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Review: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's StoneReviewed By: Bill Stiteler Review Date: March 27, 2002
There are people out there who haven't read the Harry Potter books, and I know both of them. They're refusing to read them more or less in protest, refusing to join the mob who go berserk every time a new book is released. And I can get behind that: usually, the popularity of a thing is inversely proportional to its quality (Vide: the filmography of Carrey, Jim. On second thought, don't).
Marketer: Hey! We just bought the rights to the most popular literary property in the world! Programmer: Is it full of magic, intrigue, adventure, action, and other things that would be incredibly cool in a video game? Marketer: Yes! Programmer: Could it easily be set in a world where a lot of people could play online? Marketer: Yes! Programmer: Then let's begin development on an MMORPG, tell everyone about it, then cancel it! Marketer: Sounds great! Programmer: Hey, remember when we used to work for Sierra? Alas, all is not lost; we do get Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (HP from here on), newly ported by Westlake Interactive. A single-player, third-person adventure game based on the Unreal Tournament engine, HP is a fantastic game which captures the spirit of the novels. The only real disappointment is that it's a taste of what might have been. For those of you out there who run screaming from the room every time you hear the word "Muggle," HP takes place in a modern-day England, and you, as Harry, are off to Hogwart's School to study magic. The plot is loosely (very loosely in parts) based on the first Potter book, but really assumes (fairly) that you've read the source material. In a nutshell, you wander the halls and grounds of Hogwart's, going to magic classes and trying to solve the mystery of what's being guarded in the third floor hallway.
Apart from your late-night shenanigans, you also have to attend class. In HP, you learn magic by having someone show you a pattern, and then trying to repeat it. For example, the pattern to open magical locks is a key. You're shown the pattern, and then have to repeat it by mousing over their shape. It sounds simple, but you're being timed and accuracy is a major factor. As the Dead Milkmen once sang, "Don't color outside the lines." You'll always come out of a lesson knowing a spell (you can't continue the game without them), but you won't get as many House Points (a loose way of keeping score in the game) as someone who did it quickly and accurately. Once you know a spell, you can cast it pretty much throughout the game. Simply click and hold your left mouse button while in the adventure mode. If your magic energy passes over an object that can be affected, the appropriate magic symbol will appear. Here's a tip: even if there's nothing apparent to do, try running your wand over objects anyway. You won't lose anything, and half the time you'll find that secret room about which people are always talking. Once you're finished with a magic lesson, it's off to a wildly imagined challenge area (not present in the books, though you could easily imagine them existing) where you have to demonstrate your skills with your newfound abilities. And your jumping. Lots and lots of jumping. But you'll also learn how to interact with the objects in Harry's world, from subduing carnivorous plants to creating magic stairways over bottomless pits. I haven't had this many teachers trying to kill me since grad school. And then there is Quidditch. Quidditch is the wizardry version of soccer, played on flying broomsticks. Pardon me for slipping into vulgarities in the review of what is ostensibly a child's game: The games Quidditch kick ass.
I was, frankly, sad when the plot from the book began to interrupt because it meant that the game was coming to a conclusion. For something wondrous indeed is being guarded in that third floor hallway, and the most powerful archfiend in Harry's world, Lord Voldemort, wants it. This may have been the game's weakest point, as it had to thumbnail the rich plot of Rowling's book into ten-second sound clips. Still, I can't imagine those who haven't read the books will want to play the game, and for those of us who have read them, everything is familiar. Like Rowling's books, the game is appropriate for children, though adults will love it, too. This may be the first UT engine game where you don't die, you faint, waking up at your last save point. Heck, if you hate jumping or even just stink at it as much as I do, you can turn on the game's "auto-jump" feature, which will cause Harry to leap when he comes to an edge. Be forewarned, however, that this feature can be a little twitchy. Get too close to an edge while lining up your jump, and you may find yourself taking an impromptu leap you didn't intend.
Another problem: occasionally the screen will go entirely black and leave you unable to do anything, though the game itself does not crash. This, I'm informed by Aspyr's reps, is a result of crappy programming on the PC side; Harry's fallen into a "crack" in the game's landscape, and can't get out. Curse you, Jor-El! If you find yourself happening upon this repeatedly, the only thing that will help is to step a bit more carefully, and perhaps turn on the auto-jump feature. I also experienced sporadic problems with sound--mostly voice overs--cutting out, and then returning. Not a terrible problem, since the dialogue is also subtitled throughout the game. Until you get to the end, however, and Harry gives you a hint on how to defeat Voldemort, while all hell is breaking loose and you can't make out what he says. Sigh. These minor quibbles aside, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is certainly the most all-out fun game to come down the pike in quite a while. I can only hope that the game's success will encourage EA to rethink its cancellation of the online game. I mean, right now I just run around my yard, dressed in my hand-stitched (but utterly authentic!) Ravenclaw Quidditch robes, chasing a tennis ball. I look like a total goob. But if I had a thousand other people, I'd be part of a community.
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In Potter's case, however, this attitude is misplaced. J.K. Rowling has written a series of books that deserve the title "modern classics." I was frankly dumfounded with Electronic Arts, who purchased the rights to license Potter video games and announced that they were canceling development of a Harry Potter massively multiplayer online roleplaying game. The whole process went something like this:
The adventure part of the game is a blast. The programmers captured the feel of the creepy old castle perfectly. While making your way to class, be sure to search everything for secret panels and concealed rooms, placed liberally (like, Norman Mailer liberally) throughout the halls. They'll lead you to various goodies like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Jellybeans, which you can trade to the mischievous Weasley brothers for collectible wizard cards. The best part, though, was trying to sneak invisibly through the castle in the dead of night, relentlessly pursued by the hateful caretaker, Filch. Magically unlocking doors or knocking over bookcases for makeshift ramps alerted him to your presence, and I always got a chill watching the translucent Harry stand stock still, Filch inches away, swinging his lantern back and forth. How is it that rocket guns don't scare me, but an old man and his cat do?
It was the single greatest part of a game I loved already. You, as Harry, are the Seeker, trying to catch the Golden Snitch (a small flying ball which doesn't want to be caught). While dodging and weaving to catch the little bugger, you have to avoid both other players and the Bludgers, larger, meaner flying balls that try to knock you out of the game. In theory, the other players on your team are trying to score points themselves, but all that really matters is that you eventually catch the Snitch. Do that, and the match is over. Chasing the snitch was one of the most wonderfully aggravating game play experiences I've had in quite some time. The chaos of a Quidditch game is brought to life beautifully, as you dive and swoop to catch up to the Snitch, then pause and hover, trying to see where the darn things got to.
The game also suffers from a few minor, though persistent flaws. For one, as
documented in the Read Me file, skipping the non-interactive cut scenes has
been disabled, which is a real pain when you have to listen for the eleventh
time to Hagrid, explaining why he needs fire seeds. Save points are usually
located right after particularly difficult bits, but if you make a misstep,
its back to Hagrid's Hut. What's that? He needs fire seeds? I wonder why?