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Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix

$16.99

User Reviews about Harry Potter Order of the Phoenix

I will start with the positives, of which there are several. The game is gorgeous! I really felt like I was in the HP movie. Voice acting is done by the actors who play the characters in the movie, which adds a lot to the feeling. In addition, characters are modeled on the actors, which adds a lot as well. The game itself does not take too long to play, though going for 100% (I didn't) adds considerable time. Most of the side quests are quick, though I recommend having a walk-through that shows what spells should be cast on what items. The spells themselves are not that difficult once you practice with them. (The motions for the dueling spells are the same as for the non-combat spells, so there aren't too many motions to learn.)

And now to the bad... The player has almost no control of the camera, and the game's camera controls are pretty bad. It isn't uncommon to lose Harry, Hermione, and Ron behind scenery and have to run around until the camera adjusts enough to see them. Controls for the gobstones mini-game are horrible, as there is not fine control of the flicks. (I highly recommend using a free Web-based chess site, like [...], in order to beat the 3 chess champions.) Targeting items and people with spells can be difficult is Harry is standing too close or too far away from the item. In addition, unless you have a walk-through, determining which spells to use when is largely a case of hit or miss. (Some, like broken items or torches, are obvious. Others are not.) A lot of time is spent running from place to place, though if the player set out to get all the secret passage passwords first thing, that would help some. Going from place to place can be tricky, as Hogwarts students stroll around and often get in the way of the party. It is possible to push through them, but it slows the game down. Meanwhile, unnamed Slytherins constantly call out snide comments like "Been in the Prophet lately, Potter?" or "Weasley is our King." The same phrases got old very fast.

The worst part of the game is the ending. Almost the entire part at the Department of Mysteries is done as cutscenes. The one part the player has control of, Dumbledore's fight with Voldemort, turns into the player waiting for V to power up, then casting a defensive spell to dodge V's power shot, then sitting around waiting again. It took at least 5 deflected shots (done correctly) before that part of the fight ended and the next began - which was just more casting protective magic to dodge V's attacks. Meanwhile, V and D are repeating the same lines over and over, which got very repetitive. (I considered muting the game, but was afraid I would miss something when the battle finally ended.) -- Controls and Camera are Awful

The game is really fun, specially if you're a Harry Potter fan. It has many details that they miss in the movie, details that give magic to the world of Harry Potter.
The graphics are great, the controls and the dialogs too. It's quite a simple game, so kids can enjoy plaing it.
It only has a couple of frustrating parts if you're the kind that likes to have a 100% complete, or if you're going for all the achievements. -- Review: XBox 360: Harry Potter OOTP

This was a pretty good game. Better than the last HP game. But still not much replay value to it. I played it through and then sold it on ebay, I got my money back so I can't complain too much. IMO the last fun and really good HP game was Chamber of Secrets. -- No replay value