Review: Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix

We check out the newest Harry Potter game, a title that’s sure to cook up enough excitement from Harry Potter fans and muggles alike.

Available for almost every system under the sun, Harry Potter and The Order Of The Phoenix for the Nintendo Wii promises to be a slightly different experience than that of the others. While the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and other versions of the game will see you learn spells and fight the evils of Voldemort and the Death Eater in an action adventure, you’ll have this as well as control over Harry’s magic wand on the Wii.

This means that together with the Wii Nunchuk controller, the Wiimote becomes your portal into the game. You are Harry Potter and you will have all the power that he has.

That’s the premise of Harry Potter for the Wii. But is it as real as Harry or as empty as a bad spell.

All of this is cool, especially for someone who loves Harry Potter, but the level design doesn’t seem to be there and finding your way from place to place can often be frustrating. It was frustrating for me and I’m an adult. It might be easier as a kid, but still.

The textures also lack pretty much anything to make them seem something other than ugly and it really drags down the look of the people and the world of Harry Potter. The camera isn’t very good, the game isn’t very fun, and the controls could do with a bit of work, but the novelty of the magic wand is cool so it’s not as bad is it might initially sound.

Still, if you’re looking for the Harry Potter wand-wielding experience, you can’t do much better than this game. While it ultimately lacks in almost every area, the music is good and the wand is fun. You can’t help think that it could’ve been done a lot better, but for all of the practicing wizards out there, this could be a lot of fun for all of you.

Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Classification: PG
Formats:Nintendo Wii, Nintendo DS, Gameboy Advance, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, PC, Mac
URL: Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Reviewed by Leigh D. Stark