Despite its many flaws, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a great game for fans of the series.
User Rating: 7.1 | Harry Potter to Himitsu no Heya PS2
The Harry Potter series is one of my favorite things. I've read all the books multiple times, own all the DVDs, have a Harry Potter T-shirt, and even one of the books in Spanish! I had been wary of the games for some time, but when I found this for $10, I figured that it would be worth that to visit an interactive Hogwarts. It was. Despite its many flaws, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is a great game for fans of the series. If you've played any of the Zelda series, Chamber of Secrets will feel very familiar. The game has many puzzles in which you push boxes, flip switches, and light torches. You'll also do lots of exploring around the grounds of Hogwarts and, briefly, Diagon Alley. About halfway through the game you will get your very own broomstick, which allows you to fly. Most enemies can be defeated with a single spell, although there are a few boss battles to spice things up. Quidditch games have you flying through rings to catch the golden snitch. During the nighttime portions of the game, you use stealth to sneak past prefects. Basically, this game does nothing we haven't seen before. However, it does what it does well, and the puzzles are very enjoyable. Harry gains eight spells throughout his journey. He can light fires, turn stones into birds, unlock mechanical locks, sever objects, repel attacks, and more. These abilities are mainly used in exploring the school, and about half of these spells are only used a handful of times. Spells and items are equipped to the circle, square, and triangle buttons and are usually easy to use. The targeting system doesn't always work correctly, though, so you may often be hitting walls instead of opponents. Three of Harry's spells are used in combat. Most of the time you would just target an enemy (which is harder than it should be) and release a spell. There are several dueling matches in the game, which play a lot like a game of tennis. There is a barrier in the middle which cannot be crossed, and the two participants deflect spells against each other until one is hit by the spell. Again you can see the Zelda influence, because this borrows heavily from the Ganondorf fight in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Unfortunately, Harry doesn't always control as fluidly as Link, although most of the time you'll have no problems with him. The camera is a bit wonky and the auto jump can be annoying at times. The few boss battles in this game are pretty fun, and the last boss's size is impressive. The graphics of this game are its worst point. The frame rate of the PS2 version is very jumpy, and it often left me with mild headaches. Enemies animate very stiffly and sometimes skip a few movements. This can be especially problematic in the escape from Aragog, the giant spider, because spiders that are a few feet away from you are suddenly on top of you and depleting your health. Harry's character model generally looks good and does not suffer from these problems. The environments generally look nice, but inside Hogwarts the same pictures are used over and over again and the trees look very bad. Pop up is a big problem with the students out on the grounds. There are also a few collision detection problems, causing enemies to fall through the floor or making people run through each other. These errors could have been fixed, and the fact that they are still in the game makes it feel rushed. Hogwarts itself looks great from the outside, especially on your broom. Inside it looks nice, too, although there isn't a whole lot of variety to the different rooms. If you've seen the Harry Potter movies, the game's soundtrack will be instantly recognizable. John Williams's wonderful score is present, but the development team doesn't seem to know what to do with it. The soundtrack comes in and out abruptly and in awkward places. There is no flow to it whatsoever. However, once you really get to hear a piece, it sounds great. When the music is used in the right place, it all comes together very well. The game uses voice acting. However, the delivery is bland and almost always lacks emotion. Most of the lines are lifted straight from the movie, so I don't understand why the development team didn't save themselves some time and just use clips from the movie. Sound effects and like footsteps and shutting doors sound very good and compliment the game nicely. Every so often you will come upon glitches where Harry will say "Ow" and "Flippendo" at the same time, but those don't happen often. Most of the people who will be interested in buying this game will be Harry Potter fans, and the most important question to them will be, "How well does this game capture the spirit of Harry Potter?" The answer is a yes, but not as much as we Potterheads would like. The beloved characters are pretty lifeless. Most of the narrative is sloppy and it skips a lot of plot threads, such as everything involving Lockhart. Hogwarts feels kind of empty. Hagrid is seen about three times throughout the game. Snape looks like a normal person. Ron and Hermione are rarely with Harry and never go on adventures with him. The Hufflepuff quidditch team's robes are purple instead of yellow. The lake is lifeless. There is no mention of Dobby whatsoever. Still, even with these problems, the game does manage to be pretty magical. Fred and George are funny, and their store fits in perfectly with what we know of them. Sneaking around the school prefects is great fun. Finding secret passages adds to the mystery of Hogwarts. Quidditch games are fun to play. The puzzles are fun, especially the Incindo dungeon. Of course, there is a major draw in just being Harry Potter and accomplishing the things he does. Much of the enjoyment in the game comes from the fact that YOU ARE HARRY. All said and done, this game gets some things right and some things wrong. The journey is very easy and wraps up in under ten hours. It's a lot of fun to see Hogwarts in this form. However, there really isn't much draw for those who aren't fans of the series. For those who love it, though, this game can be easily recommended.
