Fans of the series will enjoy the second half of Lego Harry Potter, but may feel a little familiar for a few.

User Rating: 8 | LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 PS3
Traveller's Tales have always been making Lego games based on movie titles such as Star Wars, Indiana Jones and of course there upcoming title Lord of the Rings which is set to be released by Summer 2012. However Lego Harry Potter was a huge success for Years 1-4 which was released in 2010, Years 5-7 is the second half of the sequel to the first game, it follows J.K Rowling's 3 books which we all know and love.

If you've read the books or seen the movies, Lego Harry Potter follows the 4 last films from-

Order of th Phoenix
Half Blood Prince
Deathly Hallows Part 1
Deathly Hallows Part 2

Gameplay: The basic instucture still remains from 2005 when the first Lego Star Wars game was released, where you can build up Lego into objects or vehicles by holding down circle. But it's also the same button while using magic for repairing things, fixing things or breaking into heavy objects or lifting items. Friendly Co-Op play returns where a second player can drop in or drop out of gameplay, or if you playing by yourself whichever character you use, the other characters that are on the screen will be controlled by the computer.

There's only 6 six levels in each of the four stories, in each of the level you go through you can collect Hogwarts crests based on the four houses which turn into a Hogwarts Shield, there's 24 shields throughout the game. Also during outside and inside of Hogwarts and Story you'll spotted students in pearl and asking for help, you can rescue them in each of the levels and throughout the game as well.

Also during your time at Hogwarts during Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince you'll be able to learn new spells like Aguamenti which can spray water which can put out fires or watering empty pots and objects. Returning spells such Wingardium Leviosa which will be the main spell that you'll be using a lot and also building stuff. Some spells you'll probably recognise from the series including the last games you'll use spells such as Lumos. Using Potions also make a return to series such as Polyjuice Potion and Strength Potion. If you play as any Weasley character they can now use a Joke Box which can be used to stick and walk on walls or using fireworks to make explosions and smash into object you can't destroy.

Graphics and Sound: No matter how many times you've seen the movies you'll noticed that game will have a lot of funny references and one or two easter eggs. Not everything is all in form the landscape and environments are well detailed Hogwarts, to Diagon Ally, to even the battle of Hogwarts. But however most of the objects and landscape environments like flowers, giant rocks or even moving paintings that we've all seen in the movies will all be in Lego.

However most parts of the game do feel like you're going through the same areas again like on the first Lego Harry Potter and pretty know what and where the cold bricks, character studs and red bricks are.

Most parts of Lego Harry Potter, the characters and cutscenes are funny and charming to see even if you've played through Lego games before you'll really enjoy the Harry Potter series a lot but in Lego. However there is one or two problems but they can easily be ignored, you'll see a lot of random bugs and glitches which appear now and then but not a big problem. Also during gameplay targeting at enemies or at almost anything can be annoying specially if there's anything blocking in front of it.

Another amazing job they've done with the game is the well done soundtrack which you've probably heard or listened during in the movies at any time, making you feel welcomed back into Hogwarts. There isn't any voicing from any of the characters so you are not specting any of the actors from the films playing any of the roles in Lego Harry Potter. Like most Lego games you'll have the same sound effects and gibberish voicing that was used in the last games.

Overall: If you're new to the series and you've haven't read the books you not get confused with the plot in the game because Lego Harry Potter follows more to the books then to the movies. This is a good thing for most hard-core Potter fans including myself that prefers the books then to the movies. You'll probably finish the game at least 6 hours or more pending on how much you want to get out of the game. The light-puzzles are pretty easy and simple which doesn't make a challenge for gamers but if you have kids playing these you can see why they keep the Lego games easy.

Once you've beaten a level on story you can play it again on Free Play where you can select any random character to play through that level and also collect Hogwarts Crest pieces that you've missed out which you couldn't get during story.

There's plenty of stuff to unlock and collect including rescuing Hogwarts students throughout the whole game there's around 24 students to rescue during 5-7 years at your time at Hogwarts and out. You can also collect Gold Bricks which doesn't let you unlock anything, not only that you there's 20 Red Bricks to pick which can be used to purchase cheats. If you're a Trophy collector it can take you up to at least 25 hours to get 100% Platinum.

I was really looking forward to Years 5-7 after finishing Years 1-4 about a year ago, but half of it felt pretty much the same as the first game. I do wish Travellers' Tales would take a break and stop making Lego games for a while but however I'm a little curious what movie series will they take on next.