DVD Reviews
Harry Potter Interactive Game
Posted by Kevin Carr (kevin@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 26, 2007
Over the years, I’ve seen many different games presented on DVD releases. At first, when I first bought a DVD player, I thought these were somewhat fun. However, having plowed through many different ones – often on children’s DVDs – I’ve found them to be more annoying than helpful.
With the exception of an archive release that was made for laserdisc originally (like Dragon’s Lair), I’ve found them to be awkward and hard to play. My kids always make me play the ones on the Disney releases, and occasionally I’ve found some that I’ve liked. However, most have been woefully substandard to what you’d get in a regular game format.
In time for the Christmas release of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix DVD, Warner Bros. has released a complete set-top game for the Harry Potter universe. I understand the appeal for families without a full gaming system to get a stand-alone game in one DVD. However, this release does bring to light the reason why there are gaming systems separate from a DVD player.
The Harry Potter Interactive DVD Game takes the players (in single-player or multi-player format) through the years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Players have a chance to choose their house, or to be sorted into a house by the Sorting Hat. Then they have to attend classes and amass house points before moving on to the next year.
Some of the activities are interesting and fun enough, such as the wand skills or the transfiguration exercises. However, too many of the instructions involve guess-work and very little coaching on how the DVD remote must be used.
To be honest, I never got past the first year because I just couldn’t figure out how to work the Quidditch match, which is required to pass for graduation to a new year. The viewer is to navigate through the Quidditch pitch, dodging bludgers and trying to catch the snitch. However, the on-screen navigation is entirely confusing, requiring the player to press the right button at just the right time, which I never achieved.
Perhaps this just shows that I don’t have what it takes to make it as a wizard. Or perhaps it has more to do with the fact that the speed of your DVD player and the clunky use of the directional arrows are no substitute for a good, old fashioned game controller.
This release may be good for the rabid Harry Potter fan, but for me, I’d rather play it on a Playstation or Nintendo.
Grade: C
The Upside: A good gift for the rabid fan.
The Downside: Hard to play with a remote.
On the Side: This title was released to coincide with the first five movies on DVD as well.
Read more articles by Kevin Carr
10 Comments
December 27th, 2007 at 3:40 pm
The trick with the 1st year quidditch match is to do nothing when the snitch is going through the scaffolding. The game will continue even if you don’t make a choice. I can’t get through the forest chase by a werewolf in the 3rd year no matter what I do. Any suggestions?
December 28th, 2007 at 12:16 am
I entirely agree with Kevin’s review. After trying, literally, 20 times, I can’t get past the two bludgers that appear in the first seconds of the quidditch game. Haven’t seen the snitch yet! My daughter has had the same issue. I’ve also been unsuccessful in getting the owl to fly through the trees in the five or six attempts I’ve made. This game is such a waste of money!
December 28th, 2007 at 10:52 am
We’re having the exact same problem as Amy - 5 of us have tried. We thought it was because we were using a universal remote so we dug out the original with no luck either! Help (if you can)?
December 28th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
Have you noticed the compass-like icon that pops up on the screen every once in awhile? Pay attention, because one of its arrows will have an extra design layer on it which indicates the direction to go. For example, when the first bludger comes at you in 1st year quidditch, the compass will point left (west). I also noticed that sometimes you don’t have to make a choice at all when the compass comes on screen. That’s how I go through the scaffolding - by doing nothing although the compass pops up about 8 times. I’m still stuck in the forest with the werewolf, though. Haven’t figured that out yet.
December 29th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
We are having the same trouble getting through the forest at the end of the third year. No matter what we try, the wolf always gets us. It is VERY frustrating, because we sail right through the whole game with no problems up to that point. We have listened to the instructions very carefully, doing exactly what it says. We have tried pushing the arrows very fast, very slow, not pushing them at all, pushing them the opposite direction; nothing has worked so far. I am beginning to think it has something to do with how all the players fare throughout the previous years and whether they take all the extra curriculars or not. There must be some other trick to it that we haven’t figured out.
Has anyone else had any success yet??
January 1st, 2008 at 3:50 pm
i won the whole game in many tries so for any of you with trouble in the game just do it again and again . thats what i had to do.
January 1st, 2008 at 5:31 pm
hey jill can you just tell us how to beat the thrid end of the year event. because i tried at least 20 times. i’ve tried not pressing buttons, pressing the werewolf in the middle, trying to go the opposite way, and nothing worked at all. is there ANY solutiuon?!?
January 3rd, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Jill, how many tries do you think it took? I tried racking up a lot of points, (I am SO tired of quidditch), and variations of the easy, medium, hard and magical wand levels - didn’t work. So how many more times do I have to play it? Wish there was more variety in this game.
January 16th, 2008 at 7:14 am
For those who are using computers to play this DVD, you can use the arrow keys and press them continuously when you see the navigation icon until one of the arrows disappears, then you should be able to pass those bludgers and so on. The case can apply to the owl game as well.
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:39 am
I’m having trouble with the staircases.
Anyone got ides for that?