Harry potter deathly hallows part 1 review

There is also very little diversity in enemy non-player characters-there appear to be only three types of Death Eaters and three types of Snatchers, with absolutely no difference between the character models, which means you're often fighting an army of clones. Adding to this annoyance are occasional gameplay bugs found throughout the whole campaign, the more interesting of which include invisible walls and odd AI behaviour (hey, death eater, why do you keep bending over that desk at 30-second intervals?). These challenges are pointless and quickly become tedious, and there is no motivation to complete them other than that you cannot continue in the single-player campaign without doing so. To compensate for this, you're required to take part in four sets of mini challenges at certain points in the game-each set is made up of three short challenges that have no bearing on the story and involve Harry defeating a certain number of enemies or surviving an oncoming attack. Combat takes up the entirety of the gameplay, leaving no room for the more imaginative exploration and puzzle-solving that featured strongly in earlier Harry Potter games. Most of the game is composed of Harry, Ron, and Hermione moving from place to place, fighting hordes of Death Eaters (Voldemort's cronies), Inferi (dead people), and Snatchers (rudimentary bad dudes). Shooting enemy clones is fun, even if occasionally one will run into a tree for no reason. The fact that the display features no health or magic bar (with health obtained from various potions dropped by defeated enemies) also helps to make the experience smoother and more immersive, at least during those parts when the camera isn't acting up. The targeting system also works smoothly and is responsive throughout the whole game, activated by pressing the left trigger to lock on with the reticle, and the right trigger to shoot. The spells are assigned to a spell wheel that you can either cycle through using the right bumper or bring up as a radial menu. What Harry 'shoots' are various spells each spell's intensity increases over time, with Harry levelling up throughout the campaign and eventually unlocking 10 spells overall, including Expelliarmus, Expecto Patronum, and Petrificus Totalus. This is something that almost always ends in disaster-it's impossible to determine the direction of killing curses when the whole screen is filled with the bottom left-hand corner of Harry's blue jumper. In some parts of the game, the camera becomes uncooperative and results in extreme close-ups, usually when you're moving in and out of cover or navigating within small spaces. Most of the combat is free-flowing and rapid, however some camera issues stop it from being a completely rewarding experience. The third-person shooter makeover sees you controlling Harry from an over-the-shoulder perspective, with a targeting system and cover mechanic also at his disposal. Looking past the problematic storytelling elements, the gameplay itself is fun for the most part, especially if you can look past the fact that you won't be doing much else. The character models also leave a lot to the imagination and are plagued by awkward movements, a perpetual stiffness of the hair and clothes, and out-of-sync talking, not to mention extremely limited dialogue-Ron is particularly fond of shouting 'We can't do this!' during every single combat sequence at regular intervals, which is annoying at first and completely soul-destroying by the time you finish the game.

What is supposed to be one of the most touching moments of the final book is reduced to a cutscene so brief and so badly acted you can only laugh. What's more, cutscenes have the emotional range of a teaspoon, to use Hermione's own words. Important plot points are glossed over in favour of combat, and the game does very little to explain what drives these characters to do what they do. Not only does the game's story take liberties with the canon (when did Harry, Ron, and Hermione ever venture inside an abandoned factory?), but those elements of the story that are reflected accurately are portrayed through short, fragmented cutscenes that look dire and are completely unconvincing, making the story confusing and unclear for those unfamiliar with the books. Rowling's final Harry Potter book and so unceremoniously represented here. This is the picture painted so clearly and heartbreakingly by J.K. Instead, Harry, Ron, and Hermione must venture past Hogwarts into the cold, wet English countryside, tracking down and destroying the remaining parts of Voldemort's soul. There are no more schoolyard adventures, traipses through the forest, or twilight romances by the lake. Darkness, loss, and death now fill the space once inhabited by classes, Quidditch, and dorm-room chitchat. The final journey facing Harry Potter is not an easy one.

Harry potter deathly hallows part 1 review