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| While traveling through the different levels of the game you will solve various puzzles and fight various features | Extra firepower for spells |
Bet you're wondering, well ok, what can I do? Well, there are plenty of puzzles for you to solve using your charm spells and the charm spells of the other characters. Charms are things like “herbivicus” to choose a plant to bloom or “carpe retractum” to open a gate. There are many more that you will get the hang of once you start playing. Puzzles are obvious; you won’t have to look for them. For instance, when you are in the greenhouse of Hogwarts, you will have to use carpe retractum and herbivicus to open gates and lily pads so you can cross over water. Some serious use of charms is required for larger objects or larger feats and you will have to use other characters to help you in these situations. The AI of the other players and characters knows enough to help you when you need help, but if you’re playing with other people you will have to work with them. There are other spell types, such as jinxes. Jinxes can be used to attack monsters like dug bogs, erklins, and fire salamanders.
While traveling through the different levels of the game you will solve various puzzles and fight various features, and collect Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavor Bean as you go. These beans can be picked up when jinxed creatures drop them or from when you jinx different things in the environment. These beans act as a sort of currency and can be used to buy extra power for each character. This way you are able to have a more customized character. Some add stamina, thus giving you extra firepower for spells, or add to the power of your jinxes.
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| Gameplay in The Goblet of Fire is kind of confusing at times | If you are a gamer looking for well thought out and a deep level of challenging gameplay, you will be sadly disappointed |
Gameplay in The Goblet of Fire is kind of confusing at times, and if you are a gamer looking for well thought out and a deep level of challenging gameplay, you will be sadly disappointed. You will be collecting Triwizard shields that are either hidden for you to find or won by defeating various creatures. You will usually have to use spells or solve puzzles to get to them. As shields are collected levels are unlocked, so you can’t go about forgetting about shields, they are a necessity. Shields aren’t the only things you will have to collect; there are also statuettes, mushrooms, and mini shields. The confusing part is you never really know what you’ve won or what you’ve gained from the things you collect. There should have been some type of feedback letting you know what you have received by finding these items.
The graphics in The Goblet of Fire are not bad. The environment is probably the best visual aspect of the game. Spell effects use good lighting effects as well. The characters look extremely tiny on smaller screens and don’t move very smoothly. Their animation definitely could have been better. The cut scenes are lacking aren’t as good as expected, but they work. The PC and Xbox have better, sharper images than the PS2 and Game Cube. Sound is not really good or bad; the spell effects all sound all right, and the music during cut scenes and menus is clear and fitting. The only problem with sound is the character voices; they say the same thing over and over a lot.
The three player cooperative mode is one of the best qualities of the game. You can play with friends and work together to find shields and solve puzzles. The game is also set up so that if one of the players has to leave you can switch over to cooperative mode and play with the computer at any time during the game.
One thing that definitely could have been added to the game is more leverage from the movie. The game includes only the adventure parts of the story but totally leaves out the drama experienced between the characters. This wouldn’t be that big a deal except for the fact that the character relationships made up such a big part of the novel and film.
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| The game includes only the adventure parts of the story | Harry Potter the Goblet of Fire game is geared toward younger audiences |
Harry Potter the Goblet of Fire game is geared toward younger audiences, just like the books and movies. The plot and gameplay of the game is much like that of the film. It’s worth checking out even if you are an older Harry Potter fan. Much of the problem with the game is the fact that it will undoubtedly be compared to the movie and will inevitably fall short.
HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE VERDICT
Harry Potter the Goblet of Fire needs to be better than the former Harry Potter games, or it needs to be the last one made. Gameplay is simple and could easily lose the attention of players. While the three player cooperative mode is a good enhancement here, it doesn’t quite make up for what the overall game is lacking.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Spells and jinxes are by far the best thing about The Goblet of Fire. Using a spell to make flowers bloom or jinxing an enemy are both pretty cool.
