 Review By: Andrew Joy |
Developer: | EA UK |
| Publisher: | EA Games | |
| Genre: | Action | |
| ESRB: | Everyone 10+ | |
| # Of Players: | 1-6 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Memory Stick Duo, Wi-Fi (Ad Hoc) | |
| Buy Now: |   |
You’ll also find a number of differences when it comes to the controls in the PSP version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Rather than using regular button presses on the console to cast spells, the console versions of this game experiment quite a bit, using an analog stick or motion controls to create a more engaging experience. On the PSP, with its unfortunate lack of a second analog stick (which is naturally relegated to player movement), it’s back to the buttons. Unfortunately, since the PSP even lacks a great number of those, you might have tp combine them to get the exact effect you are looking for, and remembering the odd combinations can be difficult (I mean, who would have thought the spell for destroying an object and the one for repairing it would together create fire?). Things aren’t so bad on the combat side of things, however, where you’ll still need to combine button presses, but they don’t mix them up (for example, pressing circle once will cast Protego, the square button twice will cast Petrificus Totalus, and the triangle button three times will cast Rictumsempra); it should also be noted that when you cast a spell, you have to hold the last button for a moment, but if you hold it too long, the spell will backfire.
Harry doesn’t have his wand out all times, however (oh, how quickly they forget: "Constant vigilance!"), and in order to even cast magic, you have to tap the right shoulder button first. When you do that, Harry will automatically target the nearest object or opponent, but you can scroll through you various other choices by squeezing the left shoulder button and flipping around with the D-pad. Outside of spell casting, you can interact with objects with the triangle button, and this includes everything from talking to someone to climbing something. If you need to run, you can do so with the X button; again, player movement is controlled with the analog stick (or, alternatively, the D-pad). The start and select buttons can be used to access the pause menu and the Marauder’s Map, respectively, and scrolling through the various menus with the shoulder buttons or cycle through the choices with your the D-pad. Overall, I wouldn’t exactly say the control scheme on the PSP is ideal, and your character can be a little difficult to control at times. However, this is coming from someone whose already experienced Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the home consoles and developers have a lot more to work with, so I suppose, given the limitations of Sony’s handheld, the developers took lemons and tried to make lemonade.
When it comes to the graphics, I must say, I am a little torn; congratulations are certainly not in order, but I’m not sure a scolding is either. You see, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is far from being the best looking PSP game I’ve ever played – that goes to games like the Grand Theft Auto series, Monster Hunter Freedom and even Daxter – but the developers did make an attempt, it seems, to recreate the entirety of Hogwarts for us. The load times aren’t as bad as some PSP games, but as you pass from room to room on the PSP, the game hangs and chugs as it tries to load up the new information. Also, as you might expect, the amount of detail you’ll find here is nothing compared to the console versions, and it looks as though it might as well have been drawn in crayon. The character models are also quite chunky, with clothing that looks like it’s been hewn out of stone, and very mechanical character animation. If there is an upside to it, it is that the PSP looks to share the same exact cutscenes as the consoles. The voice actors also seem to be the same, though I should mention that the game takes a serious hit in the sound department on the PSP. Gone is the wonderfully atmospheric ambient noise and, with it, most of the voice work. Accept for the most integral characters and quests, voiced conversations are instead replaced by little, faced text boxes, and most of the time you can’t even interact with the students, making the school seem dull and lifeless.
As I mentioned before, the exploration has been toned down quite a bit, though the main story still has you assembling the D.A. and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is fairly comparable in length in that respect. After completing a quest for one of the D.A. members so they can attend the meeting, the game usually asks you to save, which is perfect for a portable, even if it does break some of the immersion that I found elsewhere. However, I am happy to say that there is at least one area where the PSP bests the consoles, and that is with its multiplayer aspects. On the consoles, this game was a solo experience through and through, right down to perfectly-suited-for-multiplayer wizard games. On the PSP, however, up to six players can connect (locally, no online play) to duel in various scenarios, at a few different locations and with a number of characters (some of which you can unlock). Of course, if you don’t have anyone around to play with, you can also setup a single player match and populate the game with computer-controlled characters of various difficulties. While it isn’t the multiplayer Gobstones I’d hoped for and it isn’t online, the fact that it is there – and a fun diversion, at that – still gives the PSP version a badly needed one-up on the consoles.
Bottom Line:
I realize, of course, that the PSP has limitations, and that’s why I think the developers should have aimed for something a bit more manageable on Sony’s handheld than they did with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. After all, we’d hardly expect them to give us the same exact game on the Nintendo DS, and, while the PSP is more powerful than that, it still is not a PS2 or any of the other consoles currently taking up shelf space at your local store. The graphics are lacking, the sound takes a hit and the controls are the least engaging of any version I’ve played. Still, despite its short comings, the game provides what is in essence a decent game for fans of the series, giving them the entire school to roam, perfectly pint-sized quests to play on the go and, in something that you won’t find on the console, some multiplayer gaming, where you can duel with either a handful of your friends or even some bots. Whether or not that makes up for its failings is likely a matter of personal opinion, but the PSP version is hardly the must-have the other consoles received.
| Pros: | Cons: | Final Score: |
|---|---|---|
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| 6.5 |
Posted: 2007-11-11 12:13:07 PST