Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Pleasant surprises await at Hogwarts

It's hard to believe that some ten years ago there was a world without Harry Potter; a place before Hogwarts; a land before Harry and Ron and Hermione; a planet before J. K. Rowling put famous pen upon paper and started what has become one of the biggest franchises on the planet. With the fifth book arriving in movie and game form, this is even harder to imagine, and lets be honest it would be a world that was a much less exciting a place.

Whilst the longevity and genius of the books has long been debated, and only time will answer these questions for good, it is their appeal to the young and old alike that has propelled the series to super-stardom. Harry Potter did a 'Nintendo' and spread his wares to the wide open seas long before the Wii was even a sparkle in their eye. This is most obvious through the two different covers under which the books are sold, something that has not been reflected in the game's packaging. Perhaps this suggests that the game doesn't tackle so wide an audience and admits that movie tie-in licenses are mainly the pursuit of the young. Let us see.

If you haven't kept up to date with the books or films, the story picks up with Harry returning from the unexpected death of a friend, an arduous encounter with Lord Voldemort, and a summer of correspondence to friends who appear to be unobtainable. Not the ideal package for a relaxing summer; so it is not a surprise that Harry is a little tired on his return to books and study and intrigue. Furthermore, Professor Umbridge (the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher) is giving Harry more than his fair share of attention, both disbelieving his suspicions about Voldemort and detaining him after class. Although this is nothing new for the teenager, whose life hasn't slowed down since he first stepped into the school all those years ago, he still has his work cut out to put things right once more.

Now, this particular book in the series has come in for some flack. It hasn't lived up to the fast action and intrigue of the other volumes. Because of this many were prophesying doom and gloom for the movie and games that were set to follow. However, the movie has turned out to be one of the best so far, receiving a fair degree of critical acclaim, something which bodes well for the console versions. One thing is clear, EA haven't hedged their bets when it came to investing in the development, and both the production values and the breadth of platform coverage are equally impressive.

The game starts with a tutorial level, where we are introduced to the control scheme. This is based around an interesting use of the second analogue stick which is used to cast and control spells. Although it is an unusual control dynamic, once acclimatised it works pretty well and feels like you are actually directing the magic with the various motions. Whilst the limitations of the PS2 controller means that it doesn't live up to the wild gesturing of the Wii or PS3 version, it certainly holds its own and it is nice to see the old dual-shock being used imaginatively again. The other buttons and sticks come into play as you would expect: targeting, opening menus, starting conversations and generally running around. The only down side of the scheme is the camera control. This wouldn't be such a problem if it got itself into only the odd tangle. But as it stands you often want to jump in and control your view manually, when all you can do is reset it to the direction you are facing.

Once you have completed the tutorial you are off to Hogwarts itself. It turns out that much time and attention has been lavished on this environment, so much so that the old school really is the star of the show. It's detailed and believable, rendering features all the aspects you would expect; the Grand Staircase, the Gryffindor Common Room, the Dungeon Corridor, the Clock Tower, the Viaduct and even Hagrid's Hut are all just as we remember them from the films, if not the books. Although not quite as impressive, the main protagonists, Harry, Ron and Hermione are also well rendered and clearly recognisable.

The action then continues as you pick up on the flow of tasks that have you locating particular people, and delivering specific artefacts all over the place. The Marauders map is cleverly used to provide an on screen guide in the form of disembodied footprints. Once you have selected the character you need to find, they literally walk you to the right locations. This is an essential tool when traversing the large environment of Hogwarts.

As you press on the puzzles and duels with other characters become more of a challenge, and the experience really starts to gain some momentum. The key to a lot of these encounters is knowing the right spell for the particular task in hand. The nature of the majority of the spells is that they enable you to manipulate the environment and objects in the game, much like Half-Life 2's anti-gravity device. The use of the second analogue stick not only feels more authentic but it also provides greater accuracy.

Graphically, as we have mentioned, the environments are the most impressive aspect. Furthermore the loading time is minimised as they are streamed in real time, a clever means of delivering a huge explorable space through the limited memory of the good old PS2. This is something a lot more games should consider doing, as it really does aid the sense of immersion in the game and avoids the need for endless cut-scenes while the next level loads.

Overall, this is a confident film-to-game delivery. Although, as we hinted at the start, there is not an awful lot for the more mature gamer, there is a lot of fun to be had if you are willing to dig in and get your hands dirty. Probably the best endorsement of any game, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix creates a world that is not only believable but interesting and intuiting. It is a space not only to play in but to explore and discover secrets. Because of this, you should easily get your money's worth out of the title as you keep coming back for one more play.

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By Paul Govan