Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PlayStation 2

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets Product Details

• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

  GAME squeezes in a little quality Hogwarts time...

  We start de-gnoming in the burrows, where George, Fred and Ron help us get past an aggressive washing machine. The characters look good, cartoony yet detailed – the woolen weave of Harry’s jumper is visible, as is his forehead scar. Once we’ve spelled our way past the washing machine it’s onto the garden area where the gnomes are making a nuisance of themselves in Mrs Weasley’s garden. They must be hit with a spell using B, A to pick them up, A to spin then A to let go. There’s two targets, a scarecrow and a haystack – or you can just try and hurl them further than Fred and George’s record. You can stay playing de-gnoming for as long or as short a time as you want, once the minimum amount have been removed to satsify Mrs Weasley.

  In the garden, as with other levels, there are hidden objects to be found – in this case we find a choclate frog wizards card in a trunk.

  Bludgers and eaters

  We’re also shown a Quiddicth match – Harry chases circles created in the path of the Golden Snitch (otherwise us mere muggles wouldn’t be able to follow its path) which creates a fairly standard ‘fly through the circles’ level’ – however all around you a match is in progress. It’s Hufflepuff Vs Gryffindor, and you have to dodge various bludgers and eaters. Each circle you hit gives you extra speed, plus there’s a boost that can be used strategically when bearing down on the Snitch. Once you’re near the camera angle changes and it’s a case of manipulating Harry’s hand to grab the Snitch at the right moment.

  The whole game is set over day and night levels, with the day being filled with spell classes and the likes once you arrive at Hogwarts. The night levels eventually lead to the main story of the Chamber of Secrets.

  Its magical, fantasy based shops loom and dominate the cobbled streets in a way which captures the feel of the novels.

  Actors and actresses in the game are, unfortunately, soundalikes – the real cast being busy in post-production of the film...

  The final game will include a free-fly mode so you can fly around Hogwarts, indulge mini-games which you find around the roof. The mini-levels are dip-in, dip-out, some of them will reward you with a wizard card on completition. This means that the cards – of which there are 101 – are no mean feat to collect, and keener Potter-fans will have much searching and playing on their hands to complete the game with them all. Of course, you don’t have to collect them at all if you just want to whiz through the game...

  There is even – fashionably enough – a stealth mode in the game and the cartoon-esque Harry Potter acting like Solid Snake is a joy to see. With the mere touch of a button Haz P (as we like to call him) puts his back to the wall and begins to sneak... He can look round the wall in a stealthy way – and even fire off a spell to act as a decoy. In the level we’re shown Haz P is trying to sneak into a shop on Diagon Alley which is closed. The store manager of Magical Menagiries isn’t too keen on people snooping around outside of opening hours, but a spark from Harry’s wand and a surreptitious dash soonb sees us running past him whilst he sets off in the other direction to investigate. OK, so Splinter Cell doesn’t have any reason to fear – but it looks like good clean fun!

  Good clean fun

  As for Diagon Alley, it’s a good example of how nice the game looks. Its magical, fantasy based shops loom and dominate the cobbled streets in a way which captures the feel of the novels and are closely based on the film.

  Let’s hope that the good clean fun we had for twenty minutes with this version can be sustained throughout the whole game – Harry Potter fans would expect nothing less.

  Preview by: CJRavey
  

  Published: 21/03/2003

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