Game Rating: Everyone 10+
Game Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform: Xbox 360 (Also available for PS3, Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP, and PC)
Release Date: June 30, 2009
Buy this at: Amazon for $38.79

I know I’m a little late on the ball when it comes to reviewing “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” video game, but that’s mainly because I didn’t get my copy of the game until recently. I made it through the entire game in less than two days, which could say something about what is offered, but I didn’t really spend much time exploring Hogwarts, the way I should have, between the loosely based on the movie/book storyline that runs as the primary focus of the game. Now that I’ve finished the main game, I’ve been able to go back, win crests, and explore Hogwarts at my own pace. That is the most enjoyable part of playing this.

Since I have a son who has been old enough to enjoy all the Potter movies and games, I’ve seen the evolution from “Sorcerer’s Stone” through “Half Blood Prince.” The game play is a lot more realistic. The graphics have improved drastically. Simple gameplay functions have become far more complex. I especially love the evolution of flight. Flying is exhilarating in “Half Blood Prince.” I could almost feel the wind whistling through my hair. When the first Potter video game came out several years back, you didn’t really have the chance to experience Hogwarts, but now you do.

I don’t know what people expect of Harry Potter video games, because I believe this followed the story enough as not to completely spoil it for those who have not seen the film or read the book. I read the book prior to playing the game, but that was when it first came out. I recognized enough of the elements of the book to recall what happened in it. Save for the ending, which stays true to the book, there isn’t too much to spoil this for fans who just haven’t had the time to read the book or catch the movie in the theater. Since I imagine most people who want to play this game have knowledge of the events in “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince,” and I’m assuming most have seen the movie, there is very little to be surprised about concerning the game.

At the same time, as cool as flying, making potions and dueling is, the gameplay does have the potential to get repetitious. There is only so much you can do to make the story enjoyable in a game setting like this. Without drastically changing the story, EA had to do something to liven up the game. I believe that is why Hogwarts features an open, easily explored, free movement environment. There are thousands of NPCs, many of whom you can easily interact with. The grounds seem massive and expect to take as long exploring all of the various Hogwarts locations, as you did completing the story mode for the game.

You have the opportunity to play as one of three characters in the main storyline. Mainly, you play as Harry, but you’ll stumble around as the love struck Ron, and fly in the Quidditch match as Ginny. Other than that, it’s all Harry (though you can duel as Hermione when you head away from the main story).

The story is similar (though more bare bones) than the one told in the book and movie. Harry goes to visit the Weasleys and Bellatrix LaStrange shows up with a werewolf-like male who tries to kidnap Ginny. Harry stops them. While school shopping later on, Harry, Ron and Hermione notice that Draco Malfoy is acting suspicious. Harry tries to spy on him with his invisibility cloak on the train to Hogwarts, but Draco knows he’s there and knocks him out. He is found by Luna Lovegood who accompanies him from the train up to Hogwarts school.

Dumbledore is preparing Harry for something. It is a fight to prevent Voldemort from regaining his hold on the world. In school, Harry becomes the favorite of the new potions teacher much to Hermione’s displeasure. Harry is using notes written in his book by someone calling himself the Half Blood Prince. Draco continues to act weird, and at times, disappears off of Harry’s secret map. He realizes he must be in the room of requirements.

As Dumbledore prepares Harry, he must learn the potion teacher’s true memory of Tom Riddle, a memory he altered and hid from everyone. He also learns about horcruxes, learns how to make a variety of potions, leads the Gryffindor Quidditch team to victory as its captain, holds Quiddich tryouts, suspects Snape is up to no good, and he must put up with the constant bickering between Hermione and Ron all while having a crush on Ginny.

Enjoyment/Fun Factor:

The coolest feature is the ability to explore Hogwarts, on your own. During the story, you have specific missions and places to be, but you can go off on your own. There is no time limit to the next mission, even if it seems pressing, so you can go off and do what you want. The only exception is when you are Ron. He’s too “love potioned” up to move at a fast enough pace to explore anything and once you get to your mission location, you’ll have to complete said mission before you are free to roam at your leisure again.

While you are exploring, you have the opportunity to gather crests and mini-crests. You get mini-crests by pressing a button to release them as you pass lights or bushes hiding them. Crests can be found on walls, sitting around in corners and behind grated/gated doors. As you learn spells you learn how to get them. For gated up crests, break them and then take the pieces out through the gate openings. From there, the “Reparo” spell puts it back together. Throw objects at crests on walls to knock them off, with your wand. Of course, these help you gain achievements. I ran through the entire story first, then I went back to explore Howarts grounds and collect quests. You can do it this way or find them between story missions.

If you get lost during your story mode, you can call upon Nearly Headless Nick. He will lead you to the next place you need to go. Hogwarts is so big and so many staircases move, it is necessary to call on Nick at least once. You can call on Nick an unlimited amount of times. Nick can lead you to the Quidditch field and pretty much everywhere else on Hogwarts grounds.

