Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban Xbox Review @ Gaming Target

Written by Ryan Genno on June 17, 2004

Review: Things are definitely looking Harry for this young magician.

Harry Potter mania is back in full force as the next movie (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) hits the theatres on June 4 in a big way. Since this movie is bound to make millions at the box office (it actually made 93 million in its opening weekend) you can rest assured that a video game company is going to cash in on a big thing, right? Here is Harry Potter POA, the game from EA Games, a very Zelda-like action/adventure where everyone's favourite wizard in training is in the fight of his life.

For those of you that don't know the story yet, here's what is happening. Young Harry Potter was excited to begin his third year at Hogwart school of Witchcraft and Wizardry, until he hears that Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban prison. This Black character was said to be responsible for a deadly curse that killed Harry's parents, and since he is now on the loose, Harry fears that he is out to kill him as well. The story here is definitely darker and more mature this time around, but it's nothing too heavy so kids can play this with no serious problems. I did have an issue with understanding what's really going on here though. I'm one of five people in the world that is not very familiar with the world of Harry Potter. I've never read one of the books, nor have I seen any of the movies as of yet, so these characters are completely new to me. Just imagine playing a game where you don't really know what's going on? I know there are tons of avid fans that already know everything, but something like biographies would have helped greatly for the rest of us. Sure, it's a minor complaint, but what better way to attract new fans by providing a little background information exclusively for the game, eh?

Although I wish EA had given me more of a story line, they still provided me a fine playing adventure game. Any fan of Nintendo's famous Legend of Zelda will feel right at home with the addictive puzzle style game play. If you have young children, the game will even drop hints if you take too long to solve a room, just in case. Harry Potter isn't fighting alone all the time either. You can also play as Harry's two close friends (Hermione and Ron) if there are some situations where you need their unique magic abilities. All the characters are easy to control, and the button layout is very easy to use for their various spells. The whole game is actually very easy to get into, but not everyone will go crazy for the overly basic difficulty found here.

EA Games always seems to put a lot into a licensed game, and this is no different. After seeing the official movie preview in the list of extras, the computer generated characters look a lot like their movie counterparts, and the different environments look quite detailed too. I was disappointed that EA didn't include any of this movie footage like they did with their two Lord of the Rings games, because it would have made the adventure appear even more real.

Most of the original actors from the films do lend their voices (all British by the way) here though, so it at least sounds like the movie. The game even has the film's fantasy soundtrack to help the adventure come to life all over again.