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Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Mini Review
Jon Wilcox
21/11/2005
TVG returns to Hogwarts for the wizard's fourth year in this multi-multi-platform title...
Itâs coming up to Christmas, which can only mean one thing: Harry Potter is heading to the cinema screens once again. As youâd expect, Electronic Arts has supported the Potter merchandise and marketing train with a videogame to accompany the release of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire, available on pretty much every current generation platform including the handhelds. Shifting the gameplay towards a more action dynamic, EAâs UK studio has kept to the broad storyline of the movie including the Tri-Wizard Tournament challenges and the final confrontation with Lord Voldemort.
Goblet of Fire can be played with up to three human controlled characters (Harry, Ron, and Hermione) and begins with the DeathEater conflict at the Quidditch World Cup. This first mission sets up the majority of gameplay for the rest of the levels in the game; spells and jinxes such as the object levitating âWingardium Leviosaâ or stun spells will get the characters through to safety in ease â“ which is when the game really begins to fall down.
Levels are broken down into key events in the movie such as the encounter with the Hungarian Horned Dragon in the Forbidden Forest and of course the Tri-Wizard Tournament, though in order to progress, players have to fulfil certain tasks. In reality these tasks only serve to delay players in completing the game; thereâs only 10 missions in the game plus some mini challenges from Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor âMad-Eyeâ Moody, so the developers instead rely on the old âcollect-a-certain-amount-of-objects-to-progress trickâ, which only increases the onslaught of boredom. Though there is more excitement in the actual Tri-Wizard Tournament itself it lasts for such a short space of time that itâs pretty inconsequential.
During the game co-operation between the three characters is encouraged (such as puling down drawbridges or removing heavy obstacles), though this can prove to be an exceptionally frustrating experience if AI controls the other two characters. Perhaps the best adjective to use when it comes to describing the AI would be âabsurdâ, whilst another would be âploddingâ, especially when it takes a few attempts to cajole them into what they should be doing in the first place. Ignorantly walking into damage inflicting objects such as rolling boulders or standing in the way of a flame are two such examples of character AI stupidity.
One of the truly disappointing gameplay aspects in Goblet of Fire is that spells are strictly context sensitive, thereby narrowing the experience dramatically. Itâs a case of one spell for each circumstance youâll find in the game; thereâs no skill in deciding the correct spell for a set of obstacles, just press the spell casting button and the game will do it all for you. Yawn. This aspect could have been developed so much more, and goes to show how woefully generic the game actually is.
During the course of the missions players will collect magic beans including red ones for replenishing stamina and blue ones for boosting magic levels; others are used to spend on Collectorâs Cards that improve the abilities of the three characters such as their Stamina, and Accio (which draws out-of-reach items towards you). Such inanely basic RPG wannabe elements feel very much tacked on and rarely explored â“ yet another missed opportunity. Goblet of Fire does feature a powered-up mode called Magicus Extremos, which is activated by filling the magic meter through the collection of the blue beans. The mode enables the characters to cast whatâs described by EA as âamazing powered-up spellsâ but in reality donât appear to make a difference at all.
Visually the game is very much generic with no real memorable tricks or environment; ok the kids look like the actors (for the first time) but thatâs hardly something to shout about. Thereâs real blandness in the environments that seldom feel more than just movie sets, and therefore thereâs a real lack of immersion. Like the graphics the sound is equally bland and forgettable; one-liners from the trio grate from the start and thereâs nothing special about the music.
This is an unbelievably lazy title that just feels cheap. It has poor gameplay that the target audience will just fall asleep at, which only adds to the infuriating realisation that it will still sell thanks to the lightning scarred teenâs name. It looks bad; it plays bad, and is not what a Harry Potter title should be. To make matters worse we still have another three titles in this series to go â“ roll on 2008 because hopefully the boy-wizardâs run will then end permanently.
