5 months ago
Only shortly before the summer blockbuster movie Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hits theaters, the video game tie-in has been released by Electronic Arts and Warner Brothers.
One of the first things that you'll notice about Wii version of The Half-Blood Prince is that, for a Wii game, it doesn't look half-bad. Harry looks like Harry, Ron looks like Ron, and so on. The voices, for the most part, follow suit but some of the character voices (such as that of Severous Snape) just sounds off. The game's soundtrack, though, works well to bring you into the game much like it does when watching the movies so at least most of the game's audio is on the plus.
As the wizards of Hogwarts all own and use wands, one would think that the Wii would be a natural fit for magic-wielding gameplay. Well, one would be right. It's almost as if EA decided to make the game for the Wii solely so gamers can use their Wii Remote as a wizard's wand, pressing the "A" button to target inanimate objects or performing simple motions to cast spells during duels. The rest of the rather easy control structure is on the connected nunchuck controller, which is used to move Harry around the castle grounds.
One of the strengths of The Half-Blood Prince is that Hogwarts is set up in with a sandbox feel, encouraging players to explore the school's grounds. The campus seems to have been faithfully created and even the most hardcore Harry Potter fan should be happy with this one. At first, the size and complexity of Hogwarts will seem daunting, but Nearly-Headless Nick is there to help you find your way.
There are a few clubs that Harry joins throughout the game such as the dueling club and the potions club. Quiddich makes it well-deserved return as it plays a role in the overall storyline of the Harry Potter universe.
But there's something that's just not quite right about The Half-Blood Prince. The game is just too short and leaves too much storyline out. There might be as many as four or five total hours of worthwhile game-time and even though once the storyline's finished you get your run of Hogwarts, what's the point? The game's over.
That being said, The Half-Blood Prince isn't a half-bad game.
My final Game Guys grade is a B.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince for the Nintendo Wii is rated E10+ by the ESRB.
