Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince :: DS Game Review

If you are dusting off your wizard's hat, robe and wand and getting ready to wait in line for the midnight opening showing of the latest Harry Potter movie, you might want to pack this game for the long wait as well.

Hogwarts: Home away from Home

Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince for the Nintendo DS follows Harry around his day as he lives out his school life while also thwarting the advances of the dark lord. The story line from the book and movie is roughly followed with lots of extra small quests added in as various professors and students will ask the Boy who Lived to gather things for them.

Aside from performing his important tasks, Harry can relax with a game of Gobstones, which is basically magic marbles, or he can duel some of his fellow students. The dueling game consists of two unnamed spells, an attack and a shield spell that you can cast upwards or directly at your opponent. Neither the side games or quests are particularly challenging.

Harry Potter & The Half-Hearted Game

Like many of the past Harry Potter games, this game is mostly for fans. The actual game itself is a bit dull, consisting mostly of "Go here and get this" type missions. The graphics and cut scenes in the game are of poor quality and the story is confusing to anyone who has not read the books or watched the movie yet.

The school itself looks ok and the map on the top screen is pretty handy, tracking your location and the people around you with different colors representing their house. There are no names, however, like the true Marauder's Map. While experiencing the daily life at Hogwarts is neat, this game is only just bearable for fans and is not recommended for anyone else.

Rating:

Price: $39.99

ESRB Rating: E for Everyone

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