Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (Wii) - Review by chris

Introduction

After years of releases in various mediums, be it through the original books or the various toys and games which accompanied the movies latter, the Harry Potter franchise is swiftly heading towards its inevitably enthralling finale. But with the end in sight, it doesn't mean that there won't be ample opportunities for companies to get a slice of the pie, especially with the final chapter now split into two films. Here we have EA's accompaniment to the first part of the final chapter and after the massive step forward with the Half Blood Prince game last time around, hopes are high that this will prove to be another great experience.

Gameplay

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One, as expected, follows the events of the movie and book closely, telling the tale of Harry and Co. as they set about confronting and taking down Lord Voldemort and his growing army as they in turn attempt to get rid of Harry. If you've read the books or seen the film, you'll know the course of events which will unfold throughout the runtime of the game, albeit in a more magnified form and with less of the background than you'd find in the novel which is to be expected. From this stand point, it makes it a little difficult for anyone who doesn't have any prior knowledge of the franchise to get into as you'll be left guessing what is going on, making them game almost solely aimed at fans. Even from a purely gameplay point of view, it'll hardly pull any non-fans in given the rather dull and awkward mechanics on offer this time around.

Whereas previous Harry Potter games had settled on trying to create an open world feel to them, allowing you to explore Hogwarts and the surrounding areas while you go about doing various quests and tasks, this time around things have changed, but unfortunately not for the better. Remaining as a third person game, the open world idea has been left behind in place of a rigid level structure which will move you from point A in the story to point B, all the while shepherding you towards the inevitable end of this first portion of the final chapter. It's slightly disappointing considering how well the open world structure worked in Half Blood Prince but given the proximity to the end of the main story, some structure was obviously necessary to keep things moving towards the ending.

What's more striking, however, is the change to a third person shooter gameplay style, in an attempt to evoke the strong emotional, action and confrontational scenes which the movie has been pushing. Throughout, you'll control Harry but rather than take on puzzles and quests, you'll be equipped with your trusty wand and have to fend off Voldemort's army of Deatheaters with a variety of spells, with more complex and powerful spells being unlocked as you level up. It seems like an interesting idea and definitely presents the franchise in a different light, and certainly entertains in the early stages. But things quickly go downhill thanks in large part to poor enemy AI making it ridiculously easily to progress through the stages as well as Harry's ability to essentially soak up any spell damage, a very forgiving auto-aim and an unnecessary cover system which you'll rarely need to use. Even with control issues, these shooter sections remain consistently easy throughout as you'll rarely need to use anything other than the most basic of spells to get through them and only the on rails section which opens the game truly offers up anything excitable.

But the shooter gameplay isn't all you'll be asked to carry out. Stealth gameplay plays a big part in the events of the game, where you'll don the invisibility cloak and walk through the streets or various locations trying to gather information to investigate suspicious people or events. This is predominantly the worse gameplay on show here, as the clumsy turning speed for Harry makes detection almost inevitable in certain instances and while in some stages this will merely send you back to a checkpoint and have you start from there, later levels don't grant you this opportunity instead sending waves of enemies after you until you can find somewhere to hide again. They're drawn out and incredibly dull, frustrating more often than not rather than invigorating.

Some challenges are also thrown into the mix, unlocked through play in the main game and easily accessible from the main menu but they add little to the overall game other than reminding you of how poor the actual gameplay is. Given how well the last game came together gameplay wise, it'll no doubt be disappointing for Potter fans to see their franchise reduced to this unrefined mess.

Controls

The Wii-mote and Nunchuk are your methods of control again, with a greater emphasis being put on the pointer functionalities than ever before. The Nunchuk ably carries out its job for movement in the game, although with the emphasis now on the Wii-mote for turning the camera, aiming and indeed simply turning in the first person sections, things don't quite come off as smoothly as possible. Turning is slow when you hover at the edges of the screen, which can prove problematic when in battles, and you'll often find yourself simply moving out of aiming and repositioning yourself as it's much quicker. It proves to be even more infuriating when you're playing through the first person stealth sections, resulting in many restarts after being caught. Some refinement would have severely bettered the control scheme and made it much more manageable in these sections, although saying this it's certainly capable in the battles although largely as a result of poor AI making themselves easy targets.

Graphics

Visually, the game feels like a step backwards from the previous title. Granted, the action never quite became as full on there as it does here but the visuals are noticeably poorer in quality than the last title, with blurry textures and a lack of detail overall in many of the locations and the main characters of the story. It's a shame as they've been recreated faithfully in both of these areas, with the characters looking like their movie counterparts nicely and locations following suit, but these low qualities pull you out of the visual experience somewhat, although they're far from the most jarring aspect of the visuals.

The developers can be applauded for trying to be ambitious with the Wii version where others would skimp but the game definitely exhibits itself as a prime case of less is more as too many things are shoehorned onto the screen at a time, be it too many effects or the more common issue of too many character models. As a result of this over ambition, the frame rate suffers frequently, stuttering and crawling all over the place while trying to keep up with what is happening on the screen. Attempts to minimise this have clearly been made, which goes some way to explaining the otherwise poor quality of the textures and level design, but character animation has also suffered as looks nowhere near as natural as it did in the previous game. The pre-rendered cutscenes which primarily propel the story forward do their job but again, quality issues, particularly in terms of rendering, mean they aren't quite up to snuff.

Sound

Voice work by the actors themselves and the score from the movie make up the audio on offer in the game, providing the same level of quality you'd expect to find. It definitely sounds good and will no doubt hit home with long time fans of the series but there is a slight downside to the audio, primarily in terms of the sound effects but also in relation to certain voiced lines which are repeated frequently and do become irritating. It's something you'll either decide to put up with if you're a fan of the franchise's sweeping score or something you'll simply mute if it gets too much.

Final comments

In an attempt to mirror the potentially enthralling and captivating end to the franchise, EA's decision to change the gameplay hasn't quite worked out for the game. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One falls short of capturing the atmosphere of the film thanks to awkward and at times dull gameplay and a host of issues which really showcase the game as a rushed job simply to get it to market in time for the holiday and the film's release. Potter fans will undoubtedly get the most out of the game but really, it feels unfinished in many aspects and one can only hope that it is merely a stop gap before a truly great game to coincide with the final film closes the franchise with a bang.

Pro: Change in gameplay is certainly an interesting one and provides some slight fun, does capture the look and sound of the movie
Con: Control issues, visuals aren't the franchise's strongest, constant frame rate issues, stealth sections are laborious and frustrating
Final score: 4.5

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