The best Lego game yet!
GAMEPLAY - Those who have played the other Lego games out there should feel right at home. Most of what you'll be doing is breaking things apart, building them up, and solving puzzles to acquire Lego studs and progress through the game. There are a couple differences here, however. The first is that combat has been severely cut down on. I personally don't mind this, as my biggest gripe with some of the past Lego games were the infinitely respawning enemies that made it very difficult to go for a high score on most levels when it comes to collecting enough studs. The other thing is the addition of spells. While most of these are either the same or ones Harry Potter fans should be familiar with, they're all used very well. Between levels as you progress through the game, you'll usually have a short class session or two to perfect your newly-found spell or skill. This adds much greater depth to the flow of gameplay than just tearing your way through the game mindlessly. Overall this is a very fun game that all fans of Lego should enjoy. My only gripe here is that, between missions, you get to explore Hogwarts. While this is all fine and good, a lot of the missions take you to places in Hogwarts you've probably explored at least 3 or 4 times already. Not that it's a huge complaint, but seeing the same rooms over and over gets a bit redundant. - 9/10
STORY - The story here, as you've probably guessed, follows the first 4 movies/books (we'll say movies since the game seems to focus on them more) of the series. Unlike other Lego games, however, this one might leave you in the dark a little bit if you're not familiar with the Harry Potter storyline. Some parts were changed, rushed-through, or just didn't seem to make a lot of sense unless you're familiar with the movies. As long as you've brushed up on your Harry Potter knowledge, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. - 8/10
GRAPHICS - These are the best Lego graphics yet. Obviously it's hard to compare to other games because of this, but this is definitely not hard to look at. - 9/10
SOUND - The music used in the movies is all here, and the lego grunts and noises you've come to expect are as well. If anything could be said here, it's that the music and sound effects were used much more efficiently than in past Lego games, in my opinion. - 9.5/10
LENGTH/REPLAY VALUE - Unfortunately this game falls a bit short here. It's a little disappointing that we didn't get at least a couple more books thrown in here as well, as there are only 6 levels per book, making this one of the shorter Lego games out there. Granted the replay value is great, since the levels here are all designed very well and don't really feel like they run together. Chances are, if you like the Lego games, you should have enough to keep you busy here. - 8.5/10
BOTTOM LINE - Lego Harry Potter is easily the best Lego game yet. While not possessing quite as long of a game as other Lego titles, it makes up for that with technological improvements as well as unique level designs. For those of you who don't think they'll ever top Lego Star Wars: check this game out. I'm on board with that opinion, but this game is surprisingly better in comparison. For those of you new to Lego games, whether you're younger or older, this game is a lot of fun, and it should be one of the best games to come out all summer. - 9/10