What you should expect…
So, from a far this is the same type of game you’re use to when it comes to LEGO titles. You will have the ultimate goal of unlocking new characters, finding ‘easter eggs’, if you will, on the side that encourage gamers to continually explore areas your character resides in. You’ll also find the ‘stud’ collecting goal firmly intact, as that will drive the replay value of the game for the younger gamers of the world. All of the general things that you would find in nearly all the LEGO titles still firmly resides in Harry Potter Years 5-7.
Now, having said that there are some improvements to the overall series in this game.
One of the bigger improvements is the ability to explore, which has widened considerable in comparison to previous titles. When you finally land on the grounds of Hogwarts you will find multiple paths to explore. Some of these paths are locked and some are open by default. Regardless, you’ll find your character wandering in and out of places more, which feels a lot less restrictive. I think that Traveller’s Tales dipped their toes in this with LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean as some of the levels were broken into connecting pieces (much like LEGOs), but they really make the environments feel deep with HP.
Another nice improvement is the ability to fire off a shot from your wand with a bit of forgiveness in the targeting category. One of the more painful moments in the first installment of the LEGO Harry Potter series is that it took time to aim and fire. It’s nice to see quick reactions produce quick results when it comes to firing off the wand. It’s an improvement that speeds up the gameplay and keeps the tedious feeling of point/shoot to a minimum. Again, it’s a subtle improvement, but an improvement nonetheless.
Probably one of the biggest improvements with this release is how short the areas seem to be. One of the worst parts of nearly every LEGO game to date is how big areas can be and how convoluted the small tasks assigned have been in past titles. For example, in LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean one of the first tasks when you arrive at Tortuga is finding pieces for a donkey’s wagon. It spans multiple maps in large areas with multiple levels. For such a simple task it felt like the level was purposely enlarged to increase the amount of time the task took, which is honestly just poor design. Gamers are fast moving people and getting stuck in the mud mentally with a problem can cause a gamer to completely lose interest in the task at hand. LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, while certainly large in scope in some areas, seems to keep a restrictive hold on how far you’ll have to go to obtain items to solve problems. For example, in the one of the first stages of the game, you are assigned the task of finding two wagon wheels (what is it with wagon wheels?) to complete transportation to Hogwarts. The wheels are on multiple levels of a forest stage, but easily found. It might take a younger gamer some time to find it, but you can tell that Traveller’s Tales Games has not overcomplicated a simple problem/solution. You’ll find a lot of that in this game. Short problems with quick solutions. To me, that’s brilliant (think of the game’s audience before you disagree with me).
Other improvements to the title include better graphics, great lighting/shading and just an overall even/smoother feel to the environments and game flow.
That last part was vital to this game.
Nowhere during my review period did I feel like the game was getting tedious. From level to level, year to year the game had a very even flow to it. The levels lasted as long as they needed to, the puzzles were the same, and the game never felt like it dragged. The first release of this LEGO series felt very even. You would spend time doing meaningless tasks and it would just seem to drag in some areas, while not in others. LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 just feels even from beginning to end. Maybe that’s not a huge deal to you all, but for a seasoned gamer like myself I tend to want a good level to level flow in my games. It keeps a certain pace that doesn’t let up. It’s like watching an action film and just getting consistent bursts of action. It works and it makes this game work well.
Having said that, there is still an issue. The bosses are incredibly easy. Again, I know that this game was made for younger gamers, but the boss levels are very repetitive in terms of how you bring down the bad guys. Duck, dodge, fire and repeat. The game is made for a younger audience, but come on. Trust that your audience can grow and adapt to a gradual difficulty scale. That’s how old school gamers learned gaming during the early 80s, and that’s how it should be even for kids games. Kids are smart and they’re tough, and they will find ways to win a game. Don’t just hand them a repeating formula.
Okay, so is this game fun? Adults may not completely appreciate what Traveller’s Tales Games has done with LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7, but they will certainly appreciate how closely it follows the movies. They will also appreciate the well-placed humor in the speechless characters and how Traveller’s Tales has improved pretty much a lot of facets to this series within this title.
Kids will go ape over this game. If you have younger kids who know and like the Harry Potter series then this game will be like hot sugar cookies right out of the oven to them. What’s even better for the kids is the option to play co-op. If you have ever seen kids playing a game together then you know how incredibly drawn in the kids can get. My girls play Club Penguin, Webkinz and LittleBigPlanet 2 religiously together and they love every minute. I played ToeJam & Earl with friends late into the evening and it was just a fantastic experience. This will be another huge draw for the kiddos and a reason why the fun factor of this game is high.
Good improvements on this series means that it’s certainly worth your time and money.