Harry Potter: POA ! A Super Fun Game!

Author's Rating:

Pros: Very fun! Different Characters! Lots of activities!

Cons: Not any really, except if you like it too much it'll be over pretty quick.

The Bottom Line: 
Great Game! I think Harry Potter fans should all go out and buy it! Hours of fun, especially the mini games!

Author's Review
I've played just about every Harry Potter game for the
Playstation, and most of them are almost all the same.
Same kind of activities, and a bit of a dull player
interface. You had to do what the game said, and had
to follow the "quest" for the game. I never really was
fond of any of the other Harry Potter Games (except
Quidditch World Cup..).

Then I saw "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"
and thought "the graphics look good, might as well give
it a shot." So I bought it, and I started playing it,
and already there was something interesting to do,
instead of running around casting a spell at a giant
enemy, I got to search around, then finally try and
defend myself from something, not just bluntly hit "X"
repeatedly. I got to actually avoid an obstacle
course, whilst dragging a character away from an evil
Dementor. I kept playing the game and way enjoying it
thoroughly, and was surprised that even though it says
for "young ages" I, a bit older than the "young ages"
the game was directed toward, was still having a bit
of a rough time beating the game, and that, to me, is
what makes the game fun!

I also liked all the little side "quests" put in the game, instead of
automatically "going to sleep" at the end of a "day"
you could choose when your day ended, you could still
run around Hogwarts for as long as you wanted, until
you hit the "end day" button. I rather liked the ease
of the controls as well, you could simply pause then
change the move the character was using, or you could
also hit "O" and switch to any of the three main
characters, you could play as Ron, Hermione, and of
course, Harry. Each character had a different playing
style, so you could learn to play better or worse with
certain characters. Each character was also good at a
certain aspect of the game.

If you love that "Accio!"
spell used in the books you'll love using the "Carpe
Retractum!" spell in the game, you'll be able to yank
your enemies shields! Thats my favorite part of the
game (except the aiming can be a bit tricky some
times.. And so I would say, run out and buy this game
if you're a Harry Potter fan. And even if you're not,
you might just like it anyway.

If you've read my review you'd notice that there's not
really any negative, and that would be due to the fact
that I didn't really find any of the game bad, you
don't need to have used the other games to understand
this one, and all the virtual aspects look great, the
plot of the game is well made, and it even comes with
a free ticket to go see "Prisoner of Azkaban" in
theaters!

Graphics;
As most of the next PS2 games come out, the graphics
are getting better and better, and "Harry Potter and
the Prisoner of Azkaban" is no exception. The graphics
are great, if you turn the character around and have
it look at the "camera" you can see all the facial
details like the eyes and other facial features. The
sound quality, IMO, is excellent as well; you can hear
the character's shoes clip and clop as they walk! The
voices are excellent for the characters, and the only
negative thing I could think of is the matching, the
movement of characters lips and things aren't exactly
perfect, but at no level take away from the fun of the
game!