Game Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (GBA)

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

Game Review: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (PS1)

Game: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Argonaut Games
Release Date: 15th November 2001

If you're a frequent visitor to my blog, you may notice that I reviewed a game of the same title as this for Game Boy Colour recently. Having done a little research whilst reviewing that game, it came to my attention that there are four different versions of this title. The Game Boy Colour, Advance and PS1 games came out alongside the film in 2001 and were three completely different titles in gameplay and in many parts of the story. In 2003 remakes of the PS1 game followed with vastly changed gameplay for PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. I intend to play each of the versions of this game in an effort to assess which approach worked best and highlight EA Games laziness as a producer to license out the game to 4 different companies to make.

Having started with the Game Boy Colour game which follows the plot of the film almost perfectly, I expected the PS1 version to do basically the same but in a simple 3D setting. Upon starting the game, there's some narrated story which skips along to at least page 91 of the 223 page  book. There's no letters from Hogwarts, no shopping in Diagon Alley and no Hogwarts Express. I understand the limitations of the PS1 but when playing a licensed game based on a film, much of the enjoyment comes from being able to re-enact scenes from the film. In keeping with completely ignoring most of the content of the book and film, only 3 or 4 of the things you're asked to do in the entire game feature in the book or film.

The game itself is incredibly short and it only took around 5 hours to complete. You're thrown from one mission to the next without much time to think, and the action appears to take place over the course of a single day, as Harry doesn't sleep at all and there's no indication of any time passing. Originally I was going to list all of the inaccuracies between the game and film/book but by the end of it I'd lost count. This isn't to say that it needed to be completely accurate to be enjoyable, but resembling the film that it's based on would have been an advantage.

The controls aren't too bad; the analog stick is used to move, R1 to target and X casts a spell while the triangle button is used to look around and free aim. More complex spells can involve button pressing minigames on which the timing can be severely off in some instances. Moving around the castle isn't too difficult as long as you're not required to jump, as this is handled much like in Zelda games; when Harry reaches a ledge, and the player is still pressing in the direction of the gap, he will jump. Unlike Zelda games though, the game decides not to jump sometimes and sends Harry to his death.

Most of the tasks that Harry is required to do require either simple platforming, use of his spells, some puzzle logic, or a combination of the three. With the aforementioned jumping problem, the missions where Harry must get to class on time, or race Peeves become much more frustrating. The game seems to guide players through the easiest parts of it and leave them to work out what to do in harder parts, which can also be a source of annoyance.

The final mission of the game follows the basic story of both the book and film, and makes the best use of the controls and gameplay styles. Personally I found this to be the most enjoyable part of the game besides Quidditch which plays like a flying minigame where Harry navigates through rings until the game allows him to reach out and catch the Snitch. Although it could have been less repetitive there are no major problems with the Quidditch part of the game, and there's even a standalone mode for it.

Graphically, the game's textures are very low resolution and the faces of characters are almost unrecognisable at times. It can be difficult to see where to go due to the poor graphics, in platforming challenges. With different voice actors to the film, it's hard to imagine the characters as who they're supposed to be too. The music of the game is fairly enjoyable, it seems to be mainly orchestrated versions of the Game Boy Colour soundtrack.

Overall with little resemblance to the film or book, unsatisfying platforming stages, and collectables which are so well hidden that I went through the entire game without even finding one, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone for PS1 should be well avoided. If you've read the book or seen the film you'll be shouting at the TV to correct the game's continuity errors and if you haven't you'll be thoroughly confused as to what's even going on, as it's not well explained at all.

Rating: 39/100
Grade: E

Game Review: Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone (GBC)

Game: Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Console: Game Boy Colour
Developer: Griptonite Games
Release Date: November 2001

While there were Xbox, PS2, Gamecube and PS1 games based on the first book/movie in the Harry Potter series, it's interesting to look at a handheld version. Although there was a release on the Game Boy Advance, I'll be looking at the Game Boy Colour version as that's the one I owned as a child. If my recollections are correct, not only was this the first game I ever bought with my own money but I also have a savefile with 67 hours of gameplay on it and Harry at level 99. That's not to say that this is an amazing game by any standards, it's more of an indication that I didn't have very many games to choose from as a child.

The story of the game is based on the events of the first book/film in the Harry Potter chronology with some slight changes so that certain game mechanics work better. The gameplay itself is in the style of an RPG with battles occuring regularly and 24 quests which guide Harry through the story to its conclusion. Although the set story makes for quite a linear experience, there's still room for some exploration of the fantasy world with collectables and secrets scattered around the map.

Quests are usually fairly simple and obvious when given to the player; not only will important characters tell them what needs to be achieved, the current objective appears on the start menu and NPC's will give hints as to what must be done. A lot of the gameplay involves travelling around Hogwarts and completing objectives by defeating bosses or retrieving items. In the 7 lesson based quests, the gameplay resembles that of a minigame with tests of memory, fetch quests and a broom flight minigame which appears a few times throughout the game.

Battles are conducted in typical RPG style save for the fact that the players appear on the right with the enemy on the left side of the screen. Harry is able to use spells as well as items and card combinations to defeat enemies, and levels up as he progresses through the game. Upon completion of the game, Harry retains his level and the enemies are pegged to his ability when a new game is started.

For an RPG the game is rather short and whole months pass between in-game events where a calendar is shown to signify the passing of time. While nothing happens plotwise in these periods it does rather feel as if the game is rushing you onwards toward completion. The money is somewhat incidental after a certain point in the game and there's not a whole lot of things to buy. There's a loose strength/weakness system with spells and enemies but it's never completely explained so it's up to players to guess as to what spells will work well.

Harry travels somewhat slowly on foot and this can be irritating when moving up and down the seven floors of Hogwarts (although there are secret passages which can be used as shortcuts). Enemy battles appear as blue creatures which move about on screen; when Harry touches these then a battle is initiated. Sometimes these appear fairly unexpectedly in your path and slow your progress down.

Graphically the game somewhat resembles NES era RPG games with basic sprites and animations. Buildings and interiors look good and even accurate to the books at times. There's never any difficulty in telling character sprites from one another; in fact the only time I had a hard time seeing things was in the night time quests as the Game Boy Colour screen isn't particularly bright. Musically there's a variety of themes and sound effects used in the game, which are generally of good quality.

Overall this is a somewhat simple RPG style Game Boy Colour game which works well to incorporate the story of the first Harry Potter book. Battles are easy to understand and there's not many times where grinding is necessary. It's a shame that party members aren't allowed to battle alongside you at any point in the game however. I'd recommend this to hardcore fans of the Harry Potter series as an interesting relic, but it falls a little short as a game in a general sense.

Rating: 73/100
Grade: C