation 2 versions of the game, but this is the Game Boy Advance release. While it shares some similarities with the Game Boy Colour version, like the musical themes, sound effects and spell names, it's a very different experience.
The game can best be described as a puzzle platformer loosely based on the film version of the first Harry Potter book. As with the Playstation version of the game, the story skips straight to Hogwarts, giving a storyboard version of the first third of the book. The quests are a strange mix of events from the story, classes where spells are learnt, puzzle platforming dungeons, and fetching the ingredients for a potion for Snape, which seems to span at least half of the game.
Each class attended by players results in a new spell learned, each with a different effect. Flipendo knocks enemies back, and can stun and kill weaker enemies, Alohomora unlocks certain types of locked doors and chests, Avifors transfigures things into birds, and there are even more spells to learn in the later parts of the game. After each class is a dungeon of some kind which utilises the spell that's just been learned.
Inside all of the game's dungeons are enemies; gnomes, snails and pixies mainly each with different attack patterns. Gnomes wander randomly, and attack when within range; unfortunately though the timing is slightly off and it's incredibly frustrating to even get a hit on them. Snails and pixies are a little easier and more predictable, but the most annoying aspect of the game is lack of variety in the enemies that can be found.
The player's health is represented by the lightning bolts in the top left of the screen, and one is taken away for each time the player comes into contact with an enemy. Once all of the player's health has been depleted, they're sent back to the very beginning of the level, despite the fact that many levels are at least 10 to 15 minutes in length when being solved for the first time. Many of the dungeons are irritatingly laid out or disorientating, and being sent back to the start happens far too often.
While the dungeons can be tricky, there's nothing quite as difficult as the Quidditch parts of the game; while the matches don't necessarily need to be won, there are sections of the game which have to be completed on a broomstick that can prove to be difficult to control and to pass. Boss battles too can be frustratingly difficult, but conversely players seem to be overly rewarded for the simplest of tasks, with 50 house points given simply for attending class and learning a spell.
In all, the game lasts around 6 hours, as long as players don't get stuck in any of the dungeons for too long. The final quest in the game which is based around obtaining the Philosopher's Stone, and the chambers protecting it is particularly difficult in places, and seems to share a characteristic with most of the other dungeons in the game in that it's completely tedious and unnecessarily long. The platforming is awkward, the enemies are badly programmed, and there's little enjoyable gameplay to be had.
In terms of following the story of the book and movie, there are points where the game deviates; the importance of Snape's collecting quest is exaggerated and many memorable moments are left out in favour of classes and dungeons which have no relevance to the story. Players who've never seen the movies or read the book will find the game to be a boring and confusing experience, and those who are Harry Potter fans will miss their favourite parts of the story, and find the characters to be less than engaging.
Graphically the game has more detailed sprites than the Game Boy Colour version, though they're not particularly impressive for the console or the time of release. The animations are decent for the time, but any battles with enemies are too shortlived or frustrating to enjoy when compared to the RPG stylings of the Game Boy Colour release. Musically the game shares themes with the GBC too, though in this version there's a little more polyphony for better or worse.
Overall Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone for the Game Boy Advance is a less than enjoyable experience as its gameplay can be likened to a frustrating and almost broken puzzle platformer. With such a rich and interesting story to be made into game form, it's a surprise that more of the book wasn't used in planning the quests. Stay away from this game if you can, it suffers from the curse of licensed games.
Rating: 46/100
Grade: D
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