PlayStation 2

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

This game definitely personifies the magnificence of the sport, but it is lacking because it's not as advanced as I had hoped it would be. This game is a definite must-have for all of the Harry Potter fans out there. For those that are looking for another sport game to pick up, I would suggest trying this out first or waiting for the next entry in the EA sports line. In the meantime, enjoy and conquer the world of Quidditch World Cup.`

While Quiddich probably wouldn’t be your definition of a sports title, EA did a good job in giving a sporty feel to a magical fiction game from a good story. There is magic involved, but they didn’t overdue it, and even when getting beaten the game remains a lot of fun to play. Harry Potter fans should really enjoy it, and some sports gamers particular to hockey or soccer should at least check it out as a rental and see if they feel it’s worth getting into.

Here’s the game: three different player positions, three extremely unique balls, three goal posts per team, and you’re flying in three dimensions on a broom. There’s also a scoring system that, at first glance, doesn’t make a lick of sense. Who is going to make this fabled sport of wizards into a video game that transcends the Potter universe? The only company that has earned much of the credit for where sports games are now – Electronic Arts.

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup could have been given the true Madden treatment, but instead EA has made a fun, but slightly shallow take on the fictional sport. I like this game because it lets me play Quidditch complete with all of its loveable elements and options. Everything I read about or saw in the movies I can do in this title, for the most part intuitively, and EA has even added some magic of its own in the form of new combos and highly welcomed in-air special moves. Plus, it all looks great.

Overall, Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup appears at the midpoint between the release of the fifth book in June 2003 and the scheduled release of the third movie in June 2004. This is probably the best Harry Potter game ever made, but that’s an honor akin to “Best Simpsons Game”. Casual fans will be better off renting this title and even die-hard fans might want to “try before they buy” to avoid potential disappointment.. Over a year ago, I said in my review of Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets that I was not giving up on the franchise. I’m sure that the Prisoner of Azkaban game is already in development and I’d like to re-issue my challenge to EA to produce a really good Harry Potter game for once. Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is a nice step towards that lofty goal, but it still leaves too much to be desired.

All that being said, there is a degree of fun to be had, especially for the younger demographic since the basic gameplay elements are pretty simple and intuitive. Not a must-have for Potter fans, but you may want to rent it to make sure.

Overall, Quidditch World Cup is a well-presented game with excellent visuals and a nice translation of the quidditch game into a video game format. A large tutorial section makes it easy to learn the game itself, and while it has an exciting feel to it, the controls and some gameplay elements feel like they could have been developed further in order to provide a more balanced experience. In fact, if the camera and player controls in the single player game were just the same as the two-player mode, then we'd be singing something different here.

Si la première impression est carrément mauvaise (gameplay apparemment confus, difficulté inexistante), on revient sur son jugement dès que l'on débloque les matches en Coupe du Monde. La difficulté devient alors beaucoup plus intéressante, et l'enchaînement des combos lors de la première partie des matches est crucial pour prendre l'avantage lors de la capture du Vif d'Or. Les fans d'Harry Potter apprécieront de participer eux-mêmes à des vraies parties de Quidditch.

Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is a pretty decent first effort at simulating the fictional sport of quidditch. However, the developers have definitely left plenty of room for improvement. With tighter controls and a little bit more effort put into deeper, more strategic gameplay, Quidditch World Cup might have turned out to be a very good game. As it stands, the game will primarily appeal to hardcore Harry Potter fans who are willing to overlook the flaws.

I really wanted to like this game, and it would be a lie to say that I didn't at all. I enjoyed it more than I enjoy most sports games (like that's saying much), but I feel that the gameplay itself needs to be altered before this can really be considered a fun game. Two-player mode isn't too shabby, but you'll have difficulties finding somebody else who knows how the game works and can offer you some fair competition; you can't just pick up a controller and play well from the get-go. My guess is that EA will release another one of these at the end of this year, or next year at the latest, so my advice is to just wait until then to satiate your Quidditch needs. Quidditch World Cup certainly has the potential to be a fun game, but it's current iteration needs some serious improvement.