Note:

Before you read this, you should probably know what LEGO/TT games I have played so you will be aware of what comparisons I am able to make, they are:LEGO STAR WARS: The Complete Saga, LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures, LEGO Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues

Review:

For the most part, the game is in the style of Lego SW:TCS (the first IJ game was too), but has some of the more succesful/better ideas from IJ2. It also has some of it's own feautures like character tokens and spell wheels.

Building Expierience:

(This is included because of some of the ideas of building that were incorrperated) Pros-

• Pros:
• Can actually move some objects at free will (can be difficult for beginners)
• Nice building techniques used for some objectsCons-
• Only wizards can build (it takes away from the already limited muggle abbilities)

• Cons:
• Requires a spell-Wingardium Leviosa which I understand for the one that are manually lifted, but for the "piles of jiggling bricks" I think you should use Reparo (which does not appear in this version of the game)
• No motion for building (it's for wii! Why aren't their motions?)
• Level builder isn't much improved from IJ2

Characters/Minifigures:

• Pros: Old versions of Harry and Hermione (Gbltof versions are better than the new ones)
• Generic Minifigures (i.e. Boy, Wizard(Red), Shifty Wizard, Ravenclaw Girl, Witch (Grey) etc.)
• Nice variety of costumes for Ron and Hermione
• Nice array of abilities
• Cats, Dogs, Werewolves, Toad/Frogs, Rats, and Bugs are available through special abilities.
• New Ginny, Fred, George, Snape, Draco, Filch, and Voldemort
• Need a character token to buy characters. This is much more exiting than in STAR WARS when they were in the shop auotmatically, yet improved from Indiana Jones2 when you had to fight waves of enemies and win races to unlock characters.

• Cons: Old Ron, McGonagall, and Dumbledore
• Missed out on characters like Pansy Parkison, Frank Bryce, and Lavendar Brown
• Not as many chatacter creater parts as in SW
• Can only make students, no aduts, dark wizards, or muggles
• Abbilities are not always very accurate (f.e. Mad-Eye can't use his invisibility cloak and Milicent Bulstrode can't use her cat)
• Madame Maxime and Aunt Marge aren't playable
• Can't make Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, or Slytherin students
  Can't give created characters abilities or even house access (f.e. if you make a Gryffindor, they will not be able to open the Fat Lady's portrait)

Playability:

• Pros:
• Nice array of abilities (animagus, invisibility cloak, pets, avadara kedavara,etc.) Golden Bricks returns from SW
• Having to collect and then send red bricks returns from IJ
• Character tokens are fun to find
• Fun spells are entertaning
• Nice array of spells and potions
• Possible to recieve 100%

• Cons:
• Wingardium Leviosa's use is exagerated (not a con unless you are a big fan of HP) Accio is very expensive (some spells are purchased)
• Freezes
• A few glitches
• If you don't collect all of the red bricks and all but one of the characters before acquiring all of the golden bricks, it is impossible to recieve 100% completion, as you can't return to Hogwarts once the level Harry's Destiny is unlocked (the last character, Lord Voldemort, is unlocked in the level).

Value for money:

$50 is the same price as most other wii/x-box/playstaion games, so in that respect the price is decent. It also has many decent abilities and is pretty accurate to the movies compared to the IJ2 game.

Final Thought:As I have said before, its a decent game all together with a only few draw backs. I am hoping for a LEGO Harry Potter2: Years 5-7.

Tip:

Purchase these gifted characters to reach what is necessary to complete the game:Harry Potter (unlocked automatically), Hermione (unlocked automatically), Justin Flinch Fletenchy (unlocked automatically) Any Slytherin (requires Reducto), Ravenclaw Boy (requires Wingardium Leviosa [I think]), Griphook (requires Reducto) Tom Riddle (requires goblin key), Sirius Black OR Proffesor Lupin (both require Reducto). Keep in mind that these characters alone can get you through the game and are much cheaper than other characters with some/all of their abilities.

I liked it a lot but I still haven't found the room to buy extras, I have no idea what the red glowing on objects are and its a tad bit annoying going around Hogwarts- half the time you don't know if your in a level.

On the brighter side- love the minifigures and levels, very addictive!

This is a fantastic game! It has 167 great characters, not just unlockable by playing as them! You have to find their character token, hidden somewhere - 3 in each level, plus plenty more around Hogwarts and Diagon Alley.

