Lego Harry Potter

[MinisterofDOOM]

I recently did somthing I rarely do: I traded games in. I traded Heavy Rain (which despite having multiple endings is only worth playing once) and Uncharted 2 (great game, but I never felt the urge to complete it for some reason) for Lego Harry Potter.

I loved Lego Star Wars 2, and the Complete Saga, and own them on multiple platforms. Later Lego games lacked the same polish, but Lego Harry looked like it'd bring back some of the old awesome, so I gave it a shot.

The Harry Potter universe fits the established Lego gameplay FLAWLESSLY. In fact, a lot of it works even better than Star Wars did. Magic takes the place of the Force, but with much more depth. You "build" with it, but you also do a lot more.

The big difference between Potter and previous Lego games is linearity. There's no mission-select for story mode. Rather than having a door for every mission, you play through the movies ("years") progressively. You can still choose to return to the world-hub (the Leaky Cauldron) after a mission, but you always pick up the story right where you left off.

The reason for the linearity is that the game puts a lot of focus on magic. You will take your characters through "classes" which will unlock new spells and abilities. As you unlock more spells and abilities, you'll gain access to new areas of Hogwarts. So you still have some freedom to explore beyond the strict story mode goals based on your current abilities. In fact, there's even a neat new feature in place that ensures you can explore at leisure and still always find your way to the next story event: ghosts will float around, leaving trails of ghost studs (lego currency) behind them. Follow the ghost studs and you'll eventually find the next story event. It's very similar to Fable II's glowing trails setup.

I haven't finished story mode yet (I'm partway through Year 3), which means I haven't played with Free Mode at all. In Lego Star Wars, Free Mode was really the meat of the game. Free Mode was where you gained access to the right abilities in the right places to really make progress in the game. I hope that holds true with this game. I assume Dark Wizards eventually become playable, because there are red sparkles on magickable items throughout the world (just like the red items from L:SW that could only be used by Sith).

Anyway, great game, and considering that I've still got a "year" and a half left of the story after putting in maybe 6 hours, I'd say it provides quite a lot of content.

[RCA]

Online?

[MinisterofDOOM]

No, sadly, still no online coop. Local only.

[BusyBadger]

I downloaded the demo and had fun with it for a while. In the end it suffers from what every other Lego game I've played does...lack of camera control. I'll end up adding it to the library to keep visiting kids entertained.

I do agree with MoD that it's a better environment for the Lego world than even Star Wars is. Additonally since the Harry Potter franchise hasn't been plumbed to nearly the depth that SW has been it feels very fresh. I'm waiting on two games and I can't believe that neither has been done yet. An X-Wing/Tie Fighter reboot and a Harry Potter MMO.

[MinisterofDOOM]

I played some co-op and free-play today with my brother. Co-op actually lets you wander away from each other this time around (rather than dragging each other with the edge of the screen) by going split-screen. It works alright, but the screen split rotates to keep both players in good view, which can get kind of disorienting, especially when trying to aim spells. It's a necessary evil, and probably the best solution to the split-camera/screen space problem, but it isn't perfect.

AI-controlled characters (not ambient NPCs or enemies, but cooperative AI characters) are actually pretty decent in singleplayer. But with another human playing alongside you, the AI characters quickly become a nuisance--standing where you need to build, or (and this one had us laughing quite a bit) determinedly choosing the same character to play as. We had two AI Hagrids running around for a while. Then they both decided to be Harrys. Then they both changed to Ginnys. Why we needed four characters in the Forbidden Forest I can't say. But I can say that the AI Hagrid clones didn't do anything worthwhile...ever.

The character roster's looking pretty sad so far, though. It's got Harry, Ron, and Hermione in a variety of clothing options (Ron in a girl disguise is now a regular in my free play games), a couple animals for the "Dig" ability, and then a bunch of useless characters like Dobby and non-magic-wielders and random Hogwarts students. There's no reason, aside from aesthetics, to choose anyone but Harry or Hermione or Hagrid for anything. There's no "I'll be Boba Fett, you be Vader" balancing the abilities. Everyone does the same stuff, except the main characters.

Still, co-op in this game is the most fun I've had playing a game in a while. My brother and I were laughing pretty much non-stop.

An X-Wing/Tie Fighter reboot

I could have sworn this was in the works...

[BusyBadger]

An X-Wing/Tie Fighter reboot

I could have sworn this was in the works...

Swear harder...and more frequently.

A quick Google search yielded this: X Wing-Tie Fighter Remake.

In other news it looks like the Mechwarrior reboot I've been aching for is on hold, as is Thief 4. Grrrr.

Based on your gameplay report though I might pick up Harry Potter Lego. Monster Hunter for the Wii is also now on my short list after a few reports from friends.

[s0m3th1ngAZ]

I'd like another Tribes iteration. I played the s*** out of tribes 1 with my crappy 56k and software rendering. Would probably get lost among the other titles today though. But man...back in the day it was quite fun.
ALso...my pirated version fails to load so I guess I'm waiting to buy it.

[sup_mario]

Lego Harry Potter? Is it a nice game? I think it's very childish. lol

[MinisterofDOOM]

I think it's very childish. lol

Actually, that's part of its appeal. The Lego games have nailed a particularly brilliant blend of accessibility and depth. There's a distinct formula to it, and the accessibility supports the gameplay, and vice-versa. You can't really "lose" at Lego games (death only results in lost money, no "game over") but the freedom that design imparts is a key component in what makes the games fun.
You can play Lego games at your own pace, which means no matter how you want to play them you'll find something to enjoy. If you just want to casually play though the story mode, that's there for you, without any real pressure. But there are also HORDES of unlockables, secrets to find, studs (money) to collect...all there to reward players who want more of a challenge.

[Encryptshun]

A quick Google search yielded this: X Wing-Tie Fighter Remake.

In other news it looks like the Mechwarrior reboot I've been aching for is on hold.

These two topics deserve their own threads.

I will nut all over a TIE fighter remake (or X-Wing, for that matter), and I'm super pissed that Harmony Gold and Smith & Tinker/Microsoft couldn't have settled this by now. The injunction is almost a year old at this point, and I WANT MY NEW MECHWARRIOR GAME.