Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I can't believe I'm writing this with the likes of 6 to 13 year olds (I'm 24), but I had so much fun playing this game. I was skeptical at first buying a children's cpu game - ha, was I wrong! HP and the SS really does take you into the world of Harry Potter as you learn to cast spells, collect Bertie Botts Beans and Wizard cards. Best of all, you get to play Quidditch, where you can go back after joining the Quidditch team to play against all 4 houses. (beating all 4 houses is the toughest part in the game to be honest, which I still have yet to do) And I personally loved the graphics.
You start out in Harry Potter like Tomb Raider and Oni in the sense where you have to learn step by step how to do certain things (ie: climb, cast spells) in order to progress through the game and all of the terms are just like out of the book - incendio, alohomora and more. The game follows the pretty basic plot of the story where you get to meet Ron, Hemione, Hagrid and Dumbledore along the way - and teachers like Prof. Flickwick and Prof. Quirrell are the ones who will teach you the spells. Of course, you will face your foes as well - Malfoy, Peeves, Fluffy and eventually you will have to defeat you-know-who - Voldemort!
At times I did wish there were more monsters to challenge against but it's overall a very good game.
Hint: You need to try to collect all 24 wizard cards in order to reveal the very last card. I didn't do that when I first beat the game and had to replay the whole thing in order to get it. So be thorough.
Hint 2: Do download the patch from apple, otherwise you're going to be very irritated because you can't save your game if it blacks out on you. That was the only bug and I'm only on Mac OS 9.5 ...

Click Here to see more reviews about: Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone

Play as Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Learn to master all things magical in a world filled with wizardry, fun, and danger. The adventure begins at Privet Drive, then moves swiftly to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Attend lessons, learn and cast spells, and explore characters such as Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy, and Rubeus Hagrid. Overcome physical, mental, and magical challenges to defeat the evil plans of You-Know-Who.
Sneak, climb, and jump as you explore 3-D environments based on Hogwarts and its grounds. Learn to fly on a broomstick and play fast-paced, arcade-style Quidditch and win house points for Gryffindor. Battle evil creatures using all of Harry's abilities while uncovering special items including the invisibility cloak, wizard sweets, potion ingredients, Chocolate Frog Famous Wizard Cards, and broomsticks.
Journey into the world of Harry Potter and interact with more than 20 characters from J.K. Rowling's magical world, including Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Rubeus Hagrid, the Dursleys, and Albus Dumbledore. This is the only licensed interactive Mac game of the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone bestselling book and motion picture.

Click here for more information about Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone

Read More...

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Beware! As the other reviewer noted, this software will not work with Intel GMA 950 graphics - in my case this means that it will not work with a brand new Mac Mini. My daughter wasn't in tears, but was very upset. After installing the game and trying to start it I got a black screen with an "unrecognized video signal" error message. I finally found out the problem - it is halfway through the "read me" file on the DVD. The Amazon website doesn't mention this problem, and all I could find on the EA website was "Electronic Arts game titles will only work on Mac systems that use the Intel-based processor" without mentioning graphics cards. This is bad labeling on the part of both Amazon and EA. Unfortunately the order shipped to me 5 days before Amazon's return window policy would allow a full refund.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Click here for more information about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Read More...