In potions class, you learn the fundamentals of making potions. You must line up ingredients, put them in, stir it up, shake it around, shake the bottles to make them smoke, drop ingredients in and all within a time limit. The hardest part besides stirring, which you must do with your right thumb, is shaking the bottles. In the demo, the bottles don’t spill liquid all over, but when actually making a potion, they do. That could have been a much smoother action had the stirring followed the way it was done demo.

On the Quidditch field, you play as Harry (or Ginny once in Harry’s place when Snape gives him detention), who is the seeker. You must capture the snitch. To do that, you must navigate around obstacles and fly through colored stars. You want to keep the stars green, because if they become red from inaccurate flying, you must restart the Quidditch game. Flying through stars turns them back from red to green, so long as you get through them in time. Don’t worry if you miss one or two. The stars turn yellow and then orange before they turn red.

There is also an option to play multiplayer games, change the time of day, duel with other wizards, and partake in classes at Hogwarts. You can duel in dueling club, take in side missions to duel or make potions, and there are duels that are a part of the story. You will duel Draco. You will duel Bellatrix more than once. You will also duel Crabbe and Goyle more than once. The more you duel, the harder the duels become and even then, they aren’t all that hard. Frankly, I found dueling in duel club harder than dueling in the actual game!

Replayability:

The controls for “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” are fairly easy to use. Before you do any action, you are told what button to press. Potion making is the most complex, as it uses a series of buttons, and you are timed. It isn’t hard though. It takes you a minute to get the hang of it.

One thing I do recommend is playing your own game without splitting play time, with a friend. Ash and I split our screen time just to be able to play together. I started out flying, so when it came time for her to fly, she wasn’t sure how to do it. In the end, she felt more comfortable letting me fly. She did the first duel, so when I had to duel, I had to guess what buttons to press, at first. I did get the hang of it eventually, but I would have caught on faster had I played the game on my own.

In all, the hardest button to use is the right stick. When stirring potions, you have to hit it just right and hope you don’t over stir. Otherwise, the button configuration is decent. If you’ve played previous Potter games on Xbox 360, not much has changed with the controller setup.

Ease of Use:

For the most part, the visual quality for “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” is good. The visual quality has improved quite a bit throughout the years and various Potter games that have been developed. The greatest improvement is in the environmental designs. Hogwarts is stunning. As you explore the grounds you will notice how EA and the game developers paid close attention to every minute detail.

The likeness of the characters is fairly good. These renderings look remarkably similar to the actors who play them in the movie. The most realistic rendering is Harry himself. I am the least fond of Hermione, but even she sort of resembles Emma Watson. As fair as visual errors, they are kept to a minimum though the occasional edge enhancement and pixelation are visible, especially during flying sequences.

Visual:

While the audio options for “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” are good, I did have some problems with the audio. When I play a game based on the movie, I expect to hear the cast of the movie in the game. The absence of Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Maggie Smith, amongst others, was massively disappointing. While the man who voiced Harry did sound remarkably like Radcliffe, the voice of Hermione was absolutely terrible. Rachel Sternberg sounds nothing like Emma Watson. It was very distracting and disappointing. I’m not exactly sure why Rupert Grint signed on and the others didn’t, but I hope they’ll all return for the last game(s).

Other than the obvious audio disappointment in the voice casting, everything else comes through clearly. The sound effects are pretty cool and the musical score is pleasant. I couldn’t give the audio a totally bad rating because there don’t appear to be any real audio errors in terms of quality.

Audio:

I always like to post how disability friendly the video games I play are. I am in a wheelchair due to a physical disability (progressive muscle disease). Disabled gamers are an unrepresented group. I know that I like to know how accessible a game is before I spend money purchasing it. For those who are hearing impaired, you are obviously going to miss out on some of the spoken story. There aren’t any subtitles (to my knowledge). However, for making potions, and doing other tasks there are some clear, on screen instructions that allow you to complete said tasks.

As for those who have weakness in their hands and fingers, playing this game is relatively easy. The only problem I had was stirring during potion making. I was able to compensate by holding the Xbox controller sideways, and I did have to do a few of the potions over, but for the most part, I didn’t struggle at all.

I was actually quite surprised by how much “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” had improved from the last Harry Potter video game release. If you are a hardcore gamer, don’t like Harry Potter, or both you probably won’t like this title. I like to consider myself hardcore, but I’m also a dad. I attempt to play the kid-friendlier titles, just as much as I do the shooters and action-packed blood fests. Fans of the books/movies are going to enjoy this game. EA has finally done the series justice when it comes to aspects of wizardry. From standout graphics to gameplay that allows you to experience life as a wizard, at Hogwarts, first hand, there isn’t much to complain about with this release. If you can get over the Radcliffe/Watson/Smith exclusion, then this game is enjoyable. Otherwise, you might prefer to leave this title behind.

Overall Rating:

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