There’s a reason why a colleague of mine jokingly referred to this game as, “Gears of Potter.”
Most Harry Potter games (from various developers) are more kid-friendly and you’re looking at the game from a third person, slightly top-down perspective with relatively colorful graphics.
In contrast, The Deathly Hallows is a third-person shooter, except you’re holding a wand instead of a chainsaw machine gun. Even the color palette is muted and gritty.
It’s not too surprising, considering that the final book in the Harry Potter series was the most serious, culminating in the deaths of many beloved characters. It’s only fitting that the tie-in game fit the mood of the book and upcoming film.
At E3 2010, the level I played took place in some sort of abandoned construction site and my goal was to rescue some wizards from the Snatchers (low level thugs) and Death Eaters. Naturally, I encountered a lot of them in my mission. Using the D-pad, I could select a spell such as Expelliarmus, Confundo, and Leviosa.
Keeping with the third-person shooter feel, many of the spells were more like ballistics weapons when used. For example, contrary to the books and films, Crucio didn’t cause crippling pain to your target but instead acted like a submachine gun. Stupefy didn’t freeze anyone in place but instead felt like a handgun. Confringo, which was also useful in blowing up obstacles, was more like a rocket launcher.
It would be interesting to see how Potter fans will receive this darker, not-so-kid-friendly game. Then again, if they were able to deal with the events in the book, then surely they can handle it in game form.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be released on November 19, 2010, to coincide with the film’s (Part I, that is) release.
Site [Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows] Site [Gamertell @ E3 2010]
It does seem better than the other games made for the harry potter movies, does this come out for computer or is it on a platform like for the xbox?
It'll be available for the Xbox 360, PC, PS3, Wii, and DS. I would imagine though, that the DS version will be quite different from the console and PC versions because of the DS's size restrictions.