Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter is one of the best wizards around, but in the newest Harry Potter game will the young wizard be able to cast a spell on players?

With most summer blockbusters comes the simultaneous video game releases. No exception is the record-breaking film "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince". But with a less than impressive record of bad Harry Potter games, HBP will need more than a little felix felicitas to be a hit.

Who knew that Harry Potter put rhythmic gymnastics on the map with ribbons?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince for the Wii follows the plot of the film and book of the same name, which tracks the life of a young wizard who must battle the ultimate evil. HBP is the sixth in a series of seven books, where the protagonist, Harry Potter, is in his penultimate year at Hogwarts, a wizarding school. Harry must not only prepare for the impending battle with the evil wizard Voldemort, but deal with the problems that all teenagers face, including doing well in class, keeping up with extracurricular activities and, of course, raging hormones.

The game takes place primarily at Hogwarts, with the player controlling Potter. The gameplay consists mainly of three different activities. Quidditch (below) involves the player aiming the Wii remote at the screen and pointing in the direction you wish to travel in order to fly on a broomstick through hoops. Another activity is potion brewing, which involves "grabbing" different vials of ingredients and pouring them into a cauldron, and then mixing or heating to perfection.

Our lawyers advised us to not comment on this screenshot.

Finally there is dueling, in which the player must cast spells with the remote to incapacitate their foe. All three of these games are linked together by running through the grounds of Hogwarts collecting crests or mini-crests to unlock different two-player features.

The game feels less like a fluid experience and more like a series of mini-games separated by a guided tour of Hogwarts. Flying and dueling are too easy. On my first play through of the game I did not lose a single game of Quidditch or a single duel. The game tries introducing more elements of "gameplay" but they end up not being needed. Potion making, at times, can be aggravating. There may be different vials shaped the same and players will have to guess which is the right ingredient to add, which can be hectic with the harsh time limits the game imposes. There are "clubs" for each of the activities, where the player can choose to go back and attempt advanced challenges, but there is little reward for doing so.

This must the cover art for their band's new album, "Potions in the Wind."

The controls rely too much on waggle to try and make it seem "realistic". The flying is simple enough. You just point and Harry moves. You occasionally have to fend off other Quidditch players by ramming them. Otherwise, the control is fine, but nothing special. The potions are easy enough, yet aggravating at times. About two-thirds of the actions are moving the pointer from one side to another and simulating a tilting motion, but occasionally the player must shake the Wii remote and Nunchuck up and down rapidly to "heat up" the potion. Doing it too rapidly will cause the potion to smoke and decrease the total time, which is a common problem, making potion mixing one of the hardest aspects of the game.

Dueling is easily the weakest part of the game. There are several spells to chose from, all corresponding to a different motion on the controller. Each spell does something different, but most will find themselves spamming the basic move over and over again, waggling the controller up and down for sometimes minutes on end. This can not only grow tiring fast, but takes away from the atmosphere. Harry Potter does it with much more finesse.

Don't mess with a wizard in jeans.

The game plays poorly, which is a shame because it is one of the better looking Wii games. There is a lot of detail that Harry Potter fans will recognize, whether it is the paintings in the grand staircase, or the mannerisms of the eccentric Professor Slughorn. The character models are decent, though creepy at times, but the solid voice acting backs it up.

Immersive. Maybe the best aspect of the game is the feeling of actually being at Hogwarts; the player will experience running through the school grounds (especially if the player chooses to don their own wizard costume while playing).

Good voice work. For only having one of the film's actors (Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley), the game's voice actors do a great job at mimicking their counterparts.

Easy for whole family. Not only can kids enjoy the mini-games in HBP, mom and dad could easily enjoy brewing potions or playing Quidditch, or releasing bottled aggression while dueling.

Short. If you're paying minimal attention to collecting crests, the main story will only last around five hours. Fortunately this limits the repetitive feel of the gameplay.

Repetitive. With only three types of games to play, the player will find themselves playing through the repetitive cycle of duel, fly, and brew; with little variation in between.

Tough to control. Certain spells are cast by waving the Wii remote and Nunchuck in different directions, but the sensitivity is off and you will often end up casting the wrong spell. You might end up lighting Ron on fire instead of passing him a potion.

No learning curve. The game fails to get much harder as it goes along. From the first duel to the last, it feels like you can just shake the Wii remote and pound on the A button to win.

Awkward camera control. You can pan the camera normally, but if you press the B button the camera will point wherever the remote is pointing. This causes accidental camera changes often.

Poor storytelling. For a game based on a movie based on a 700 page book, you would think there would be more plot points than the occasional copy/paste from Spark Notes quickly read by a Daniel Radcliffe wannabe.

In the end, Half Blood Prince creates a magical atmosphere, but fails in gameplay and structure. For such a well loved series of books and films, one would think that making a good game would be a priority. I would recommend this "game" to Potter fans who would like a quick experience of living the life of the boy wizard wonder. If you can wait, do so until the price drops severely, because at a $50.00 price, it is definitely not worth it. I expected more from you Potter... ten points from Gryffindor!