Pros

• Lots of characters
• Some of the puzzles make you think hard
• Great spellcasting
• Lots of hidden areas and extras

Cons

• Heard it can freeze on you - hasn't happened to me, but I've heard it can
• When moving things with spells, can be awkward to get them where you want

Overall, it is a fantastic game, and I would recommend it to any fan of LEGO videogames!

This is most certainly the best Lego Game so far. I just finished it 100%, and it took me about 20 hours of gameplay. There is so much to do and explore and so many characters to unlock. So I'll go into some pros and cons:

Pros:

-167 available characters

-Enormous story mode area

-Great graphics (especially for Xbox 360, although the Wii version isn't bad)

-Many fun spells available for purchase

-Levels are just like the movies

Cons:

-The game can be kind of glitchy, as detectors can be misleading and some areas freeze the game (It's never frozen on me, but I've heard that it can freeze in certain areas)

Besides that, there are several new things that are different from previous Lego games. Characters can't be automatically unlocked after playing them in a story level. You must find a token hidden within the level to unlock the characters (3 per level with many hidden around Hogwarts). The way you enter levels is another change in the series-you actually have to find the level location to begin the level. For example, for the final level in the first movie, you must find your way to the forbidden corridor to begin your way to fight Quirrel.

In all, this is definately a game worth getting. Not only will it last you a while, there is never a point at which you get bored. Even though I've finished the game, I plan to start over because it's just that fun. But don't take it from me, go out and buy the game yourself and see what I mean!

LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4: LEGO Video Games have become something of a staple the past eight years or so, on all types of gaming consoles and involving tons of puzzle elements, collectible items/characters and even some rare bits of truly impressive comedy. Sometimes the humor does feel a bit rushed for the sake of getting off some kind of joke that doesn't always work, but more often than not you'll be laughing aloud as you enjoy the LEGO Game of your choice.

The innovations in LEGO Harry Potter are two-fold, first they introduce a skill learning aspect much different from just progressing through the levels, I believe this is the first in the series to feature a fully explorable hub world, complete with mini-games that are essential for learning new spells or potions to progress in the story.

The game focuses on the first four of eight films, so there are of course aspects of the books missing here, as in all adaptations. You have a total of 167 characters to collect, some of which are just re-skins of existing characters. (Harry in PJs, Ron in a Sweater, Hermione in ball-gown, etc.) That being said the game isn't monstrously difficult.

One aspect of the game I miss from previous titles is the mini-kits, in this game instead of hunting down 10 cannisters to build a mini-model you're searching for all four house crests in each stage, some of which involve puzzles that are not as obvious as they could have been (I'm looking at you Octopus section in the Dark Lake/Second Task stage from film four.) Most of the puzzles are very obvious and easily solvable for the younger crowd who will play the games, the others, those few that leave you scratching your head, are going to cause no end of frustrations.

I am happy to report that as time progresses the game's suffer fewer glitches, the dreaded freezing screen and high-pitched whine game glitch only happened to me quite infrequently unlike the earliest titles in the genre which had you suffering game breaking glitches far too often.

The game play is refreshingly different from some of the similar titles, you still have a 'force' equivalent in the form of Harry's magical abilities, but there is a lot more variety with them compared to simple levitation or manipulating objects with the Force from LEGO Star Wars. You can ride brooms, cast Wingardium Leviosa, Reducto and turn yourself into anybody with Polyjuice potion. Not all of the characters have any useful skills though, Dobby for instance is a bit of a head scratcher when it comes to what he can do, and characters like the Dursleys or random Milkman aren't going to help where magic is concerned. It's still fun to run around Hogwarts as Vernon Dursley and see the Mini-Figs we might have gotten had the Theme held out a bit longer to incorporate some of them for the modern 2010 re-launch. (I still want a Padma and Parvati, ball gowns optional.)

Overall I'd have to say that this is a worthwhile game to track down if you don't already own it, it allows you to re-vist your favorite world in LEGO form, there are hours of things to do, just about the only thing that might cause you to scratch your head is trying to figure out what objectives you have in the Build Levels under Gringotts Bank, I feel LEGO really missed the point of them there, they should have incorporated a lot more into it than the simple four tutorial stages and then, nothing. There's really no reward (aside from unlocking Gold Bricks) to actually complete them and once they are done no incentive or further objectives to exploit for some kind of interesting rewards.

Still the game is recommended. These days it isn't as easy to track down unfortunately.