Has the EA company changed with Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire?

Author's Rating:

Pros: fun challenges, get to fly a great broom! challenging

Cons: not like the other games not as long as others.

The Bottom Line: 
I think just anyone who is really into the Harry Potter series, it's something you'll enjoy

Author's Review
Is it true that after three Harry Potter games made the fourth has taken a turn? Why is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire different than the Prisoner of Askaban?
Ill be comparing the games later, but for now I'd like to tell you how the game is played. Because it still is very fun and inviting.

The Story
Harry, Ron, and Hermione are finally going back to Hogwarts for their fourth year of school. At school the students are told that Hogwarts is hosting the Triwizard Tournament. A competition which has three challenges. The only students that can put their name in the goblet and try to compete are the 17 year olds. But someone puts Harry's name in the goblet and he becomes the youngest Triwizard Champion ever. But can he survive the devilish challenges? That is for you to decide!

The Controls
As you know we can't just start you off with a game that you have no idea what the controls are! So I will teach you the basic controls to this game. As you obviously know your Playstation 2 controller has the buttons, X, square, triangle, and circle. You do not have to equip the spells like in the other two games, and so the controls are much easier. The X button shoots a spell called jinx, this spell is a blue ray that you use to attack opponents. Square button is the charm button. The four charms you must use are, Herbivicus ( the spell that makes plants grow), Acua Eructo ( the water spell mainly used for putting out fires and such), Wingardium Leviosa (the levitation spell), and Carpe Retractum ( The spell that pulls objects and certain creatures to you). (Please note that all of the characters have the same spells). Triangle button has only one spell just as X and that is accio the summoning spell.

Now that you know about the spells you have to know how to move around. As you can see on your controller there are two joysticks. The left controls you character and the right changes the view. In the game you will go through many different surroundings so it is important that you follow this guide.

The challenges
The normal levels all take the same general controls and those levels are two player. But the Triwizard Tournament levels 1 and 2 are different. In this game you do not start out in Hogwarts and run around but the levels are separate. In the Defense Against the Dark Arts levels you will find that you must collect Triwizard Sheilds before you can unlock the challenges.

The first Challenge is the Dragon! Harry must get away from his dragon and find it's golden egg. The level is on Harry's new broom the Firebolt. The controls in this level are quite simple but you are timed. To control Harry you push the joystick down for him to fly up and the push it up for him to get down. Then of course left is left and right is right. To make Harry go a little bit faster you get hold down the R1 button on the top of the controller. To make Harry go really fast you have to fly through the blue rings. He will go super fast for a limited time. Go through the bean rings to get more Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans those improve your score. You must dodge fire, buildings, rocks, and water to get back to the stadium. If you make it there in 1:30 you get gold. if you make it there from 1:30 to 2:00 you get silver, and anything after 2:00 is bronze. So try to be quick about it. Because you can't go to the next challenge until you get gold. Just don’t give up.

For the second task you have to dive into the black lake and save Ron. The controls are pretty much the same for this challenge. But there is a twist, you have your wand with you, and you cans hoot opponents with your jinx. In order to save Ron you must find him. Good luck
Note: Challenge three is just basic controls!

How to play
At the main menu when you first start the game you will see the goblet of fire. You will have to choose new game at first because you have not started your adventure yet. There are three slots that you can choose from. A slot is just so that you can have more than one going at a time. Once you choose one of the three slots you will go to the beginner level right away. After completing that you will see a dial that says beginner at the top. For every time you cast one of the different spells you will gain experience. The more experience you get the better. The point of this dial is to tell you if you have mastered a spell yet. When you press X it may not always be jinx is could be orbits you never know when your character will change their spells.
After beating the first level you will come to the game menu this is where you access new levels. This is also where you can buy witches and wizards cards. just press circle and you will go to a screen that says "Harry's cards". They really don't have any to begin with but by collecting Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans you can buy cards. Make sure you read what the card can improve for your character before you buy it. Because before you start the levels you can put cards from your deck with your character by pressing X on the card i con. These can improve your jinx and lots more.

After you have chosen the level you want you will be able to choose which character you would like to play with. Harry, Ron, or Hermione, but you have to stay playing that character for the rest of the level!

how to Fight
You will find many creatures and evils on your journey so it is important that you know how to deal with most of them. Erklings can be very devilish. You can get them away from you by using Carpe Retractum and then rapidly press X to defeat them.

What happens when you are dealing with fire salamanders? You use Aqua Eructo to put them out of course? But you also have to put out the fire pads on the ground so they can’t warm up again. I can tell you how to make a more powerful Aqua Eructo that only take seconds to put it out! Cast the spell and while your doing it make a large circular motion with the left joystick. Just keep doing that until the fire is out.
There are many more monsters, but you’ll have to figure out how defeat them yourself.
The sound
The sound is excellent. With things like spells and activating your main menu, the sounds are very life-like. The backround music when playing is very dark and spooky, but at sometimes it can be jumpy and jittery. Most of the music in the game is classical, but to a certain point.
My Opinion and Comparison
I really enjoyed playing this game a lot, but I had to go against something. This game is a lot different from the normal Harry Potter video games! I can even show you what I mean. Harry potter and the Prisoner of Askaban allowed you to play Harry, Ron, or Hermione, but you were allowed to change from one to the other. Also in the third game you were given a lot of different spells and could use them as you wished. You don’t have that in Harry Potter 4. There are some good advantages as well. Harry Potter four is 2 player as Harry potter three is not. Also The fourth game has a part where you can ride Harry’s broom, number three doesn’t.

I think it really varies from game to game. Because each game has it’s advantages and each has its downfalls. I still really think it’s a great game, and anyone who likes Harry Potter will enjoy it. I bought this game at EB games for 25.00. I hope you enjoyed it the same way I did.