Reviewed: August 5, 2007
Reviewed by: Megan Dyer

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
EA UK

Released: June 25, 2007
Genre: Adventure
Players: 1

5
6
6
4
5.1

Supported Features:

However, for the hardcore fans, there are also Harry Potter video games that are based on the movies. The latest Harry Potter game is based on the newest movie, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. While some Harry Potter fans are sure to be delighted by this, it certainly doesn't stack up to the real deal, and unfortunately, is pretty much just a licensed excuse to make more money off of an already insanely popular series.

With Dolores Umbridge, a completely sadistic and corrupt woman appointed by the corrupt Ministry as the new professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, Hogwarts becomes a bureaucratic mess and students are forbidden to learn how to use important magic, especially since Umbridge, along with the Ministry of Magic, refuse to acknowledge the return of Lord Voldemort out of blind fear. Harry decides to train his fellow He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers, the Death Eaters. That's the story in a nutshell, and that tiny nutshell is where The Order of the Phoenix video game keeps its gamers.

The plot pretty much follows the movie--sans action, excitement, important details and any emotion whatsoever from its characters. Everything makes sense to anyone who knows the story already, (which in all fairness, is who this game was created for) but the game rushes through the story at a breakneck pace, leaving much to be desired from fans who actually want to play the story, not play through a miserly, truncated plot that's riddled with holes.

Leaving some things out is understandable for a movie turned video game, but in the case of the Order of the Phoenix, so much is left out or glossed over, the result is a distinct feeling of dissatisfaction; this is not the story that so many have fallen in love with, but a knock-off that that seems to exist merely to make a profit, and because people have come to expect it to exist.

To a certain degree, the rushed story could be forgiven if the bulk of The Order of the Phoenix was actually fun to play through. Unfortunately, it's not. Much of the game revolves around chores and fetch quests that require you to run Harry all over Hogwarts doing such mind numbing things as finding a book for someone, or picking up a new Daily Prophet (the wizard newspaper) for someone, or just finding someone, over and over again. Most of the quests are too easy and simultaneously take too long to be any fun at all.

Interspersed between the endless fetch quests are occasional spats with students from Slytherin house, which take the form of wizards' duels. Duels, however, don't really break up the monotony of the fetching quests. In fact, they compound it.

Throughout the game, Harry learns various spells that do different things, such as moving levitating an item and moving it (such as folded laundry on a bed that, for some silly reason, must be moved with magic to an open trunk now more than six feet from where it lays. I don't care how convenient magic must make things, if wizards are that lazy, their muscles must atrophy from lifting no more than a wand all day to do even the simplest of chores) or setting fire to something (is it really that difficult to light a friggin' match? I mean, come on).

All spells are activated by waving the character's wand (i.e., wiggling the right analog stick) in various ways; left-right-left might cast one spell, while back-to-front casts another. In theory it sounds intuitive, but in practice it's unbearably clumsy thanks to crappy targeting and camera controls. Even the movement controls, while laid out decently, are clunky and sluggish. Running around Hogwarts is an awkward experience. The characters move jerkily instead of smoothly and easily, and considering just how much time is spent running around the school in the Order of the Phoenix, this gets old pretty fast.

Spells are also used in dueling. Dueling works like this: The fighting wizards wander around each other very slowly, cast spells at each other, fall over after they've been hit enough times and...well, that's it. The D-pad controls your character and you merely have to stroll leisurely out of the way of an oncoming blast of magic to avoid being hit. Then cast your own spell, and repeat until your opponent hits the ground in defeat. I've seen more exciting staring matches, to be honest.

While the actual gameplay should be the best part of the game (you know, actually getting to play the story, cast spells, and duel) what the game does best is recreating Hogwarts and its characters. It's true that what we do get to see in the Order of the Phoenix that isn't skipped over is pretty faithful to the book. Fans will enjoy that the method used to find someone at Hogwarts comes directly from the story, using the Marauder's Map that allows Harry to see where anyone is in the school at anytime.

