JK Rowling announced today: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) will be published July 21st.
Warner Brother Entertainment will release Movie #5, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”, in theaters July 13th. And Electronic Arts (EA) will release “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” videogame around the same date. It’s going to be great summer for Potter fans – no doubt.
Movie to Game conversions are known for having great potential but usually end up being over-shadowed by unpolished game-play and low production-value. Recent Movie to Game disasters include: Eragon, Over the Hedge and Happy Feet (Wii) –to name a few.
Harry Potter games are not the cream of the crop, but EA manages to provide a decent interactive Hogwarts experience for young gaming Witches and Wizards. We are fortunate to have a young Potter fan as our son and therefore expierence all Books, Audio-Books, Videogames and movies over and over and over.
Besides “Lego Star Wars” and “Lego Star Wars: The original Trilogy”, we cannot think of any other games that have been played more in our house than the HP (Harry Potter) games. Our family favorite is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” (Xbox), followed by “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” (Xbox).
The first HP game “Sorcerer’s Stone” is fun but not great. Quidditch World Cup is another one of the good but not great kind. If you are not familiar with the franchise, it is important to know that HP Games are all action/adventure type games with the exception of Quidditch Worldcup, which is a (fantasy) sports game.
If you read the books or saw the movies you probably noticed that the story got a little darker around book 4 – Goblet of Fire. In addition to a more intense story, younger kids may have a harder time relating to a “teen” Harry and friends. This change is also reflected in the most recent videogame: “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”. The game is much more action heavy and offers a slightly complex Power-up and Character upgrade system compared to previous games. However, it is the first title to offer Multiplayer for up to three-player-co-op play and that is -with out a doubt- the best addition EA could make. Cola of course plays as Hermione Granger, Thomas plays as Ron Weasley and our son Chase plays as Harry Potter. It’s a lot of fun – the multiplayer, not so much the hack-and- slash action parts of the game. The only (big) drawback is that players can no longer roam around Hogwarts to explore the grounds and castle on their own.
Hopefully we get Co-op Multiplayer, fun Puzzle solving, and the ability to roam around freely again in the next edition of the game. Either way, we are looking forward to it.