|
Harry Potter and his friends are back, and this time he's competing in the dangerous Triwizard Tournament. In EA's latest Potter adventure, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, you'll control Harry as he visits the Quidditch World Cup, competes in the Triwizard Tournament and faces off against Lord Voldemort!
|
|
|
If you're a big fan of the Harry Potter series, you're probably already fairly familiar with the story and characters here. Hogwarts has been chosen to host the annual Triwizard Tournament, and young wizards that seek the glory of the tournament are being asked to enter their name into the Goblet of Fire. The Goblet will then choose one wizard from each school to compete. Somehow Harry's name was entered into the Goblet, and unfortunately for him, he was chosen to compete! Suddenly Harry finds himself struggling for his life in the tournament, facing off against Dragons, swimming through the Black Lake, and wandering through mysterious mazes.
|
|
The story isn't relayed particularly well in the game. It tends to jump around a lot and doesn't really explain much about what's going on. If you're not very familiar with Harry Potter, then you might be a little confused... but then again, if you're not familiar with Harry Potter then why are you playing the game in the first place? Either way, the story is enough to tie the missions together, and if you really want to get more out of the story you can just read the book or watch the movie.
|
|
Gameplay is action-oriented, with a bit of puzzle-solving mixed in for variety. The game can be played with up to three players, however even if you don't have any friends to play co-op with, the AI will control the remaining party members. Your party will consist of Harry, Ron and Hermione, although from time to time you'll be limited to only Harry (such as when competing in the Triwizard Tournament). These young wizards will cast a variety of powerful magic spells to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. The trio can even combine their powers to produce even more powerful spells and earn you more experience points! The co-op mode adds a lot of fun potential to the game, however it's a little bit disappointing that the three characters play virtually the same.
|
|
|
You have three different magic spells at your disposal: Accio, which draws items towards you; Jinx, which damages enemies; and lastly, Charm, which does pretty much everything! Charm can have a variety of effects depending on the situation. If you need to open a door, lift up a rock, or put out a fire, you can use charm to do it! It's sort of silly that a single ability can have so many uses rather than giving you a larger spell variety. The Magic Spell system isn't horribly deep, and could use a wider array of spells. Even worse, the game automatically selects what effect your Charm spell has when you choose a target, taking away any opportunity to play around with your casting. Still, it all works fairly well. The controls are simple, each spell will come in handy at different times, and having the computer select the effect of your Charm spell keeps it simple enough for young fans. Unfortunately, the targeting can be really messy when there are multiple targets on the screen.
|
|
|
One very cool aspect of the game is that you can collect and equip cards to improve your stats and affect your abilities. Each party member may choose and equip up to three cards from your collection before each stage, allowing you to prepare them for what lies ahead. The game has three stats that you can increase with cards: accio (strength of accio spell), stamina (HP), and jink (strength of jink spell). You may also gain abilities from cards, such as friendship, which allows you to heal when standing next to a party member. There are a wide variety of different cards, as well as several different levels of cards based on how strong the card is. As you level up you'll gain access to the higher level cards, which you can then purchase using magical beans. You gain experience in the game by killing enemies, casting combined spells and picking up magical beans. At the end of a stage, if you've accumulated enough experience, you'll level up!
|
|
Collecting the magical beans (Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans, to be specific) are essentially the key to increasing your strength. They serve as the game's currency, so to gain access to the game's best stat bonus cards and abilities, you have to collect enough beans. These beans are often dropped by slain enemies or hidden within destructible objects. There are also some special beans, such as red beans that increase your stamina, and blue beans that increase your Magic Meter. By filling up your Magic Meter you can go into "Magicus Extremos" mode, temporarily powering up all of your spells! Throughout the game you must also collect shields which are needed to unlock the next stage. Before you can progress to a stage, you must first gather the required number of shields found in the previous stages. This is kind of a pain, because it can take a long time to run back through previous stages and find all the hidden shields. It's also pretty boring, because rather than offer you NEW stages, you get stuck doing the same thing over and over in stages you've already completed. Really, it seems like a "cheap" way to increase game length to me! Speaking of game length, don't be surprised if you can beat this one in a few hours.
|
|
The game's graphics are fairly good. The character designs match up pretty well with the movie characters, spell effects look nice and the environments feature enough detail that you'll feel as if you're participating in the book. Fans of the Harry Potter books and movies will really appreciate this. The characters don't move very convincingly, though, and walking straight through objects isn't uncommon. The graphics pick up during cinematics. These cinematics feature some very cool events and are beautifully done. Unfortunately, the game features no movie scenes, but the cinematics are good enough to help make up for it. Soundwise, everything is pretty good. Voice acting is very well done, even though it's not the actors from the films.
|
|
|
I wouldn't say this is a great game. Heck, I might not even say it's a good game. However, if you're looking for a decent multiplayer action/adventure, or you're a big fan of the series, then Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire game might be just right for you!
|
|
