Ah, the ever-enchanting and mysterious secrets of the dark arts. What better toy to give a child with which to entertain themselves than a dark tome of satanic verses bound in the flayed flesh of a mad warrior-king from the 12th century? According to J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, pretty much nothing can top that, and millions of children thank her for this gutsy move to incorporate plasticized pentagrams into happy meals, just as their parents and environmentalists curse her name into the ages. And because this franchise could never possibly end before Mrs.Rowling is in possession of every last dinero, kroner and peso on the known planet, I recently received a copy of the latest reason to shovel gold doubloons into her Scrooge McDuck-esque money bin: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. And for once, it’s a game based on a movie license that is, quite surprisingly, fairly decent.
It’s the third year at Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and things are decidedly taking a turn for the darker over previous years. The player is cast in the role of Harry, Ron, and Hermione, each of which they will take control of at different points in the game, either alone or working together with one or both of the others. A wizard reputed to have been involved with the death of Harry’s parents has broken out of Azkaban prison to finish off the bloodline, and hordes of robed, skeletal jail wardens known as Dementors have been sent to retrieve him. And coincidentally, suck the life out of anyone who gets in their way. Yes, good times are to be had at Hogwart’s, particularly in comparison to the somewhat pastel and sappy previous iterations of the series.
One of the first things the player will notice about this title is that it is very much a console game ported to the PC. From the underutilized graphics to the simplistic control scheme and culminating in the complete absence of any sort of inventory system, this is, very bluntly put, a game that pretty much anyone of any familiarity with gaming could play, and do fairly well at. In fact, the only time the game ever becomes challenging is when the puzzles are obtuse, poorly explained, or badly scripted. However, despite stiff animations and mediocre voice acting, the game does have a way of reeling the player into the experience that is Hogwart’s, with an enthusiastic (if not entirely successful) interpretation of this mystic locale and its odd inhabitants. It is perhaps the very simplistic nature of the game that allows even a surly curmudgeon such as myself to find a valid play experience in this otherwise lukewarm packaging.
To control your young wizard or witch in training, the player simply need utilize a WASD key setup and the mouse. The left mouse button activates the spell appropriate to the given situation, and the right mouse button causes the avatar to jump. When utilizing a spell, a sparkling icon will appear on the screen, and moving it over various objects (such as enemies, launch pads, treasure chests, or hidden openings) will cause an icon to appear signifying what spell is about to be fired off. It really doesn’t get any easier.
It is in this respect that the game arguably has absolutely no replay value, as there is zero room for creative wizarding or alternate means of achieving a goal. It’s their way or the high way, and that’s all there is to it. The only variety from mashing the spell casting button is the combo casting ability, where two or three of the characters will cast a spell together to increase its power. However, this elegant simplicity makes it rather easy for anyone to slip into the role of a magician, and even the most luddite technophobe will be blasting pixies and flying through the air within moments. The only major complaint in all this is the need for the characters to shout out whatever spell it is they’re about to cast. When opening chests or enchanting statues this doesn’t seem terribly troublesome, but when blasting away repeatedly at a horde of monsters, the audio experience is plausibly akin to giving methamphetamines to Pokémon in heat.
Through the course of the game the player will take the children to their day to day classes, learning new abilities, getting in trouble, getting out of trouble, and zapping a few villains while hilarious mishaps occur. It’s all very much true to form, although there seems to have been one critical oversight in that the game climaxes with the dreaded Final Exams rather than any sort of ultimate battle between supernatural beings. Additionally, the player is required to collect enough candy, pastries and cakes to rot the collective dental work of a small country, which is used to purchase wizard collector cards and passwords to get past magical paintings. Even though these items have no direct impact on the gameplay experience they’re required to get the final credits to roll, for no apparent reason. Saved the day? Too bad! You still need to collect more tokens!
Despite all of these somewhat questionable design issues, the title does deliver a rather enjoyable hop n’ bop experience that can easily burn a few hours without demanding too much investment of cerebral activity. And if you’ve got a younger sibling or child around the house who can handle the grim spectre of death looming over their in-game avatar, it’s definitely a valid visual distraction to sit them in front of and avoid taking an active role in their upbringing.
