Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2 Gameplay Review Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
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Everything you need to know about Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is the most modern version of the game on the PS1. It is based on the book by JK Rowling, and also on the film, released in 2001.
The game is loosely based on JK Rowling's story. However, this game (like many of the others in the Harry Potter video game series) expects you to have read the book or seen the movie. If you haven't done either, you may be lost from the moment the game starts. You get the gist, but there's a huge lack of detail when it comes to major events.
History
Most of the story takes place in the night missions; As said before, during the day, you run around teaching classes, etc. However, the story is not explored in much detail and only some events from the book are relived in the video. game. Most of the story is conveyed through character commentary (like I said, if you haven't read the book or seen the movie, you'll probably lose track a bit).
Character lines are almost always direct quotes from the books or movie; often, they are disjointed. Characters often say a line from the movie, then a line from the book, jumping from one point to another without any explanation.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Gameplay
The gameplay here is extremely similar to Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. The environments are practically the same and you do practically the same tasks. The game takes place in days and nights, a kind of level system. Each day, you attend classes to acquire spells to use in the game through spell challenges. This is pretty useless, as the game never allows you to use the spells in any situation other than these classes. These become boring and repetitive.
The game plays out non-linearly, meaning the player can go virtually anywhere. Secrets are scattered throughout Hogwarts, and you can collect cards of famous witches and wizards to improve your health. However, you are discouraged from exploring by Ron and Hermione, who, at the end of each day, say that there is nothing else to do and it's time to go to bed. Since this is a 3+ game, a younger audience may not know what they can do and follow the characters' advice, ending the day and missing out on opportunities that could expand their gaming experience.
The controls
The controls are fine, as long as you don't expect too much from them. I found myself in some boss fights where I would tap a button only for nothing to happen, meaning I lost a lot of health. The targeting system is also quite annoying: you press L1, only to find yourself aiming at something far away from you, instead of what's right in front of you. The gaming camera doesn't help either: it often gets stuck, meaning you can't see anything.
Other issues include sneak quests - they appear when you complete each day and encounter one during a night quest. The basic idea is that you sneak past the prefects to get a prize or to get to another room. While it's an original idea, unlike the Chamber of Secrets video game, the prefects hear almost everything, and if you're wearing an invisibility cloak, it doesn't hinder them in the slightest. In fact, prefects seem to see you even with your cape on, unless you're against a wall. These areas are frustrating and may cause you to give up after the 30th attempt.
Flying and Spells
The few parts of the game that are fun include flying and the actual spell challenges, which play like a Zelda dungeon. One thing that bothers me about dungeons is that they desperately need a room reset system. In Zelda, if you pushed a block against a wall and couldn't get it out, and you needed that block to get to a hidden treasure chest, you could simply leave the room and come back in to reset the blocks. However, accidentally pushing a block onto a switch will freeze it there. Most of the time, when you leave that room, you will see a niche in the wall containing beans and a treasure chest, and you must leave the dungeon for them to reset.
The Wizard Cards
Wizard cards are pretty fun. They're probably the only thing that will keep you playing. Every time you find one, you'll find yourself examining the art, which is surprisingly well drawn (more so than the game's character models...). Even getting duplicates is an event to celebrate, as several students will trade with you for new cards. However, these students are as empty as the rest.
There is a good amount of attention to detail, but only a little. It was a nice touch to have Ron's Chudley Cannons sheets and Dean Thomas' West Ham poster. Many of the tables are filled with books and vials and look quite nice. It's hard to see why the game has so many empty areas on one hand and so many occupied and accurately represented areas on the other.
Graphics
Graphically, the game represents Hogwarts in two different lights. The characters seem too cartoonish and the castle seems too real. Some rooms feel lively and cozy, others whitewashed and dead. It's like going from a cozy bookstore cafe to some kind of empty marble room. These gray, stony rooms make Zelda's temple of time look like a fun house. I guess the graphics themselves are good, but they could have been used in much better ways.
Music and Sound
The sound is fine, when it's there. When you enter a new area, some very nice orchestrated music plays for a while. But then it turns off after 30 seconds. Because? The only place in the game where the music seems to play without unexpected cuts is the Library (which is again overly large, COMPLETELY empty of students or even Madame Pince, and its sole purpose is to provide plenty of shelves for searching for beans). The voice acting is fine, but some scenes feature extremely long pauses, and other scenes have the characters saying their lines so fast that they almost start talking over each other.
Final reflection
I have to be honest, I really can't recommend in any way that you buy or physically acquire this game. If you're hoping for an interesting gaming experience with a lot of variety and challenges, I recommend playing it on an emulator as you can probably complete it in one night. However, if you are a Harry Potter fan and absolutely need to have the game, you can buy it and take your time playing it.
Game technical sheet
Genders)
Action
game modes
1 Player
Cooperative
Nope
Format(s)
Cartridge
