Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince   - Review

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Ages: Everyone 10+

This is the second distillation of the book - movie - now game. Each has selected what will work for them - and for the game it is taking part in the experience of being in Hogwarts, the flying Quiddicth game, making of potions, casting spells, wand dueling and the ability to wander through the school. To fully enjoy the involvement in the game, I suggest you memorize the wand spells so to have them at the ready to be used at anytime, anywhere. I mean, is that not the ultimate fun of being a mage?

Nearly Headless Nick is a big improvement over those black footprints in finding your way through the bottomless stairs and endless halls. Hogwarts is more immense than ever and collecting Hogwarts Crests - 150 in all, is a technique to encourage wandering. There are now more people crowding through the corridors, the great halls and dueling grounds. Harry is never at a loss to know what to do next - there is always Hermionie, a student or a teacher telling him where he is expected next. Of course you can take detours to pick up extra Hogwarts Crests or just wander the half-lit corridors, the swinging stairs and pass through the portrait doors or any place appearing on the map. New areas become accessible as the game progresses.

New spells are learned as the game progresses. But the first three, Wingardium Leviosa, that lifts and moves objects is necessary for knocking out crests from their frames and Stupefy and Expelliarmus are the two most commonly used fighting spells. Of course, Harry wouldn't stop there - Reparo, Sectumsempra, Protego, Incendi, Levucorpus and Lumos are added to his bag of tricks - some of which you may remember from the previous game.

The story progresses towards the eventual dénouement of the series and the tone is darker and more frantic - lost are the easy days of the first book. Many of the references in the game will be completely opaque to new readers of the series and the game makes little attempt to explain them. But then, this is a game for Harry Potter fans who savor every drop of the saga.


Fun Factor: A necessary addition for any Harry Potter fan
Female Factor: Good female characters taken from the book
Player Friendly: Automatic saves. A card with the spells would have been nice.

Reviewed by: Editor - 08/09

  • Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
  • © Electronic Arts
  • Platform(s): PlayStation3 PS3
  • To Order: PS3 http://www.amazon.com/ $54.74