Portraits talk and move just as they do in the story, and there are plenty of side games that are in the movies and books as well. The chess pieces in the mini-game of wizard chess actually do attack each other, just as they do in the story. However, the charm of the genuine Harry Potter series is quite obviously missing from this game. Some Harry Potter fans will enjoy it anyway, if for nothing else than the fact that it's something that is related to the series.

The Order of the Phoenix is by far the darkest of the Harry Potter movies to come out, and emotions are running high from just about all of the characters. As the story is rushed to an absolutely confusing and unsatisfying degree, the lack of any expression on the otherwise hyper-realistic faces of the characters makes the whole game look and feel even more awkward, completely losing all of the unique charm that the Harry Potter books and movies are famous for. Add some awkward and jumpy cuts from scene to scene and the realism of the character designs become almost negligible.

The scenery in The Order of the Phoenix is a bit better however, and Hogwarts school is much more impressive to look at. Pretty much exactly as it is depicted in the movies, Hogwarts is a large brick castle, complete with moving staircases, walls covered in portraits, moving suits of armor, and long red carpets stretching the hallways that are always full of students walking here and there or stopping to talk now and again. Still, the other students roaming the halls occasionally get caught on each other, stair cases and invisible walls. Other times, they disappear completely and then flash back into view without explanation.

Is it magic, or just shoddy graphics? I'm guessing the latter. There were even times where I couldn't move Harry where I needed him to go because several other roaming students decided to huddle in front of the entrance of a hallway for no apparent reason. I was starting wish I could use my spells to manually move people out of Harry's way, but in the end, I had to wait with growing impatience for the gaggle of roaming students to wander off somewhere else before I could get around them. Fun.

Background and area scenery is really the only place where The Order of the Phoenix's graphics shine and is definitely where staying faithful to exactly recreating the look of the movie paid off. Crisp and clear with nice lighting and shading effects, the scenery is nicely put together. It's too bad that I can't say the same for the rest of the game's appearance.

At one point, a character asks Harry if he can borrow his homework, to which Harry responds good-naturedly, "No, sorry." If you speak with him again, he asks Harry what the properties of moonstones are, to which Harry responds in a vaguely, vacuous way, "Whatevah." It sounds a bit odd, especially considering Harry will respond in the same relative manner to just about anyone, no matter what they are saying to him. A Slytherin girl commands him at one point, rather menacingly and in a clearly threatening voice, to say that Slytherin is the best. Harry responds with the same, friendly sounding, "No, sorry."

A nice touch however, is that as you run Harry around Hogwarts, other students, ghosts, portraits and teachers are having their own conversations that you overhear as you pass. Without sub-titles on however, they are sometimes barely audible and sound very distant and muffled even when the people talking are only a few feet from you. It was a nice attempt to add more realism to The Order of the Phoenix, but unfortunately, just like most things in this game, the timing and execution is off.

Music and sound effects are somewhat sparse throughout the game, especially music. What little there is of it is pretty forgettable though, and where music would detract from the atmosphere, it's thankfully missing, such as in Hogwarts, where instead of music, you hear realistic, albeit often muffled conversations. This technique actually works out pretty well, and lack of music, or even memorable music, really does work out. Now if only the voice acting didn't have those rough spots.

Overall though, the bulk of the game consists of tedious fetch quests that require you to run all over Hogwarts, using your magic to do boring things like cleaning, and occasionally engage a Syltherin or two in mind-numbingly boring wizard duels. The rest of the game is an unsatisfying rush through what was a good story, before it was licensed to merely make money off of an insanely popular series of books and movies. Nothing new for licensed products here, but no less of a disappointment for series fans.

Don't waste your time with the Order of the Phoenix unless you just can't get enough Harry Potter, no matter how low the quality. For me, playing through a meek shadow of these wonderful stories takes some of the magic out of the series. I'll stick to the books and movies, thanks.