New Twists and Turns to ‘Potter’

As if making a motion picture of the “Harry Potter” books wasn’t tough enough, try turning the popular series into a video game. Or four.

Electronic Arts adapted J.K. Rowling’s best-selling story into interactive entertainment, but programmers quickly recognized that different hardware platforms required completely different games. So the company took the rare step of building each game from the ground up--even though all share the title “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

With the help of Rowling, designers stayed true to the “Potter” canon while extending it and giving players more control over the story.

“We were very concerned about maintaining the integrity of the fiction and the ‘Harry Potter’ world,” said Chris Gray, executive director of the PC, Nintendo Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color titles. “But at the same time, we wanted to extend the fiction in order to add new twists and turns to the experience so it wasn’t always predictable.”

Logistically, developers had to figure out how the various places in Potter’s universe fit together.

“Since Hogwarts is obviously a vast place, we had to figure out how it is all connected,” Gray said.

“This isn’t so important in the books or films since you’re not physically traveling through the school and grounds. They have the narrative luxury of skipping around a bit more than in a computer game. In the games, if we jumped from location to location all the time, it would be too confusing, since players would quickly lose their bearings.”

And because the PC, Sony PlayStation, Game Boy Advance and Game Boy Color have different strengths and weaknesses, Electronic Arts designed distinct games for each. Consequently, the PC game showcases “the beautiful Hogwarts,” said David Lee, product manager of Electronic Arts. The PlayStation version is noteworthy for its “rapid action” sequences.

“Since we couldn’t do a lot of flying and super-fast action with the Game Boy Color platform, it made sense to make it into” a role-playing game, Lee said. Game Boy Advance has better graphics than Game Boy Color, so that game allows children to explore a modified 3-D rendering of Hogwarts as they accomplish a series of 20 objectives.

Here’s how the games stack up:

PC

Children slip on wizard robes to become Harry Potter during his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. After being greeted by Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, players attend classes to learn spells and potions, explore the castle, solve puzzles, go on adventures, play Quidditch and eventually confront the evil magician, Lord Voldemort. The story line tracks the plot line of the book.

The Weasley brothers act as guides and send players to collect Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavour Beans, wizard cards, stars and chocolate frogs.

Learning spells is intriguing. A Hogwarts teacher will draw the spell in the air, and the players must trace that design with their mouse. The computer tracks the players’ accuracy and speed, and only when the spell is performed with both can the player move forward.

Play is linear and players must accomplish tasks in order before they are allowed to move on. Numerous scenarios make the game feel expansive. Kid-testers found being chased by a giant troll exciting and loved using an invisibility cloak to sneak through the castle.

Because Harry is the seeker for the Gryffindor House’s Quidditch team, players learn to fly broomsticks. Practice involves navigating through rings in the sky. When players attain the necessary level of competence, they play in an actual Quidditch match.

The graphics of this match are amazing. Of the four versions, this is the most complex. The graphics are nothing short of spectacular, and they make the players feel as if they are actually at Hogwarts.

PlayStation

The PlayStation version shares many features with its cousin on the PC so owners of both platforms should choose one or the other.

The PlayStation controller makes moving Harry easy as he runs and jumps throughout Hogwarts and Diagon Alley. As Harry, players learn spells and practice magic. This time, learning the magic takes on the form of solving puzzles or playing mini-games.

This version shines for its inventiveness in creating fast-paced games within the ‘Harry Potter’ world. Gringotts, the Wizard’s Bank run by goblins, is the backdrop for a unique game. For Harry to withdraw his money, players navigate him through a wild roller coaster-type ride of twists and turns as he travels in a mine cart into the bowels of the bank. In this version of Quidditch, sparkling magic rings disappear as players swish through them. Learning to control Harry on a broom in this fast-moving 3-D world is challenging and exciting.

Game Boy Advance

Although the graphics aren’t as good in this version, the game offers portability. Players navigate Harry through a 2-D world that has 3-D-rendered sprites. Because players do not have to think in three dimensions, this game is easier for younger kids.

Players are presented with more than 20 objectives that must be accomplished for Harry to complete his first year at Hogwarts. As with the PC and the PlayStation games, players learn magic spells and explore Hogwarts. Unique to this version are pesky gnomes that constantly sneak up on players.

This version has many mini-games and action-based puzzles. There is Quidditch, but this time it is from a top-down perspective. Although fun, it isn’t nearly as realistic as the broom flying found in the PC and PlayStation games.

Game Boy Color

This version differs significantly from the three other versions. Because the graphics are so limited on Game Boy Color, Electronic Arts opted to make this a search-and-confront game.

The objectives are to find 101 Famous Witches and Wizards Cards, collect experience points by taking on magical creatures in contests involving spells and navigate the maze-type environment, which includes more than 120 locations and introduces players to more than 100 characters.

“Harry” parallels the ever-popular Pokemon game in that it encourages trading and sharing of things found within the game and involves contests of power. If kids connect two Game Boys with a special cable, they can trade cards.

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Jinny Gudmundsen is editor of Choosing Children’s Software magazine. She can be reached at jinny@choosingchildrenssoftware.com.