Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review

I haven’t seen the movie yet but braved reviewing the game on the Wii nonetheless even though it of course contains spoilers. I won’t go into the plot of the game or the movie here but it’s safe to say the game features lots of running about Hogwarts as you uncover another mysterious plot that always comes back to Voldermort.

Being on the Wii, you use the nunchuck to move Potter round the environment, but then use the remote in what boils down to three games throughout the main game to either pilot your broomstick in games of Quidditch, mix potions, or cast spells around the castle and when duelling opponents. Unfortunately, apart from running around the castle to trigger the next cutscene, that’s all you really do. Anything else just seems like a lengthy tutorial, even hours into the game.

Let’s start with Quidditch. Basically the game goes on around you as you concentrate on catching the snitch. The action’s on rails here as you follow the snitch and point the Wii remote at the screen to steer Harry through stars that keep you on target to catch it. Keep hitting the stars and you win the game.

Potion making is probably the most fun but not once you’ve done it 20 times. Here you press A on the remote to pick up a potion then you tilt it to pour it into a cauldron. You also shake the remote and nunchuck to heat the pot and can also stir the mixture all using gestures. This works really and translates what you do with your remote almost exactly on screen.

Finally, there are the duels which you’d hope you would be able to employ some strategy in. Unfortunately, all you really have to do is get as close as possible to your opponent and blast them repeatedly as fast as you can until you beat them.

Unfortunately, that’s all there really is to the game. The likenesses and voices are good but the frame rate struggles most of the time and cutscenes (of which there are many) appear a bit rushed. If you’re a Harry Potter freak there’s something here for you. For everyone else, it’s just very, very average, like a Muggle. Harry Potter gets 5 out of 10.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review pics

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review screenshots

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