The production values are, overall, excellent; obviously, a great deal of care has gone into the experience and presentation. Finally, we have a Harry Potter game that does a decent job (not perfect) of capturing the ‘feel’ presented through the movies.

Unfortunately, this care didn’t extend to the actual game itself.

Don’t get me wrong; the game is decent, if a bit short (I could probably have finished the core storyline in under eight hours; as it is, I’ve breezed through it in under 20, even with extensive exploration [over 80% completion]).

Unfortunately, though the book is clearly targeted at older children, the game is still firmly set within the province of younger gamers; experienced gamers will not likely find this one challenging at all, and the plotlines are reduced to almost absurd simplicity.

Visually, however, it is magnificent; the sheer scope of it all makes the whole experience actually feel authentic, and the fact that you can move from one end of Hogwarts to the other with no load screens or other delays only improves the immersiveness of it all.

Controls are acceptable, although a little finicky in places. One tip I can offer: to target an item for a spell, hover the on-screen pointer over the item (until the remote vibrates briefly to indicate a ‘lock’) and tap the B-button. This is often quicker than tapping the B-button to cycle between available ‘targets’. Items that cannot be interacted with, or which you have performed all possible interactions (many times, you can interact with a given item more than once, in different ways) will no longer ‘lock’.

All in all, this is a wonderful addition for any die-hard Potter fan, but it is likely to disappoint the serious gamer. It feels less like a real game and more like a set piece.

This is especially noticable after the main story is finished, yet all the students are still reacting as if it is all still going on (“Umbridge is wonderful; I hope they sack Dumbledore soon!”).

The silver lining to all this is simple:

Now that they’ve done such a good job on the presentation, maybe the next game can use it as a base so they can focus on the actual game itself.

Further technical details:

On startup, the game appears to insist on activating all available remotes registered to the console, even though this is, as far as I know, strictly a single-player game. Additionally, if a second remote is activated, be careful about turning it off; the game does NOT properly handle this, and instead turns off the console. This is a usability oversight which is seriously disappointing (I’ve tried several first-party titles which only permit the P1 controller to actually turn off the console; this is MUCH better).

It’s also a minor frustration that it does not automatically detect the presence of the nunchuck attachment; instead, it puts up a screen advising “You must attach the nunchuck to play this game” on every startup. Granted, I’ve yet to see a third-party title handle this correctly, so it’s not an unexpected nitpick, especially given the relative youth of the Wii.
Rating: 3 / 5

I was very disappointed in the last game (Goblet of Fire) but had high hopes for this one, especially with the Wii. And while it is a fun novelty to use the remote like a wand, and the graphics are great, the game itself is a bore. I would also say it’s too short, but I won’t because given how dull it is, short is a blessing.

There’s no running, no jumping, no puzzling out what you’re supposed to do. Now that the game designers have showed off what wonderful graphics they can do and what fun it is to use wand movements, maybe they can turn their talents to actually creating an enjoyable game next time.
Rating: 3 / 5

Overall the only really good thing in this game is the amazing recreation of Hogwarts. If the price goes down somewhere around 5$ this game might be worth thinking about just so you can explore Hogwarts, but at any other price it just isn’t worth it.

Rating: 2 / 5