Hedlem

I reviewed this game here almost a year ago, and decided to come back to test its lasting appeal.

My opinion of the game has gone down somewhat, especially as, once story mode is completed, there's pretty much nothing to do. Yes, there's all the special things and discovery points to find, but once you get all of these, it's not as if anything really happens. And the minigames do get tiring after a while. Also, a big problem that I remember having was that the characters feel clunky, and controlling them is strenuous and tedious at the best of times. In addition to this, the NPCs don't really seem to do anything except walk around the corridors, talk to each other, or push each other. You don't see spontaneity anywhere, and no one ever walks into a classroom or is seen with a bag or a big pile of books. (Not to mention the fact that older students are just enlarged smaller students - they don't look like they've grown naturally, just ballooned.)

However, this game IS a great start. Visually, the game can hardly be flawed: the landscapes are stunning and photorealistic, the lighting used throughout the game is impeccable, and the camera angles are superb and allow full aesthetic appreciation, even if you can't actually change them yourself. Furthermore, I do think the characters animate pretty realistically, even if a bit slow and clunky. The music is great, and the effects are great too. So bring on HBP!

Nonetheless, the game as it is shows great stupidity: the tutorial levels in Grimmauld Place are idiotic. Instead of simply picking up your clothes and neatly placing them in your suitcase, Harry Potter MUST use Wingardium Leviosa, a process taking nearly four times as long. And to clear a room, you have to use Depulso on all the cupboards, chairs, lamps and tables, something that would undoubtedly break all the objects, right?

As for interactivity: there is little. While the game is advertised as open-ended, this is a lie of omission: yes, you CAN roam free about a full Hogwarts map, with no limitations, and you can find secrets along the way, but you can't really DO anything. There aren't any secret passages (apart from portraits - there's nothing actually hidden) and there's nothing particularly interesting to find. The game, then, is pretty linear. And though the story mode does boast some stunning set pieces, the cinematics are only just okay, with Harry looking like a screwed up Lothario-type character, and the character skins look like they've just been stretched over the bodies.

So overall, this game is a good start. This game gives you great visuals, but not great practicality or functionality. It does need some fine tuning, and, looking at a screenshot recently released for the HBP game, it looks like the developers are sticking to the visual style, which is good to see. I just hope they're now focusing on expanding the universe a bit (Hogsmeade, Diagon Alley perhaps?), giving us more to do, and, for goodness' sake, fixing those damn controls!

My 8/10 rating goes purely for the earlier series, with Harmony and Melody, going up to the time when they were staying on their relative's boat.

All series since then have gone down, mainly because of the absence of Harmony, and also because they decided to have a full cast of little kids with the coin.

For years we had Harmony as the owner of the 50p coin. As a child, I loved to watch The Queen's Nose - it was one of my favourite programmes, and hearing the theme music now brings back a whole host of memories for me =]

It had charm and sophistication, unlike its later series, and great contrast between the two very different sisters, Harmony and Melody.

I am also fond of it for my earliest memories of Liz Smith =]

I would agree with those of you who dismiss this programme as a complete waste of time, if you have only seen the more recent series.

How about you write to CBBC asking for re-runs of the earlier editions?

There's nothing wrong with that =]]