LEGO takes what they learnt from the first game and makes it better.
As expected we have vivid and crisp graphics again, with Lego Characters placed in an almost realistic setting. Firing a wand in any direction will see you collecting coins from destructible objects around every corner.
There are some new spells added to this game, and again the spells will help you access secret areas, or even the next area. Some creatures can only be destroyed by specific spells, and unlike the first game, it's not going to tell you which spell to use.
They've added a kind of Duelling mode into the game which I actually LOVED! It's simple, yet pretty to look at and super effective for a Lego game. I don't believe I've ever seen anything like this in any other game from the Lego Series. Basically you and your opponent are put into a battle "ring" and you need to select the same colored spell as the spell your opponent is using. This will cause the 2 magic blasts to hit each other and then the button mashing begins. Press X as fast as you can to get the beam to the other side and win the round. It just looks great!
The rest of the game is pretty much exactly like Harry Potter Years 1 - 4. Though changing between some characters actually means getting some new abilities like seeing hidden objects, or being able to use Weasley Boxes, which adds another dimension to the game, and forces you out of just using Harry all the time.
It's a fun game and a fan of the books and movies will enjoy it. There is enough in it for people who read the books to recognize things that were not in the movie (like Pigwigeon, Ron's owl), but so much to make people who only watched the movies feel like they don't know what's going on.