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01 July 2003
Posted in
Games
| Review | |
Installation & Documentation
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Ease of use
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Value for money
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Price (approx)
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$88.50
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Operating System
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Mac OS 10.1+ or OS 9.1+ |
Available from
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Harry
Potter seemed to come out an age ago for that other platform and PlayStation.
For Mac-using HP fans it's been a long wait, but it's finally here for Mac
OS X (and 9.1+), featuring new wizard duels, a Quidditch match, sneaking and
second-year spells. Well, I'm pleased to report the Mac version really lives
up to expectations, and it's gorgeous in OS 10.
Your goal is to get to the Chamber of Secrets and kill the serpents, collecting Bertie Bot's Every Flavour Beans and trading them for handy stuff when you run into other Hogwarts students, who will talk to you on the way by. The handy stuff includes Quidditch armour for that inevitable match and, if you've collected heaps of beans, a state-of-the-broom-maker's-art, a Nimbus 2001 flyin' bristle-bunch.
Characters look very much like their film counterparts, and book knowledge is a definite help - but what true Potter fan would have it any other way?
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Obnoxious beings aplenty |
You get to interact with recognisable characters, and Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger pop up to tell you when classes are on, then whisk you off to learn defensive techniques and gain more powers - you'll need them; there are many dangerous foes to overcome. The training sessions include tests to make sure you've been concentrating - Hogwarts is a school, after all - but you can earn house points so that, occasionally, you get to go into the Bonus Bean Room to collect lots of beans.
You get to go deep into Harry's world in which the rich environments take full advantage of the quartz graphics of OS X. Open treasure chests for goodies and run through floating save-books to save levels - it's all pretty intuitive and fast-paced.
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Gorgeous and glowing in OS X |
Show us your wizard
There are wizard cards to collect - collect ten and you get a second
lightning-scar health indicator for extra staying power. Secret doors, magical
enemies and the rest are all dealt to with waves of your wand (hold the mouse
button down to build a spell, and release it to inflict it - they track
to some extent, so you don't need to be super-accurate).
Of course, it's not all basic spelling. You come across obnoxious beings - ranging range from the mildly annoying to the downright dangerous - which attack you and cause your health to plummet until you 'die', but don't worry, you just painlessly restart the level.
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Hogwarts is massive in the game, and you get to explore a lot of it |
This has given me 20-plus hours of fun already, solving puzzles, zapping beasties, exploring the labyrinthine halls and passages of Hogwarts, and I'm still nowhere near finishing. Excellent!
Tip
Visit Hagrid's cottage - it's like a secret, separate level outside Hogwarts.
Hagrid is always friendly, and there are lots of beans and other goodies to
collect.
© Parkside Media 2004
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