Categories

    Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

    A survey was recently carried out in Japan to discover what they consider most symbolic of good old England. The top three answers were fairly predictable: The Beatles, fish and chips, and Harry Potter. When English people were asked the same question about Japan their answers were Godzilla, Hello Kitty and vending machines selling used school girl knickers. Although this might not actually be true.

    Harry Potter and the Order of the PhoenixNew term, new angst ridden Harry; new hardware, new ‘fully interactive’ Hogwarts. EA’s definition of ‘fully interactive’ is pushing it a bit, however; experience points are gained by lighting torches, fixing broken statues and hanging fallen pictures back on the wall, using spells that are gained early on in the game. You’re free to do what you fancy though – the school timetable has been thrown out of the window, leaving you to recruit the 26-strong Dumbledore’s Army and explore Hogwarts at your own leisure.

    You can have more than one task on the go at once, while the map system is nicely done – simply select a place you want to visit and a set of ghostlike footprints will appear on the floor to lead you to your destination. Even so, there is an awful lot of backtracking – never mind being ‘the boy who lived’, in this game he’s ‘the boy who ran down lots and lots of corridors’. The talking paintings provide a few shortcuts as long as you have the right password, and it’s not as if the corridors are bland – even though it’s a multiformat release, it looks quite fancy in places and there’s a decent atmosphere, mostly provided by the random students nattering in corridors. “You belong in St. Mungo’s!” Cheers mate!

    To get fellow wizards to join your secret army, most require you to carry out a favour, like find five talking gargoyle statues or shimmy along ledges and down drainpipes to retrieve a lost pair of binoculars. Later missions, particularly the ones that involve causing chaos in the school, are somewhat more inventive, such as re-arranging giant cogs on a clock to make it run backwards. Lessons only appear once you’ve carried out a sub-quest for a teacher, and even then they’re optional. Mini-games are present too, including Potter-ified variants of chess and patience.

    The fact that not much happens in either the book or film has worked in EA’s favour – without any storyline constraints, the developers (who have a blatant love for all things Potter) have been able to create the ultimate Hogwarts experience. It’s without doubt the best movie tie-in to be released this year, although when you consider that the competition is made up of Rise of the Silver Surfer, Shrek the Third and Surf’s Up, it’s not that amazingly high praise.

    Written by

    Matt Gander

    Matt is Games Asylum's most prolific writer, having produced a non-stop stream of articles since 2001. A retro collector and bargain hunter, his knowledge has been found in the pages of tree-based publication Retro Gamer.

    Post navigation

    189 Comments

    • It is surprising but true. Your life is expensive. At least, at its auction it could sell for good money.

    • Thanks for all the answers. Actually learned a lot. This is only until the end and not разобрался that and from where.

    • At one site I have read almost the same selection of information, but thanks anyway.

    • Великолепный пост. Добавил в мемори.

    • Почему на блоге так мало тем про кризис, Вас этот вопрос не волнует?

    • Почему на блоге так мало тем про кризис, Вас этот вопрос не волнует?

    • Очень полезная безделушка, благодарность!!

    • I almost accidentally went to this site, but stay here for long. Delayed, because everything is very interesting. Be sure to tell you about all your friends.

    • It is surprising but true. Your life is expensive. At least, at its auction it could sell for good money.

    • In the past few years has been to Ibiza, so they met with a man whose style of presentation is very similar to yours.

    • Thanks for all the answers Actually learned a lot. This is only until the end and not разобрался that and from where.

    • As usual, the webmaster intelligently published this article. Frankly, good news, thanks.

    • I am certainly not that way in the post, but try to understand and look into this topic.

    • I almost accidentally went to this site, but stay here for long. Delayed, because everything is very interesting. Be sure to tell you about all your friends.

    • The publication is very well-published, the webmaster to explain everything, is what to think.

    • Как по мне – тема раскрыта четко, спасибо за пост!

    • Gratifying that your blog is constantly evolving and updated with new articles. Such positions only adds popularity

    • I’m just dropping by to say that I very much liked seeing this post, it’s very clear and well written. Are you considering posting more about this? It appears like there is more fodder here for more posts.

    • Присоединяюсь. Весьма и весьма хороший пост. Добавил в закладки. Кстати, рекомендую моеместо.ру :)

    • Вот вы – опытный человек. Подскажите, пожалуйста, как можно подзаработать денег летом? Вот сейчас стараюсь раскрутить свой сайт. Но он приносит сущие копейки =( Заранее спасибо за ответ :) Совсем забыл сказать – мне 15 .

    • Как говорится.. Не дать не взять, зачётная статья!

    • Зачетный пост, спасибо!

    • спасибо за статью… добавил в ридер

    • Благодарю. Как и всегда – отличный пост!

    • Спасибо, интересная инфа, да и блог в принципе неплохой…
      Хотя хотелось бы читать Вас и по другим темам, не думайте расширять тематику своего ресурса???
      И ещё вопросик, по поводу используемого движка, почему выбрали именно WordPress??? Мало мальски пытаюсь начать вести свой ресурс, вот думаю на какой платформе.. Рекомендуют именно WordPress, хотя другие говорят что со спамом замучаюсь..

    • Да таков наш современный мир и боюсь с этим ни чего невозможно поделать:)

    • Читаю твой блог и решил завести свой.

    • Действительно удивили и порадовали Никогда не поверил бы, что даже такое бывает

    • C нетерпением ждем новых статей!

    • И как вам хватает такое количества фантазии?: -) Просто писатель: ) А если серьзно нормально сочинили, это я вам как дипломированны специалист говорю

    • Разрешите спросить у Вас, где Ð’Ñ‹ регистрировали свой домен. Можно на почту, что указал здесь. Может быть посоветуете сразу, где лучше регистрировать РУшные и неRUшные домены. Лучше – не в плане дешевле, а в смысле надёжности. Чтобы не было потом проблем при продлении домена.
      Почему спршиваю – регистрировал домены у InterNetX/PSI-USA, вроде достаточно прилинчая забугорная контора. А вот пришло время продлевать, а у них интерефейс целую неделю не работал, и ни ответа ни привета от саппорта.
      ЗЫ Не ругайте за оффтоп….

    Comments are closed.

    You may also like