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban is a great game, but I think it falls far short of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets in terms of gameplay, atmosphere, and most certainly duration. I enjoyed the chance to play as Ron and Hermione, but it's not as if you choose one for a certain situation - it's all predetermined by the game itself. I was happiest when the trio stayed together and worked as a team - a number of different actions require the skills of more than one of our young wizard characters. Nice new additions such as this to the HP gaming experience turn out, unfortunately, to be few and far between. Much more is lost than is gained here.
The graphics are quite good, for the most part, but they just don't make Hogwarts come to life. In fact, Harry is pretty much just thrown down in the middle of the place and sent to class without any adequate introduction - there's no animation clip of Harry's departure from the Dursley household, no get-together in the Great Hall, only the briefest of welcomes from Professors Dumbledore and McGonagall, and little chance to really settle in. Hogwarts itself seems to lack character, especially when viewed from outside the grounds - I never felt as if I were really "home." The experience is further diminished by the nonexistence of Quidditch matches, a House Points Championship, or extracurricular activities such as wizard dueling. Then there's the length of the thing. Just as I was settling in and planning to get start exploring the place in earnest, I found myself almost at the end of the game. This feels more like a demo than a complete game. You basically only learn three new spells here, and the spell challenges are much shorter than those of the earlier Harry Potter games. And even though Hogwarts looks bigger in this game, there is much less to do and explore than I was expecting based on my memories of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The only association you really have with your professors is in the challenges; in fact, there is hardly any interconnection with characters other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the entire game (even Draco Malfoy is kept out of the picture almost completely). Things come much too easily, even when Harry has to battle a horde of Dementors. As bad a player as I am, I had little trouble advancing quickly past all of the challenges - that is a clear sign that the game is much too easy.
The game does have its good points. Flying Buckbeak is loads of fun and makes for an almost serene experience. Expecto Patronum makes a fine addition to Harry's repertoire of wizarding skills, the ability to create and temporarily control small dragons makes for a bit of a fun challenge, and Carpe Retractum offers up a different and rather risky way to get around inside a challenge. The ability to create little rabbits and send them out to explore the local area is fun at first but eventually feels a little silly. I also have mixed feelings about the new Glacius spell, largely because sliding down frozen streams of water just doesn't seem to jibe with my concept of Hogwarts and Harry Potter in particular. All of this points to the most problematic issue with the game - it all too often wanders far afield from the events of the novel and movie. This renders the whole Sirius Black storyline as almost incidental and anticlimactic at best. Giving the game designers such a free hand in terms of content seems to have led to a concentration on the gaming aspects rather than the storyline, and that weakens the whole experience.
Harry is basically just going through the motions in this third installment of the HP gaming saga. When I finished the Chamber of Secrets game, I went right back in and played it a second time. Having finished The Prisoner of Azkaban, I feel no such commitment to the experience and may or may not ever return to this adventure. It's still a fun game to play, but give me HP and the Chamber of Secrets any day over this newest addition to the HP gaming series.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Click here for more information about Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

Read More...

Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)The Chamber of Secrets game follows Harry in his second year at Hogwarts as he attends classes, duels, and plays quidditch. The game opens with Harry meeting Ginny and Mr. Malfoy at Flourish and Botts where Malfoy puts the Diary in Ginny's bag. Ron and Harry fly their car to school and land in the Whomping Willow. Then, it's off to class where we get to meet Gilderoy Lockhart. We also meet a lot of tiresome fire crabs and orange snails, which we can knock out and push around and we get wizard cards and beans all the time.
Some nice improvements over Game I are: The character's mouths move when they talk, Harry turns around when you back him up, and you're told if doors aren't going to open so that saves trying again and again. Best of all, you can press Enter to bypass the cutscenes!
I don't like that you get a Loading Game screen every ten minutes or so. You can wander all over the school at any time, which, while fun, can get you off-track if you want to complete a challenge. The Save Game books are still too far apart. There are also long periods without music, and the music isn't as eerie as in Game I. But these are all minor things compared to the overall excitement of the game. (Hint: You'll need to trade beans to make lots of potions to complete the Aragog and Basilisk scenes.)
It's definitely addicting and lots of fun for all Harry Potter fans, especially if you liked Game I. Have fun. (P.S. I hope you're not afraid of spiders!)

Click Here to see more reviews about: Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber Of Secrets lets you return to the Hogwarts school with Harry, for all-new adventures and excitement!All this plus new wizard duels, Quidditch leagues and fun interaction with all of Harry's friends!

Click here for more information about Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets

Read More...