For you parents out there who just can’t make enough this year to give your kids something huge, and don’t poop golden coins that allow you to spend hundreds of dollars on game systems, controllers, and games, there’s always the cost effective alternative of the “Interactive Harry Potter DVD Game.” Setting aside my hatred of the franchise, I dove into the interactive DVD Game of Harry Potter with an open mind, and prepared to do battle with my remote. Here’s the gist: This game allows up to four people to be able to take the role of a young wizard and test your knowledge and reflexes on games that reference the first three movies.
Your DVD remote acts as your wand, and a great sound system or decent television will be able to act as a great form of getting the players involved. Since this is the first DVD we’ve reviewed that doesn’t have a movie or series in it, we will feature a new system.
Gameplay: Choosing from an option of Easy, Medium, or Hard, we coast through an endless array of clips from each of the three films that allow you to be engrossed in the game. Thankfully, the preamble isn’t tedious or monotonous, and it’s a great introduction for the folks just playing for the first time. After this, you can choose between the five schools by clicking on a banner from the class, and you have chosen your side. Next, you can look at your score cards, Attend Class, or interact in ExtraCurricular Activities. You can only embark on ExtraCurricular Activities after a certain amount of time has passed and points are gained. Surely enough I had a difficult time learning the intricacies of the games and various levels, but once I stepped out of Easy mode and went into Medium and then Hard mode, I suddenly understood it easier.
From there on in, it’s a matter of paying attention, listening to directions, and keeping the remote handy, which works and works well. The games are simple, but also complicated enough to keep your children working for hours trying to build house points. I had a good time. The only real problem is that some of the games repeat themselves, and that’s tedious in some moments, not to mention some clips fooled me. A clip from one of the films where a teacher announces Gryffindor will lose fifty house points had me utterly shocked that failing one game would leave me without fifty points only to discover it was only ten points I was losing after the announcer interrupted. Clarity goes a long way.
Graphics: The graphics are great even for glorified interactive DVD Menus. Any hopes of computer generated characters are all empty exercises as it’s merely more based around pictures, scenes from the film, and architecture. The better scenes involve falling down the weird stairs if you are dumb enough to choose the wrong stairwell to connect and escape through. The graphics are good for a DVD Game and will spare no complaints from the kiddies.
Controls: The controls are easy enough, but sometimes can hesitate. The announcer insists on speed when the stair level comes, but trying to click on the right stairwell left me frustrated until finally clicking it five minutes later. It’s a shame that the directional buttons don’t work smoother. Otherwise, it’s a simple use of your remote to work as controllers, and nothing is ever too demanding. Parents could play with their seven year olds easily.
Difficulty: Frankly the difficulty levels never really mean much in this game. Easy, Medium, and Hard left me with the same amount of difficulty and the only real complication involves finding objects in a panning scene from the film. It’s a great take on the classic “Highlights” game. There’s also the transformation game which is just picking the right picture for the monster and taking out the errors, and once you surpass that, things get much better as there’s a game that tests your ability of levitation, and chemical mixing which tests your ability of mixing colors to form another. It’s basic stuff, but fun.
The “Interactive Harry Potter DVD Game” has its problems, but it’s a simplistic and easy game based around simple graphics and low tech playability. I had almost no problems and found it generally easy even from someone who is vaguely familiar with the mythos. Buy this, pair it with “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and folks who don’t have a lot of change to spare will gain the fondness of children without having to take a second mortgage. This game is gorgeous, it’s easy, and its loads of fun even for non-Harry Potter fans like moi.