My Lego Harry Potter (iPhone) Review:
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 is a port of the PSP release from Warner Bros. Interactive. It is based on the Lego series of games popular on home consoles with titles like Lego Star Wars, and Lego Indiana Jones. Lego Harry Potter has been simplified from the console version so as to perform better as a portable title. Though it is still a large title with over 20 hours of entertaining gameplay.
Knowing or even liking the source material in not important when playing this game as the Lego gameplay is enjoyable no matter the setting. However Lego Harry Potter does follow the storyline with reasonable accuracy given that there is no voice acting and instead a reliance on animated expression to get the point across.
The gameplay consists of making your way through various famous set pieces from the series as you collect coins, carry out tasks for NPCs, fight off enemies, and learn spells that help solve puzzles. Each episode consists of a number of levels based on scenarios from the first four books. Each level is presented from a birds-eye view and leaves you free to roam around using a virtual analog stick – the controls work very well. There are a few arcade sequences that have you running away from a chasing enemy (like a troll or a dragon) – these sequences are very fun though there are only a few of them.
Using spells amounts to tapping a highlighted interactive spot on the map and then finger tracing the spell that comes up. Tracing spells can range from being easy to frustrating – but never to the point of exhaustion.
Beating a level in story mode unlocks it for free-play where you can choose what characters you want to play the level with and unlock areas, puzzles, and bonuses that you don’t have access to during story mode.
Graphically the game looks excellent on the iDevice – each level is full of details including high detail texture mapping and great animated characters. There is plenty of destructible pieces in the environment and blowing things up to collect coins never really gets old.
Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4 is a great port of an excellent PSP game at a fraction of the cost and is very easy to recommend even if you aren’t a fan of JK Rowling’s series. Hopefully Years 5-7 makes its way on to the iOS platform when it is released in the next year or so.
8.5/10
I will have more reviews posted soon but I'll let you guys get through these ones first!