PC Game Review: Lego Harry Potter

My excitement levels for Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 were alarmingly disproportional to the size of the characters. But then, as a fan of previous Lego outings, it was but natural that I would await the release of this game with bated breath. I have played Lego Star Wars: The Videogame, Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures and Lego Batman: The Videogame, and was charmed by their slapstick humour, enjoyable elements of adventure and never-ending exploration. So, does Lego Harry Potter live up to its predecessors? I say yes.

The concept behind this (and other Lego games) is simple, but enchanting. Take a popular pop-culture phenomenon – in this case, J.K. Rowling’s best-selling series of novels and their subsequent movie adaptations – and remold it using the famous Lego bricks. Remove any signs of blood, gore along with other risqué material and make everything family-friendly. Finally, place the story’s events in a fully destructible environment, include puzzles and collectibles at every turn and the stage is set for an entertaining joy-ride.

Lego Harry Potter follows this formula to the T (which is not a bad thing). You play as a wide range of characters from Fang to Cedric Diggory, depending on the situation. There’ll be at least 2 playable characters on the screen, no matter what. You relive iconic moments from the books and movies, such as the Troll fight in The Sorcerer’s Stone, or the Maze Task in Goblet of Fire, but with a Lego twist. So you chug along, laying waste to everything in your path, destroying things only to reassemble them into something new. You earn coins for doing all this, which you can use to buy characters, costumes, special abilities and so on. Occasionally, you’ll have to fight someone, such as Aragog or the Basilisk, but fear not: You are a wizard, after all.

You can call upon various spells, characters or potions to help you defeat your enemies. Depending on the context, you have to use a different item. Spells can be changed on-the-fly, so can characters. Each character has a special ability that comes in extremely handy to progress through the situation. For example, Hagrid has brute strength which you’ll need to use heavy levers and Griphook the Goblin has a key that can access Gringotts vaults. Also, there are several portraits in the game which only work for a particular character/disguise. So, you cannot access the Ravenclaw dormitory unless you are a Ravenclaw yourself.

Moving on to the technical areas, let’s talk about the graphics. Some might call them simplistic but I beg to differ. The graphics are true to the art and design the makers intended. And, in that aspect, they are highly proficient. In terms of sound, the game excels comprehensively. John Williams’ resplendent score for the films is reused here, to great effect. One only wishes they had used more tracks. The sound effects work well. The loud boom when you destroy an object, the chattering buzz when you assemble a structure or the resonant clink when you unlock something are all pleasing to the ears.

The game works, in large part, due to the appeal of the world it is based in and the mythology it draws from. Let’s face it, Hogwarts is one of the most attractive fantasy locations out there and to roam through a fully-realized model of it (even if it is made of Lego bricks) is a dream come true. Moreover, to live like a Hogwarts student, learn spells and potions, fight Boggarts and Dementors, roam around Diagon Alley et al are things that’ll appeal to even a casual fan of J.K. Rowling’s epic saga. The game utilizes this to the fullest extent.

Another reason behind the game’s success is the sheer fun one experiences while playing it. To put it crudely, this is but a magical version of “House-House” or other games one played as a kid. A large portion of play is taken up by gathering items, building structures, lighting up lamps etc. and not once does it feel childish, or embarrassingly naïve. In fact, this game is one of the most family-friendly games I have ever played. Not only is it really easy (and offers little punishment for failure/death), it features drop-in-drop-out co-op play and goes out of its way to present the happenings in a kid-friendly way. Watch out for how the makers handle Buckbeak’s execution scene in Prisoner of Azkaban. De-light-ful.

The game is extremely funny. The story is told through dialog-less cut scenes, depicted with a slapstick sense of humour. Dismemberment, death and tragedy are all acted out in a comical (and squeaky clean) fashion and even mundane events are livened up by a few cheeky changes. For example, just observe how the game treats the depressing sequence in Chamber of Secrets when Hagrid is taken to Azkaban. The reactions of Harry and Ron in that scene are hands-down, hilarious. Moreover, the game also contains a baby Lord Voldemort, made of Lego Bricks… so it already has your money, right?

Another thing that will delight the fans is the faithfulness to the source material. There are numerous references to the books and movies. If you have read the books and/or seen the movies, you’ll notice several minor details, like what the Boggarts transform into when the characters face them… or the Hufflepuff Common Room’s entrance portrait. Neat.

Also, this game makes a vital improvement over its Lego predecessors by scaling back the action and focusing more on the collecting and exploring. Combat was always an irksome part of earlier Lego games, and Lego Harry Potter tones it back appreciably. Whatever action is present is handled very efficiently and is a joy to play.

When it comes to providing value for money, this game is right up there with the best. Make no mistake; this game is packed with stuff to do. Not only is there a giant hub world, the Hogwarts school, which will take you hours to explore, you also cannot unlock all the game’s secrets in one play through. You’ll have to play each level at least twice to get all its collectibles. In fact, there is so much to do in this game that sometimes, it goes into overload and feels like unnecessary padding, which can get quite frustrating.

Now that we are talking about frustrations, I want to list the quibbles I had with the game. Firstly, some of the level choices are baffling. This is a Harry Potter game, but you cannot play Quidditch. Not even one game. Huge missed chance. The level design gets repetitive on several occasions and playing through 24 stages of destroy-assemble-move can become a bit too much. The Artificial Intelligence isn’t that intelligent either. So many times, when you’ll need the other character’s cooperation in solving a puzzle, he/she will resolutely stand just where he/she is, which can get very annoying. The AI will also get in your way numerous times, which leads to cheap deaths. The game also contains many bugs. My copy just stopped working on some occasions and there were a few crashes too. Not expected for such a high-profile title. And for all its technical improvements, the game lacks the charm of earlier Lego titles, especially the Star Wars ones. The product has a sanitized feel to it that I would have gladly exchanged for some personality.

In conclusion, I wish to highlight that Lego Harry Potter isn’t best in its genre, time frame or even franchise, but it is one heck of an enjoyable experience. The game’s sense of humour, setting and family-friendly content are spot-on. It makes great use of its license and gives you the proverbial bang for your buck, which more than compensates for a few flaws. Recommended!

(3/4)

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Photo Credit: Traveller’s Tales/Warner Bros.