Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Review (no fat)

Game Description

Upon returning to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry for the third consecutive year Harry thinks he will have his first normal year in the magical castle. There is only one problem; never before has there been a breakout from the magical prison of Azkaban until Sirius Black pulled it off. Incidentally, Black is known to have betrayed his best friend (Harry’s father) to Lord Voldemort who eventually killed him. Upon his escape, Black heads straight off to Hogwarts where he believes he has unfinished business with one of the residents.

This time Harry must solve the mystery of Sirius’s vendetta against the Potters, make it in time for his classes in order to learn magic and try his best not to get expelled this year. He will be welcomed by some old friends; Ron, Hermione and fellow Gryffindors and he will be despised by the potions teacher Professor Snape and the Slytherins; the students in his house. The game follows the storyline of the movie and the book very closely and, even though most gamers will be well aware of what happens next, the game still manages to stay interesting.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Gameplay

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban plays relatively well with its Zelda like gameplay. The gameplay has some additional features and you have a choice of characters.

You can pick the boy who lived (Harry himself), Ron, his best friend, and Hermione the smartest third year student around. Each player has his/her unique capabilities. Harry for example has the athletic abilities while Hermione can fit through narrow spaces and Ron can spot secret doorways. The characters can be changed by the touch of a button but sometimes the characters may not be available due to the situation in the storyline.

You have to spend some part of your day in class learning more spells. Afterwards you will spend the rest of the day completing given objectives around the castle after which you can either chose to sleep or roam around the castle to find some extra spells or potions.

The lock-on system of the game is, however, a bit flawed as the character doesn’t always aim well and you are likely to hit the nearby item rather than your target.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Visuals

The graphics are one of the strong points of Harry Potter 3. Everything looks much better and more detailed in comparison to the last release of the series. Small things look so much better this time around as the character models look a lot more real and there seems to be a bit more depth in the way the textures look. Every locale will look surprisingly neat and realistic as you roam in the castle, or outside of it.

The framerate in Harry Potter 3 is unpredictable especially on the gamecube as it is always fluctuating. The Wizarding School is more like a bunch of connected levels rather than open grounds to explore. In order to get to a different part of the school you have to wait for the loading screens to disappear. There are also a few times in the game where the character gets stuck in structures and there a lot smaller but noticeable glitches in the AI.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Sound

The sound effects are appropriate and well done. The spell casting voice is a lot better than it was in the previous releases. The voice acting would get an OK as the dubbing is not bad and everyone sounds British, but there will be times when the characters will not sound as their counterparts in the movie.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban 2cent

The third release of the third Harry Potter game has been a great success for Warner Home Videos as they put in a great amount of effort to recreate the castle of the Wizarding School. The sound effects are fine and there may be some glitches in the graphics but overall it is a good game offering tons of good gameplay and a good replay value due to the exploration of castle Hogwarts and the different characters’ inhanced magical abilities.

Even if you are not a Harry Potter fan you should consider giving Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban a try as it offers tons of fun gameplay. For fans of the famous series, it’s a must buy.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Cost

The game currently retails for $ 9.95.