One of the most eagerly awaited movies, but is the game magical or a failure in snapes class?
Graphically Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (HPOP) is stunning if you have the hardware to play with full settings, which should not be hard as it is not hardware intensive like other titles on the market, you do feel like you are in hogwarts and playing a part in the story.
But... that being said that is HPOP's best feature.
One major disappointment is the controls and camera views, or should I say lack of controls of the camera views, most of the time you will be close to cursing at your monitor as you try to turn to get round a corner or open a door or aim to cast a spell. Why? Well for some reason the developers thought it would not be necessary for you to control your camera so you have to rely on a poor camera system that seems to have a life of its own.
Never before has a game been more challenging to get from A to B without running into walls or people. Its not so bad some people will say, perhaps, but throw in constant reminders from Ron and Hermoine about what your supposed to be doing every 20 seconds and it becomes one hell of a frustratingly annoying experience.
Its like the preverbial nagging wife or mother depending on your age, "Have you mowed the lawn yet?" - yes yes im doing it now, 20 seconds later, "Have you mowed the lawn yet?" - Scream! This is what you will expect in HPOP as you run around Hogwarts.
Quest wise the Marauders Map and little feet do help immensely to show you the way around to your next destination, without it you would probably be lost early on, so quests become a bit easier with this feature, actually most of the quests everybody should be able to do first time, since strangely enough it is very difficult to lose intentionally. Try it, you will see what I mean.
And you will find out that you have funnily enough completed the whole story line before you even realise, and you will wonder "ummm is that it?". Thankfully its not completely as you have the harder task of collecting all the bonus points from exploring and finding hidden items and little puzzles. Even harder is trying to do it with the disappointing camera system.
Another annoying missing feature is the fact you have no health indicator or life bar to see what your doing. So you have no idea if your low on health or full to the brim with lovely juicy health points. But then again its not needed as said before you will find it hard to even lose at anything.
Overall HPOP is beautiful to look at, but I feel the game has been pushed far far too early for release and is very much unfinished, quick game to complete and highly frustrating when it does not have to be. Lets hope the developers fix these bad features before the movies cinematic release.
If you want a game the kids will love and who will not mind the bad features and gameplay of HPOP then go ahead and buy it for them, otherwise purchase this at your own risk, as you may need a new monitor or new neighbours from your frustrating punch outs and yells of naughty words.