Review: Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix (Wii)
It has been a summer of discontent for not only Nintendo Wii owners, but for anyone purchasing a game based on a film license. Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-man 3, Shrek 3, Meet the Robinsons and Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer have checked in and each has departed with little impact. Now it's the turn of Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, as the latest instalment in the summer blockbuster misses - can the downward spiral be broken at last?
To be fair Electronic Arts has always done a reasonable job with each of the Harry Potter releases over the years, although it has never gone a limb and really tried to introduce anything groundbreaking or memorable. Instead content to stay within the restrains of the license and satisfy the expectations of the massed ranks. Order of the Phoenix marks the debut of the series on the Nintendo Wii and with Harry relying increasingly on his wand to defend himself and his colleagues against Voldemort, it should be more action packed than previous releases. This in turn should in theory provide more opportunity for interaction with the Wii Remote offering a unique feature as the release descends onto every format known to man.
Enter the Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix competition today to win the game on the Xbox 360, Wii, DS or PS3!!!
While The Order of the Phoenix follows the events of the film and utilises the environments and characters faithfully, unlike its counterpart it cannot be finished in a matter of only a few hours. So to prolong its lifespan and offer more thrills for Potter fans, EA has introduced a reward points scheme and mini-games, in fact plenty of them. Known as discovery points, you collect these by completing mini-quests, finding secrets or repairing Hogwarts, which seems to be crumbling along with its contents. The points increase your ability but also earn new discoveries in the Room of Rewards that offers a treasure trove of unlockables.
The range of mini-games on offer is impressive and some certainly benefit from being on the Wii, but they are no real substitute for bonafide missions. You can waste a few minutes on exploding snap or gobstones, with the later being far more entertaining or attempt to become a master in wizard chess, but its ultimately filler. The inclusion of these distractions is not enough to boost the lifespan on of the title and EA has incorporated a great deal of backtracking and fetch and carry tasks. Yes, those faithful elements guaranteed to boost playtime and dissuade many players from progressing further. At least there are plenty of distractions evident as you cross the Great Hall for the hundredth time. Hogwarts is very much alive, full of sound, students, ghosts and secrets for you to discover.
While an obvious attempt to boost the lifespan of the game this approach does have its positive aspects as it allows Potter fans to explore Hogwarts like never before. Even on the Wii, which is no graphical powerhouse, the whole of Hogwarts has been crammed onto the disc and it is huge. You can venture to the Stone Circle or beyond to the Owlery, detour to the boathouse or just explore the depth of Hogwarts. Each location has been recreated faithfully, and while the textures are poor in places and cut sequences badly edited, Potter fans won't be complaining.
Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix is one of the few games on the Wii to provide Gamestyle with a sore wrist. All of Harry's favourite spells are on offer and can be used as you please during the game. At times the freedom of casting prompts mistakes during important set pieces, forcing you to learn each spell by heart. The aiming can be haphazard and the camera can take up peculiar angles (behind a tree for instance on one occasion) but it does not diminish the overall enjoyment. The game also benefits from the inclusion of several of the real actors to reprise their roles once more and deliver their lines far more effectively than many of the licensed releases Gamestyle has reviewed this summer.
In conclusion, Harry Potter & Order of the Phoenix is easily the best entry in the Harry Potter series to date and continues the upward trend as it progresses toward the final seventh instalment. While it will easily thrill Potter fans, it also provides an above average distraction for those curious about the series, or looking for a release that integrates the Wii remote with some reasonable success.
Rating: 6 / 10
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