This game has loads of plus points but is let down by the boring gameplay.

You have free reign of Hogwarts castle and can wander around completing tasks; these include plot related ones like completing chores for DA members to encourage them to come to meetings, and finding items to do homework assignments. You can also uncover bonus interviews with HP actors by completing chores round the castle.

On the plus side, the scenery is very impressive and faithful to the books, as are the characters dotted around the castle who you can talk to. The portraits are particularly impressive - you need to speak to them to uncover secret passages around the castle.

On the minus side, gameplay is slow and repetitive. Nearly all the DA/homework chores involve either retrieving an item or a piece of information. Casting spells involve waggling the right hand analogue controller at an item or person until something happens.

Irritatingly, of the gameplay tasks just don't fit in with the HP world as well as the characters and scenery do. Most of the chores are things like fixing vases, straightening out beds or hanging up paints. The house elves must be on strike!

One of the most infuriating aspects is that Harry often has to shimmy about drainpipes to find creatures or pick up an item. There are loads of magic spells for doing boring chores you could easily do by hand, like pulling back curtains. But there is no magic or broomsticks available for doing anything like flying, which would make this game loads more interesting. Hmm.

It's worth getting if you're a big Harry Potter fan, or are getting it for a younger HP fan who doesn't mind the repetition. Or you could buy it for someone who has a mania for housework. But, overall, it's not a very good game.

I bought this game close to when it was released and i thought it would be as good as the third harry potter game but not the same lay out as the fourth. It was great at first while in grimuald place as i like the way you get to cast spells because it's different than just pressing one button to cast. What i didn't enjoy about this game is how you spend alot of time running around the castle doing jobs for other people which can be pretty boring as the castle is so huge. There is not really much to do and i hate the fact that when ever you make a discovery and go up a level Murtle keeps appearing and stopping you from what your doing.
The game is overall a good game but the dueling is pretty hard and frustrating as you have to use protecto everytime you cast and keep getting hit without a chance to cast yourself.
If you enjoy doing tasks and quests and love harry potter than this game is good for you.

Having played previous Potter games, and loving them (until the 4th one) i was looking forward to playing the game, especially after all the good reviews.

However, the game had none of the action and adventure of it's predecessors. No class challenges or puzzle solving. No sneaking around at night or flying around on your broomstick playing Quidditch.
The game has none of the spirit of the books, and there is basically no day/night format or storyline which makes the game hard follow.

The Hogwarts campus, although magneficent in itself, is huge. It is impossible to find your way around, and you have to put all your faith in the Marauder's Map, which incidently takes away all the fun of discovering new places in Hogwarts, because all the areas are mapped down for you.

The game is pretty much hours of wandering around, talking to characters and completing minor tasks for them. The spell casting is fun at first, but after a while it gets tedious and fiddly. I would much prefer challenges that require me to think about which spells to use as opposed to easy tasks that require frustratingly intricate wandwork.

One of the upsides of the game is the duelling, but it only takes up about 5 minutes of the game, and even in that short space of time, it failed to deliver all the anticipation and enjoyment that even just sneaking past a prefect did in the 2nd game.

The game also barely lasts long enough to be worth the money. It could easily be completed in under eight hours, leving the player with nothing but unfulfilled expectations. the ending is also quite useless. It doesnt matter whether you win or lose the final duels. the game still goes on, which kind of takes out the point of it.

however, the sound is truly magneficent and the graphics are very decent. I will still hold higher hopes for the next game, however.

Definately the best Harry Potter game! Graphics are fantastic...almost film like!!! Loads of game play, from defeating other players in wizard games, obtaining all the portrait passwords, learn how to cast spells, search for discoverables and in addition to all of Harry's course work at Hogwarts, Dumbledore expects Harry to learn Occlumency! As well as all this there's the opportunity to wander around the school and grounds finding out where everything is by exploring all the knooks and crannies!Visit Hagrid! Go into all the rooms and corridors and courtyard. Chat with other students, interact with magical objects and the ghosts. Then teach all the students the defence Against the Dark Arts in the Room of requirement.! It's never ending...well almost!!! The characters are so real like with their own voices it's like taking part in the film!! Definately a brilliant game. Then there's the extra as you unleash advanced magic and play as Sirius and Dumbledore fighting the death eaters in the Ministry! This game has it all! As it states on the back of the game " relive the magic of the Movie". I'm only selling because I got a PS3 for Christmas and got order of the Phoenix for the PS3 too!
Definately recommend for all ages. Its classified as a PG.

I thought this game was brilliant, quite easy to get through but once you've finished there is pleanty more to do! The graphics are fantastic and Hogwarts looks like it does in the film. Ron and Hermione follow you around all the time which does get annoying but they can come in handy sometimes. Overall I think this is well worth the money!