Chamber of secrets may not be the best game around but its still worth a play especially if you are a fan of Potter.
The gameplay is quite similar to previous Harry Potter games on the PS1. At the start of the game you will start in the Burrow with Ron and his twin brothers. Then you will take a trip to Diagon Alley to buy your school stuff and finally enter Hogwarts. Througout the game you will be solving puzzles and things like that. These puzzles might get abit repetitive after a while but at first you will find them fun. Diagon Alley is when the action really starts going. This is where you will have to bring back things that Rons sister, Ginny has lost during her trip to Diagon Alley. To retrieve these stuff you will have to go through different shops and solve puzzles to progress. You will also be bale to buy a book that will increase the power of your spells. With this book you are able to break such things as barrels that will have things hidden in them or behind them. These things that you will find are collectables. Wizard Cards are just some of the items you can get on the game. There are 101 cards to collect throughout the game. Getting all 101 can be challenging and will not be as easy as you think. Bertie Botts every flavour beans are items that you can get and spend at Fred and Georges shop. You can buy things like limited editions wizard cards, spell books, stink pellets and much more. Harry Potter and the chamber of secrets adds abit of stealth here and there in the game. In some levels you will have to sneak past school prefects and do whatever you have to do. It can be quite difficult sneaking past them and if you get caught you cant get out of it. Getting caught will take 5 points from your school house team Gryffindor. Stink pellets and Dung Bombs and highly useful when sneaking past prefects. Stink Pellets will release a foul smell and confuse the prefect. Dung Bombs intend to do the same. You can buy these items from Fred and Georges shop. Chamber of Secrets lets you play Quidditch. The sport that is only available in the magical world. Quidditch is ok but if you want the full experience of Quidditch then i would recomend Harry Potter: Quidditch world cup. About half way throught the game you will given a Nimbus 2000 broomstick. This will let yo fly anwhere in the school grounds and get onto tops of the school buildings. The school building have a whole new world of their own. There are wizard card and small mini games that will cost you a certain amount of Bertie beans. These mini games are fun but for a short period of time. The mini games are just an added extra to the game really. So as you can see there is a lot to talk about the gameplay with Chamber of Secrets.
One of the most significant things to this game is the superb lighting effects. The burrow is where the game starts. This place has lovely sunset effects that gleam orangy red. If Harry gets near to a green light his face will shine lime green. The colours are so brilliant and suit the harry potter theme very well. The character models are also done very well. The environemnts are very big. Hogwarts is huge and is a great place to explore for wizard cards. Unfortunatley with the enviornments so big and with so much in them nearly every door you walk into has to load before you can enter it. This can get really annoying having to load all the time.
The voice actors are not the best in the world. Harry and Ron's voices sound very high, while in the movie their voices have dropped slightly. The music is fine. No complaints there.
The Chamber of Secrets is abit on the shorter side. Its not really short but it can be completed in under a week. Finding the wizard cards will take longer than expected however. I myslef have not got all the wizard cards. I cant find them all. Once completed you probably wont go back to it as the puzzles can get slightly repetitive.
Overall Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a must have for Potter fans. Even if you are not a fan of Potter you may find it fun solving the challenges and collecting all the wizard cards.