LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 Review

9.0

Review Score:

There was a lot of scepticism following LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, personally I’m not sure why since I’ve enjoyed every LEGO game so far and I was only excited to play this one (especially since I’m a bit of an avid Harry Potter fan too!) I can only assume that the sceptics were being so as it is the fourth franchise to get the LEGO video game treatment. The game follows the standard formula we’ve seen in all the previous LEGO games but I’m a strong believer in “if something works, don’t change it”.

As soon as I loaded the game up I was instantly blown away by the huge improvement in visuals since the last LEGO game with beautiful environments and LEGO models. Within 2-3 minutes I knew for sure that this was going to be my favourite LEGO game to date for several reasons. I can only assume that Traveller’s Tales had a real interest and passion for the Harry Potter franchise, there are more references and adorable hilarious scenes than you can count.

The gameplay is pretty much the same as previous LEGO games; so if you’ve played any of the past titles then you’ll have no problems getting to terms with LEGO Harry Potter. The game spans across the first four books/movies, each containing 6 levels which focus on the main events. You use the characters abilities to blast everything into little LEGO pieces, collect studs which can be spent on new characters, extras and new spells before returning to each level in free-play to gather up all the hidden collectibles. These take the form of the usual gold and red bricks along with students in peril which there are 50 of that must be saved throughout the levels and Hogwarts. The game is very child-friendly as you can’t really die and if your character is killed, you simply lose a few studs (which can be gathered back up in a Sonic-esque style) and you quickly respawn after. The drop-in and drop-out co-op play returns and plays excellently just as in LEGO Indiana Jones 2. The only thing I really feel is missing from the co-op is online play, the only LEGO game to feature Xbox LIVE co-op was LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga and even that didn’t work out too well as one player would run left and the other would run right and nobody would get anywhere. However since LEGO Indiana Jones 2 this has been corrected and the game screen splits so you can both explore individually before regrouping to conquer a puzzle.

One of the main changes present in LEGO Harry Potter is the spell wheel, I guess you could say it was a little similar to LEGO Batman’s suits but this gives each character a range of their own spells that they learn at various points in the four stories. The most prominent spell is Wingardium Leviosa, you learn it at the start of the game and it will get you through most of the game but there are plenty of other opportunities to use the different spells such as Lumos to destroy devil’s snare plants and Riddikulus to stop boggarts. (Sorry if you’re not a fan, I’ll stop talking Harry Potter now) It’s easy to change between spells on the fly by just tapping the controller’s bumper buttons and these spells provide a great level of fun whether you’re raising platforms to help your partner reach a higher level or building a star case out of LEGO blocks, it all feels right. Something that also stood out with the use of spells was as you were progressing through levels and traversing the corridors of Hogwarts, you would constantly see treasure and collectables that were slightly out of reach or you couldn’t quite get. You knew you needed a spell but you weren’t sure when or where you would unlock it.

What I really noticed as I played through the story mode was the continuity of it all, rather than being separate levels, for the most part, it felt like you were just playing one big game and you didn’t need to return to the “hub” at all. However, the “hub” in the game takes shape in the form of The Leaky Cauldron, for those non-Harry Potter fans, it’s a pub in London that wizards congregate at and is an important location throughout the Harry Potter universe. It allows you to view which collectables you’re missing in each level and replay any level of your choice. You can also leave the pub and enter the streets of Diagon Alley to browse the shops for new characters, extras and spells. Upon completing the game you can return to Hogwarts to find all the hidden extra rooms and collectables that lie in the corridors, this acts as another free roaming hub which is something that is new to the LEGO series and Hogwarts is huge, almost every room has a joining hidden room you can unlock with the use of various spells – but what really sold me on all this was the environments that Traveller’s Tales have created, Hogwarts feels like Hogwarts with all the hustle bustle of the students and everybody is getting on with life as a wizard and there’s so many objects in the world you can interact with to keep you occupied for hours and best of all, everything you do is remembered – if you blow up a bookcase, it’ll still be blown up 4 years later and it’ll know exactly what you have and haven’t interacted with – it feels like your own personal Hogwarts.

As always, there’s plenty of humour to found in the game both in cutscenes and during gameplay, building a record player and having a group of students dance along to the Harry Potter theme tune never gets old. The platforming in LEGO Harry Potter is at its best and is incredibly easy to play and control and I rarely found myself struggling to progress with the game. The AI is much smarter than ever before and was always ready to help cast a spell to lift me up or across a gap, the only issue I did have is if you use one Ron or Hermione’s abilities to control a rat or cat and you then switch character, they won’t follow you again until you cancel the ability which got annoying on occasion, it’s nothing major though. Each story contains a handful of boss fights which are all dealt with in a similar fashion but combat has never been a big selling point of any LEGO game and probably never will as the games focus on creativity and exploration. I personally have always found a great sense of accomplishment and satisfaction by completing the LEGO games to 100% by finding all the collectables and LEGO Harry Potter was no exception (I even managed to 100% the game before writing this review after many hours of searching the halls of Hogwarts!) – there’s hours and hours of solid fun to be had with the game.

The bonus level creator that made an appearance in LEGO Indiana Jones 2 makes a return but yet again features no sharing options so you can’t display any spell-binding levels you create so it seems a little bit of a wasted effort but its there if you enjoy that kind of thing.

LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is LEGO video games at their finest. Between the hilarious cutscenes and character interaction and the vast exploration, this game has it all for both children and adults alike. Whether you’re a fan of the Harry Potter franchise or not, I still recommend you play this game as there’s enjoyment in it for everyone and it will keep you coming back to it again and again. All I can say is: bring on years 5-7!

NXT Score: 9/10

Pros

• Environments and characters are immersive and gorgeous
• Multitiudes of comedic moments throughout the game
• Easily the best LEGO game yet with improved AI, gameplay and more

Cons

• Still no online co-op which would be a nice addition
• Level creator still lacks any sharing functionality and feels a bit pointless

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