bit-tech Shopping: Electronic Arts Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix (WII)

Rating: 8

Time with product: 2 Months

Strengths: Hogwarts looks gorgeous

Weaknesses: little bugs with the remote

Summary: Hogwarts looks gorgeous, and the game designers have done a magnificent job making it look every bit like the sets from the Harry Potter films. The castle is HUGE, and you'll spend quite a bit of time discovering all sorts of hidden goodies. The voice acting is top-notch, using some of the actual actors from the film, and the character models do resemble their movie counterparts. The Marauders map figures large into gameplay as well with black padfeet leading your way from destination to destination. As a game it's not that great, but it's a beautiful presentation of Hogwarts that you'll spend hours exploring. Advancing through the game consists of talking to a character only to discover that he/she needs an item in a wholly different area of the castle. There's some little bugs with the remote in doing spells, sometimes it will do a different spell than the one you want. 90% of the game is performing menial tasks. The rest is just swinging the wii remote around. Most of your time will be spent running errands.

Rating: 4

Time with product: 30 Days

Strengths: Great graphics, Hogwarts is HUGE for exploration

Weaknesses: Poor game play, not for the teenage or older crowd

Summary: Well, any Potter fan will enjoy starting to play this game. However, that is where the fun starts to end. The young kids will still enjoy playing it because they don't know better about gameplay. However, those who like having GOOD controls over the game, will grow tired of it rather quickly. There are also a lot of bugs in the game that were never caught during production or if they were, they released the game anyway. For those who bought the game for $20, now you know why it was so cheap.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1

Strengths: Exploring Hogwart's and casting spells

Weaknesses: Camera and controls could be better

Summary: I haven't ventured too far into the game, but at first glance, it is fun to play. The discovery feature is fun, kind of like figuring out puzzles in each area of the game to upgrade spells and such. You can play minigames such as wizard chess, slapjack variation, and a rock toss game. The spell system on the Wii is probably far superior to other versions because you can use the wiimote and nunchuk as your wand! At times, I found the controls and camera angles to be a bit frustrating, but you can control the camera angle. It is fun to explore Hogwart's, and there are lots of things to occupy your time in each area. For a Wii game under 20 bucks, it is one of the better ones I've tried for the price.

Rating: 8

Time with product: 30 Days

Strengths: great graphics (for the Wii). Use of the remote for the wand a nice touch.

Weaknesses: Alot of running between activities can become boring. Some movements can be difficult for young players.

Summary: Bought game for a young player. Had to help more than normal than with other movie-themed games. footsteps leading Harry will help young players. first experience with any harry potter game. would buy again.

Rating: 6

Time with product: 1 Days

Strengths: 1) Great use of the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii controls for casting spells, 2) Captures the essence of Hogwarts from the movie & book, 3) Wide variety of mini-games (e.g., wizard chess)

Weaknesses: The artificial intelligence (AI) of the supporting characters could be improved, which seems to be a limiting factor in the game play.

Summary: This game was an improvement from the previous Harry Potter game (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire). There are videos of how they made the game and interviews with the cast members that add to the overall enjoyment of the game. Characters in the game closely resemble the actors in the movie. Having played the Wii and PS3 versions of the game, there is better AI on the PS3 platform. If you like the previous Harry Potter movies and books, you will enjoy this game.