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Apart from potion-making, the player will have to butt wands with a number of students and Death Eaters to progress the story. Duels are strictly one on one, even when there are multiple enemies present. In such scenarios, the other enemies are nice enough to wait patiently until the player disposes off their friends, a clear influence of watching too many old Chinese movies!.
When a duel starts, the camera sticks behind Harry’s back, and moving the left stick left or right makes Harry strafe in the respective direction. The right stick controls Harry’s wand arm, and different combinations of the movement execute different spells. The more powerful spells like Levicorpus (hangs the enemy upside down for a period of time) or Expelliarmus (knocks the enemy down) are done by a combination of both sticks, requiring Harry to stand still and sacrifice his ability to avoid the enemy’s attack.
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In fact, dueling could have been as engaging as potion-making if Levicorpus wasn’t so unbalanced. It keeps the enemy in the air for far too long, and when the player gets hit by it, he or she can rapidly tap a button to get out of it, negating its advantage for the enemy. My strategy in every duel, irrespective of how intimidating my enemy was, was to connect with Levicorpus and then move close and blast the hell out of my enemy with the stronger version of Stupify. That said, fans will still get a pretty faithful representation of what dueling would be like in the Harry Potter universe, which, in my opinion, is another feather in the game’s cap.
The third gameplay element, Quidditch, can be hit or miss. Fans might enjoy flying Harry through a set of star shaped checkpoints until he catches the snitch. Miss enough checkpoints in a row and the player will have to redo the whole thing. However, the speed at which Harry flies (you can’t speed up or slow down) coupled with the game’s more than generous helping of auto correcting the direction of the flight (when the snitch makes a sharp turn) make it very hard to miss these checkpoints, thus nullifying the challenge. It’s a pity really. When I first read about Quidditch in the books, the first thought that came to my mind was that it would make a great video game.
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Apart from the above, there are Hogwarts crests to be collected and the school itself to be explored. The design of the school has been carried over from the previous game, and is a true treat. For any fan who has dreamt about exploring Hogwarts, this is your chance. Only a few areas are accessible initially. However, the blocked portions open up quickly and you have the entire school at your disposal to explore. You can always postpone a mission in favour of exploring Hogwarts, complete with its moving staircases, talking paintings, secret passages, dungeons, Hagrid’s hut and a lot more.
There are also 150 Hogwarts crests scattered around the school which can be collected. They range from simply being walked over to be collected to figuring out how to get them within reach. Collect enough crests and you are rewarded with either in-game attributes or arenas/characters for the game’s offline multiplayer duel mode.
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Conclusion
All in all, I had a much better time playing the game than watching the movie. Beyond cashing in on the success of the franchise, a developer should always remember that it is very important for fans playing the game to see and experience the fictional universe in the exact same manner that their favourite characters do. Though the story and presentation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince got hung upside down (Get it? Levicorpus!), Bright Light Studio were pretty close to the mark with the gameplay. While it may not be very challenging, the magic of the world that J.K. Rowling has created has definitely rubbed off on this one.
(+) Potion-making and dueling have been designed very well
(+) Beautifully crafted Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry
(+) The overall gameplay mirrors being part of the Harry Potter universe in many ways
(-) Story could have been adapted from the book rather than the movie to include more details
(-) Rubbish presentation
(-) Unfair advantage to the player while dueling
(-) Quidditch
Title: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Developer/Publisher: Bright Light Studio/EA
Genre: Action
Rating: 12+
Platforms: PS3 (Rs 2,499), Xbox 360 (Rs 2,499), PS2 (Rs 999), PSP (Rs 1,599), Wii (Rs 1,999)
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