Video Games : Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Rating: - Harry Potter - Filch's Replacement in Training
Welcome to the world of Harry Potter - Year 5. You've progressed from ordinary magic, and have begun to apprentice yourself to the castle's infamous caretaker, Argus Filch. As such, you will complete the following chores:

- Sweeping the courtyard
- Mopping up puddles in not one, but *two* entrance-ways
- Stacking wood in torches
- Picking pears and putting them in baskets
- Repairing pots
- Lighting lamps
- Making beds in the hospital wing
- Pruning back overgrown devil's snare plants...
and much, much more!

50% of the way threw the game, and this is all I've found. You spend 90% of your time completing random, pointless tasks that serve no higher purpose than to extend the total playtime of the game.

The health bar found in previous versions of the Harry Potter gameverse has disappeared. Why? Because there's no need for one silly! There's nothing out there waiting to get you...maybe some grime in the bottom of the Prefect's Bathtub (which, thankfully, you don't have to scrub...or might, I wouldn't know, not having completed the *entire* game yet), but certainly no dark lords!

So here's how I broke it down:

Pros:
- Interesting graphics, well-organized castle layout.

Cons:
- Endless chores that any muggle could do
- Lack of actual, interesting discoveries that appeared in past versions
- Bad camera angles (to the point of obstructing gameplay)with no way of adjusting them
- Inability to adjust sound while in-game
- Inability to adjust window size
- No experience in-class

Well...the list goes on and on... Avoid this title, there are certainly better ones out there. It's obvious they made it like this to take advantage of the new Wii controller, but that technology is lost on a PC. (Most gestures just aren't the same.)

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Rating: - good game but no code
We got the game fast as requested. But when we tried to install it
there was no code in the box. So we could not play the game. It was
for my daughter's birthday. She was really disapointed. So the next
week we went to a Walmart and bought the game again. She really enjoys
the game. But we had to buy it again.

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Rating: - Best Game I've Ever Played
This is the best game I've ever played. The video game has nearly flawless graphics that make me thankful I am running it on a PC. It is fast, fun, and, much like New York City in Spider Man 2, there is not a single area in Hogwarts that you cannot travel. I have spent hours upon hours playing this terrific game. Don't listen to the other negative comments- this game is Perfect. :)

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Rating: - Buyer beware
I probably will never know if the game is enjoyable or not because it simply will not load, and my Win XP system exceeds the specs that EA said are needed. EA tel support is nonexistent - after going through their automated call screener, you get a message announcing office hours, and that those offices are now closed for the day (even though it's 1 1/2 hours prior to the stated closing time.) I see now why this product has been so heavilly discounted.

Stick with one of the first 3 titles, buy GOF if you must, avoid OOTP like the plague!

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Rating: - Mixed opinion
This product did not work with 98 for us as advertised. Had to upgrade my daughters computer to XP. (Not a terrible thing, just wish I would have known that before I bought it - I probably would have looked at a different game). My daughter enjoys it very much!