Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince PSP Review
Today we're looking at the hand held version of the new Harry Potter game.
This time people at Hogwarts are plotting against Dumbledore (the old headmaster) to get darkness into the school borders.
Of course this isn't as easy as it seems and quickly Harry starts to suspect several people after a series of unusual events.
It is safe to say that the movie is a great success but can the video game follow in its footsteps? The first thing you will notice about the PlayStation portable version is that the Hogwarts school is mapped in 2d with 3d elements.
Which means that the environment looks 3d but doesn't move around your character.
Even more reason for concern is that you walk to different rooms by walking past invisible gates, after which a loading time of about 2-4 seconds occurs.
This wouldn't be a big problem if it wasn't for the insane amount of searching and walking that is required in this game.
In this game you are Harry, not really a bombshell, and you have to search for various items around the castle.
You do this by talking to different people, they will mention that they've seen the item in a curtain part of the castle.
After this conversation you can navigate yourself to this room and get the item.
Unfortunately these items are mostly owned by schoolmates and you have to get it by trading with some of your possessions, this can be chess pieces or some plants.
It's a pretty painless experience as you can locate the necessary items by hitting select.
A navigation arrow to the item will appear, just like how you found the person in the first place.
However sometimes you need to get something by trading something rare, which can be difficult.
These rare items don't have the same navigation and pretty much require you to search the whole castle before you can proceed in the story.
This is a real pain and together with the 2d Hogwarts rendering not much fun to do either.
The story will proceed when you find the items you were required to find.
But you will find little satisfaction from it.
A few dialogs that you need to read, it isn't voice recorded by the actors, and some mini games that aren't too great either.
The bottom line is this: the game isn't much fun to play and isn't very well executed.
Graphics wise and gameplay wise it is a disappointment and even for children the experience can be a little dull.
You are better off watching the movie instead (and the movie only!).
Or the book as well.
I guess that's fine too.
This time people at Hogwarts are plotting against Dumbledore (the old headmaster) to get darkness into the school borders.
Of course this isn't as easy as it seems and quickly Harry starts to suspect several people after a series of unusual events.
It is safe to say that the movie is a great success but can the video game follow in its footsteps? The first thing you will notice about the PlayStation portable version is that the Hogwarts school is mapped in 2d with 3d elements.
Which means that the environment looks 3d but doesn't move around your character.
Even more reason for concern is that you walk to different rooms by walking past invisible gates, after which a loading time of about 2-4 seconds occurs.
This wouldn't be a big problem if it wasn't for the insane amount of searching and walking that is required in this game.
In this game you are Harry, not really a bombshell, and you have to search for various items around the castle.
You do this by talking to different people, they will mention that they've seen the item in a curtain part of the castle.
After this conversation you can navigate yourself to this room and get the item.
Unfortunately these items are mostly owned by schoolmates and you have to get it by trading with some of your possessions, this can be chess pieces or some plants.
It's a pretty painless experience as you can locate the necessary items by hitting select.
A navigation arrow to the item will appear, just like how you found the person in the first place.
However sometimes you need to get something by trading something rare, which can be difficult.
These rare items don't have the same navigation and pretty much require you to search the whole castle before you can proceed in the story.
This is a real pain and together with the 2d Hogwarts rendering not much fun to do either.
The story will proceed when you find the items you were required to find.
But you will find little satisfaction from it.
A few dialogs that you need to read, it isn't voice recorded by the actors, and some mini games that aren't too great either.
The bottom line is this: the game isn't much fun to play and isn't very well executed.
Graphics wise and gameplay wise it is a disappointment and even for children the experience can be a little dull.
You are better off watching the movie instead (and the movie only!).
Or the book as well.
I guess that's fine too.
