Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (Wii) Review

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince continues the two year release cycle of films and games based on the Harry Potter novels. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince marks the second game on the Wii, the sixth in the series, and quite possibly the worst game of them all. In theory, Harry should feel right at home on the Wii, with the Wii Remote serving as a suitable method of emulating all sorts of wand waving wizardry. Unfortunately, this game only further strengthens the stereotype of rushed movie-to-game conversions that lack any substance or essence of quality control.

The game pays close attention to the source material (being the film and not the book) and uses a lot of assets from the film and past games to recreate an authentic experience with some decent graphics to boot. The problem is that it’s presented so poorly that all of the charm is lost somewhere in-between the poorly directed cut scenes and bland, monotonous gameplay and it spoils the whole adventure.

Another year of school sees Harry again making the perilous journey through the gates of Hogwarts Castle. The game opens akin to the film, with an escort from the lovely Luna following a turbulent train ride from the Weasleys’ farm (which serves as a training level). The events take place in very similar manner to the film, ending up a very short video game stretching out to between five and six hours at its longest.

If anything was done right in this game, it’s the recreation of Hogwarts Castle, which was ripped from the last game and is looking more impressive than ever. The school is filled with witches and wizards and is definitely the most authentic set piece of the game, which is a good thing because most of the game takes place in this open-world environment. Players guide Harry from class to class with three different mini-games shaping up the year-long adventure.

While Hogwarts looks quite impressive, and is quite heavily populated, it quickly becomes apparent that it is all just a magical illusion. The school’s true emptiness is revealed when you realise that apart from heading from story point to story point, there is nothing else to do aside from hunt down and find the ‘Crest Shields’ that let you unlock extras in the game. There’s no real point to the open-world environment since there’s nothing to do, but anything that delays having to repeat the same three activities in the single player story again and again is truly welcome.

Potion brewing, Quidditch matches and wizard duels are the three game modes that are repeated throughout the journey and you can trust that they’ll very quickly become boring and repetitive by the time you play them for the second time. Mixing potions in the potions class is the only activity that is somewhat enjoyable. The mini-game bears a resemblance to Cooking Mama with players picking up, mixing and heating ingredients with motion controls mimicking the stirring, shaking or general hand motions required to brew up a potent love potion.

The wizard duels are a complete joke and the best example of the worst type of gameplay found in the adventure. They show off the complete lack of effort as every single duel is quickly and incredibly easily won against atrocious artificial intelligence in ridiculous 1v1 combat. Players can jerk the Wii Remote downwards to cast a damaging stupefy spell, move both remote and nunchuck downwards for a stunning spell, and while there are at least two other abilities, you will never need them. Stupefy can be fired at a very fast rate with only a slight sacrifice in accuracy, but when standing point blank against an opponent every single shot will hit and often also briefly stun the opponent. If you manage to actually cast a stunning expelliarmus spell and knock your opponent down, then it’s simply a case of point blank firing repeatedly until they’re defeated. The opponent will never respond at the same speed anyway.

In between forcing classmates to fall in love with you and blowing the rest up with spells, Harry also takes time to school his friends at every witch and wizard’s favourite sport, Quidditch. Quidditch as a concept is a lot of fun and the whole thing is handled in a really extravagant manner, with the arena sized event drawing a huge crowd. Sadly, all of this is completely lost in a pathetic recreation of the sport where players assume Harry’s position as seeker and follow one long guided rail, only controlling Harry’s position on the screen. Harry will automatically follow the snitch, leaving players to guide him through large stars that take up over half the screen which only a blind gorilla with a controller made of bananas would miss.

None of the game modes offer anything slightly substantial or fun except for the potion brewing, and even then it’s incredibly easy and simple with on-screen instructions and even controller vibrations marking exactly how long each step should take. It’s the only game with decent controls too, as all of the wand-waving spell commands are basic and unresponsive, usually consisting of a quick jerk of the remote. The on-foot sections in between the three game modes are all a case of travelling from point A or B, apart from one stealth mission where you’re poorly advised to briefly follow Snape and Draco around the castle.

Amazingly the game actually looks quite good, and even though there’s no real FMV or footage from the film, some of the cut scenes portray events and sequences from the film quite effectively. There’s a lot of character building dialogue and all the familiar faces to appeal to Harry Potter fans, but the cut scenes are abrupt and poorly pieced together. This is especially apparent at the end, where one of the most iconic moments in the entire series is completely ruined. Poor animations that portray no emotion simply made a mockery out of what is supposed to be a deep and meaningful scene.

The game has its own fully orchestrated soundtrack and while it is very similar to the music of the movie it sets the right mood and plays appropriately throughout. Voice acting is handled by a new crew who sound pretty similar to the original cast but still won’t fool any true fans of the movies. There’s some humour in the writing with a few snappy jokes but they’re often lost in the stuttered nature of the cut scenes.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Wii is a very disappointing instalment in the series. With the previous games wavering in quality but showing the odd moment of potential, it’s a shame to see the series sink this low. There has been no effort put into the actual gameplay and the game instead relies on the basics provided from the license and past games. The most devoted of Harry Potter fans may have the patience to sit through the short and easy tribute to one of the most popular movies of the year, but anyone hoping for any form of ingenuity, challenge or just plain fun will be sorely disappointed.