The most common phrase thrown around to describe the gameplay in Deathly Hallows is “Gears of Wands”. That’s right the news Harry Potter game is a third person shooter in the vein of Gears of War. You play as Harry, obviously, and you Ron and Hermione play through the entire storyline of the movie on which the game is based. Despite always having multiple characters in the action at all times, The Deathly Hallows doesn’t have co-op support in the Single Player campaign and zero online co-op either. This more of a note than a problem.
Most of the games settings are overtly recycled to the point of absurdity. Each time Harry and friends enter a new level, they blast their way through the linear path way to reach the goal. Once the goal is reached they have to turnaround and work their way back out, down the exact same path they used to get in. This would be ok if it happened once or twice or even if it made contextual sense, but it is done on every level of the game, often without any grounding in the story on which the game is based. The game could have benefited from being shorter, and that’s one of the principle factors working against its length.
Harry’s wand spells, are all variations of common shooter weapons. “Stupefy” is a pistol, “Confringo” is a charge shot/rocket launcher, the lazily named “Exploding Potion” is a grenade, “Wingardium Leviosa” is the gravity gun, and “Expulso” is an assault rifle. There’s many others, but in all actuality, outside of a few obstacles, the game can be largely beaten while only using the Stupefy spell. The left trigger locks on targets, but it can be largely unpredictable at times, especially when Harry is attempting and failing to hide behind cover.
Oh did I not mention that its also cover based? However, again, the whole game can be easily completed on normal difficulty without ever going into cover. In fact, trying to properly use cover makes the game harder. It makes aiming harder, and with 8 angry wizards flinging spells at you all at once the destructable hay bails and boulders disappear all too quickly. Also, the game doesn’t make it clear just what objects are acceptable to use as cover. You’ll find yourself slamming on the “duck behind cover” button alot with no response from your character, which leads to many quick deaths. Instead, don’t hide, just keep moving aim for the head and Stupefy everything you see.
By everything, I mean wizards, and…well that’s about it. There are other enemies, but the wizards are really the only ones that pose a threat. The spiders and skeletons can be easily dodged, and the Walloping Willows, will hit you, but if you keep running, you won’t die. The boss fight’s are uninspired and are usually just Harry shooting the same wizards over and over.
It takes a while to get used to the controls, not because they are mapped strangely but because they are clumsy and less responsive than other 3rd person action games. The lock on function works for quick spells, but with any of the charged spells you run the risk of enemies stepping 1 foot to the left and dodging your magic bullet.
The graphics are alarmingly ugly and I swear if I never hear Harry Potter scream “Stupefy!” again, I will die a happy man. The spells aren’t chanted every-time you use them, but they are said enough times that they become very obnoxious very quickly. Even my wife complained about the voice-work and she wasn’t even playing the game.
Have we not reached a point in modern gaming where camera issues are a thing of the past? The camera, like in most 3rd person action games is mapped to the right thumb stick, while still trying to stick close to just over Harry’s right shoulder. This works extremely well in most games, but here, not only is the camera unpredictable, often times, it just doesn’t go where you point it. Any level with tight quarters is going to be a erractic ride, just because you can’t trust the camera to not get stuck on things.
If Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 has a bright spot (and I stress “if”) it would have to be the Kinect support. As you’ll undoubtedly see in my video, the Kinect missions are separate from the normal game and are buildt in the already rendered environments of the single player campaign. These missions are either single player or co-op and are played entirely using the Kinect Sensor. The missions play out much like an on-rail shooter, with Harry and friends traveling on a predetermined path populated with snatchers and wizards.
The spells you use are mapped to different arm motions. Each of the motions end with you pointing at the Kinect Sensor. The spells have the same characteristics they do in story mode, but you’re limited to doing 2 spells in each mission. The magic shooting from your wand is roughly traveling in the same direction you are aiming. Aiming doesn’t work too well, but accuracy is obviously not the focus in the Kinect missions. The focus is getting the arm motions right and launching your spells quickly. While not perfect, the Kinect support is a charming addition to package.
Being a wizard isn’t cool. Using a wand and spitting magic out of it isn’t cool. Harry Potter as a character isn’t cool. However, the magic of Hollywood has done a good job of covering this up by taking a compelling story and sprinkling in just enough magic to not remind you that the whole concept of wand welding is kinda dumb. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 the video game does the exact opposite of this. It exposes the source material to its own flaws that its been pretty good at hiding all along.
In conclusion, it would have been smarter for EA to chop off the Kinect support, and release it separately as a stand alone downloadable XBLA game for $15. Your Harry Potter nuts are still going to pay $60 for the story mode on disc, but a $15 dollar price point on a “not terrible” Kinect minigame this soon after the Kinect launch would have raked in piles and piles of green from the casual Potter fans looking to get a little more use from their brand new Kinect sensor. Trying to bank on a on box blurb to push additional sales of a $60 retail game (especially after the consumer just spent $150 on Kinect) is weak at best.
Verdict: Buy this game in 2 years for $7 after the Kinect crash of 2011, and have a good laugh about how Kinect was supposed to the “future” of gaming.