Harry Potter and
the Goblet of Fire Harry, Ron, and
Hermione are back in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a game based on J.K.
Rowling's fourth book.
As Harry Potter, Ron Weasley,
and Hermione Granger enter their fourth year at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and
Witchcraft, new challenges await them, both "professional" and
personal. The Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire video game sticks strictly to
the adventure aspects of the story, never touching upon the sticky relationship
drama that makes up key subplots in the novel and the film. You'll still have
plenty to do in the game, though: Guide the trio of young wizards through
various locales, fight magical creatures, solve puzzles, and usher Harry
through the Triwizard Tournament challenges just before a climactic showdown
with Lord Voldemort himself. Though the collection aspects of the game are a
drag at times, The Goblet of Fire still does enough to keep Potter fans engaged
throughout.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione are
back in the newest Harry Potter video game.
The Goblet of Fire makes a
few departures from the last game in the series, The Prisoner of Azkaban. You
still play as Harry, Ron, and Hermione, but the three don't have unique
abilities anymore. You also can't switch between them during a mission in The
Goblet of Fire. But you'll still solve plenty of environmental puzzles using
each character's standard, context-sensitive charm spells. Cast a charm in the
direction of a boulder and you'll lift it with a wingardium leviosa spell. Cast
it in the direction of a fire, and your character will automatically do an aqua
eructo charm to conjure a stream of water for dousing the flame. Carpe
retractum (for opening gates) and herbivicus (for causing plants to bloom) are
other context-sensitive charms used in the game. The puzzles you need to solve
are usually fairly obvious. For example, while exploring the greenhouses of
Hogwarts, you may need to use carpe retractum to pull down bridges, and
herbivicus to open up lily pads that let you cross small bodies of water. Some
obstacles, like extra-large boulders or flames, require two or more of the
characters to simultaneously cast their charms to overcome them. The artificial
intelligence controlling the other characters is smart enough to help you out
when it needs to, but if you're playing three-player cooperative mode, you'll
need to work with your friends to do the same task. It's also worth noting that
players can jump out of cooperative mode at any time, switching control over to
the computer if one player needs to leave.
Jinx spells are another
primary spell type. Jinxes are basically just an attack you use to attack
monsters in the game, which include fire salamanders, dugbogs, and erklings.
The menagerie isn't very extensive, but each of the monsters has a different
fighting style and offers a different challenge. You can combine charms and
jinxes to do combined attacks on creatures, as well. For example, if one
character lifts a creature up in the air with a wingardium leviosa charm, the
others can jinx it while it's being held for a combined attack, which is more
powerful and effective than just spamming the jinx button.
As you make your way through
the game's levels, solving puzzles and fighting creatures, you'll collect
Bertie Bott's Every-Flavor Beans, which you can get when dropped by defeated
creatures, or by jinxing random parts of the environments. The beans serve as
currency, which you can use to buy cards to power up each character. The
character card system adds depth to the game, letting you customize each of the
three characters depending on the situation and play style. Some cards increase
the power of your jinxes; others add stamina or duration to your magicus
extremus meter, which when filled, gives you a limited amount of increased
firepower for your spells. The more expensive and interesting cards let you
fire double or triple jinxes with each cast, or give you an advantage against
certain creatures. Each character can only use three cards in a mission, so
you'll need to choose carefully before starting. Each character also maintains
his or her own bean count and deck of cards, so that encourages you to switch
between characters as you go through the campaign and make sure all of them
have around equal power.
The primary gameplay in The
Goblet of Fire involves collecting Triwizard shields that are scattered about
the various levels. Some are hidden away for you to pick up, while others are
earned by defeating boss creatures. Most of them require you to use your spells
to solve environmental puzzles and reach them in out-of-the-way places. As you
collect Triwizard shields, later levels are unlocked for play, letting you
explore areas such as the Forbidden
Forest and the roofs and
greenhouses of Hogwarts. There are other items scattered about the levels, such
as minishields, statuettes, and mushrooms, that you're asked to collect. Some
of these also yield Triwizard shields, while others unlock cards. The problem
is that after you've collected all of a certain item, it's never made clear
what you've won. Sometimes a Triwizard shield popped up elsewhere in the level.
Other times, we never quite figured out what we won by finding all the
statuettes or magic mushrooms in a given map. Because the game relies a lot on
having you replay certain levels to find all the collectibles, it's somewhat
frustrating to not receive immediate feedback on what you've gotten out of
searching every nook and cranny. Despite that flaw, it's still pretty fun to
explore each of the game's levels the first time, fighting the monsters and
finding the Triwizard shields.
The Triwizard challenges you
unlock also help mix up the gameplay, as they're different in nature from the
standard levels. The Triwizard challenges follow the template used in the book
and the film; one challenge has Harry fly off on his broom with a dragon in
pursuit, while another has Harry explore the depths of the Black Lake .
These levels don't involve any exploration or collection--they're pretty much
linear races, with some light combat involved.
You'll explore various levels
looking for Triwizard shields.
Graphically, The Goblet of
Fire is competent, excelling the most in its environment. For example, as you
scale the towers and roofs of Hogwarts, you can see the surrounding buildings
of the school grounds in the distance. The dragon that chases you through your
first play of the Forbidden
Forest is also quite
imposing and impressive visually. Spell effects also look impressive, making
use of particles and other lighting effects. However, the character models look
pretty small on screen and don't animate particularly well. What's most
disappointing is that the game never leverages any media from the film, aside
from still shots used to decorate the cards. The cutscenes in the game are
comic-like in their style, not unlike the cover art of the books. Though they
still offer an air of authenticity, the frugal nature of the cutscenes seems
oddly deflating given the visual splendor Potter fans have come to expect from
the films. The four platforms look quite similar in general, with the Xbox and
PC versions offering the sharpest graphics, and the PS2 and GameCube versions
looking somewhat muddier in comparison. As far as sound goes, the spells and
creature effects seem pretty good, as does the music used in the menus and
during cutscenes. The voice acting used in the game can get somewhat repetitive
over time.
As a platformer aimed at the
younger crowd of Potter fans, The Goblet of Fire does a good job at delivering
an experience that is in line with the plot of the books. Even if you're an
older fan of the Harry Potter books, the game is still worth checking out,
especially if you've got two other friends to play the game in three-player
cooperative mode. It's definitely not quite as awe-inspiring an experience as
seeing the films, but if you want a more interactive take on what it might be
like to be in the world of magic, The Goblet of Fire video game will suit you
just fine.
Processor= 1.4GHz
RAM= 256MB
Graphics= 32MB
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