LEGO Harry Potter Review

Our rating:

By: Warner Bros. Entertainment

Version #: 1.0

Date Released:

Developer:

Price: 4.99

User Rating:

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After Warner Bros. rather lackluster Lego Batman game failed to wow and excite iOS gamers, you might think they would be weary to try another franchise in the Lego style. Instead they seem to have listened to the complaints of the first game and have made an admirable second go with their latest offering: Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4.

For those that do not play console games much, you may be in the dark with the whole Lego game series. Lego has licensed their brand to dozens of franchises, and some of the more popular one have since become very successful games. Most notably is the Lego Star Wars sage which captures a hilarious summary of all six movies played through the world of Lego. These console games (usually released for all major systems) all follow a similar pattern. You control Lego versions of the characters through the various scenes in the movie while solving simple puzzles and destroying almost everything in your path in order to collect Lego studs and other collectables hidden around the levels.

Lego Harry Potter for the iOS faithfully follows this formula as it flies through the first four books of the Harry Potter series. The game starts from a central hub, from which you access the four sections as well as purchase the many unlockables that are available as you play the game. You must complete each book in story mode to unlock the next book. Doing so isn’t a difficult task as there is no real punishment for dying in Lego games. You lose studs when you die, but you can always play any level again in free play mode to collect something you missed. In fact, you have to play the game at least a second time around to unlock everything, since you will see plenty of places that are unreachable at first, but become accessible with an unlocked character or spell that you get later in the game.

The gameplay consists of simple missions which usually involve you searching for certain items and then either giving them to someone, or placing them somewhere. Usual fare for adventure games. Enemies in Lego Harry Potter are much more scarce than I remember in the Star Wars games. There are a few time sensitive moments in which you must act fast, but for the most part you can take this game at your own pace. The puzzles are very basic and anything you need to interact with will glow and give you direction. One of the more satisfying elements of the Lego series is the ability to destroy almost everything, and Lego Harry Potter does not fail to pull through on this. You can play most of the game as one of several characters since there are very few character dependent puzzles. When you do run into a puzzle that requires a particular character, the game lets you know which one it needs.

Lego Harry Potter is definitely a huge step in the right direction when compared to Lego Batman. I am holding judgement from one of the biggest complaints people have with this game. The characters are controlled by tapping where you want to move. The best way to do this is the tap and then slide in the direction you want to go. This control method works alright for the most part, but can cover the screen too much at times. Warner Bros. has stated in the app store description that it has heard the fan’s complaints and will implement a virtual stick option in the next update. Control issues aside, the elements that people love about the console versions are very present and while the puzzles and challenge for be lacking in this game, it is still an entertaining experience, especially if you are a fan of the books and films. The cutscenes are hilarious as they recreate scenes from the film in a pantomime, and make use of the fact that they are all made of Legos. If you are a fan of Harry Potter, or have smaller children that enjoy fun animated games, then you should pick up Lego Harry Potter and I think you will be very satisfied by what you get.

We rate this app 4 out of 5 stars.