Order of the Phoenix (360, PS3. Wii, DS)

[rsnomar05]

Anyone getting this game? It comes out on June 25th, which is just 9 days away.

The earlier Harry Potter games have been terrible, but the previews make this game look absolutely sick.

They mapped out the entire Hogwarts using blueprints from the movies, and they actually scanned certain sets, such as the Great Hall, into the game from the movie so that the Great Hall will be an exact replica of what is in the movie.

The game is also going Grand Theft Auto and Bully style with an open world, in this case being the castle.

The game progresses, then, through as series of missions ala GTA and the producers have said that the game will follow the storyline of the book this time, unlike any of the other games in the series.

This means you will get to play out events like trying to rescue Sirius at the Ministry and fleeing Hogwarts as you control Fred or George.

Here is a preview from way back, from Gamespot:

http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/adventure/harrypotterphoenix/news.html?sid=6170157&om_act=convert&om_clk=gsupdates&tag=updates;title;7

[rsnomar05]

Re: Order of the Phoenix (360, PS3. Wii, DS)

If anyone is interested, the Wii version of this game got a 7.8 from IGN. They said it was by far the best game in the series, but said the camera and frame-rate can at times be issues. Overall, the review was extremely positive.

http://wii.ign.com/objects/842/842199.html

Next-gen reviews to come later, I guess.

EDIT: The ads state that if you buy the game on Tues. the 26th you get a free movie ticket.

[Miles_Yuhas]

Re: Order of the Phoenix (360, PS3. Wii, DS)

I'll probably give it a rental for 360, sounds pretty fun. Not worth a purchase though, because even with the open world, I'll still probably be able to finish it in the rental time.

[huffphil]

Re: Order of the Phoenix (360, PS3. Wii, DS)

Anyone pick this up yet, or rented it? I would like to try it for the Wii since I don't really have any games for that system yet. Wonder how the graphics will be compared to the Wii and 360.

[rsnomar05]

Re: Order of the Phoenix (360, PS3. Wii, DS)

I have this game and think it's awesome, easily the best in the series.

Too many find this person and fetch him missions (it makes up the majority of the game), but I don't even really mind because the castle is so ridiculously huge.

Everything is there, from the greenhouse to the clock tower.

The characters look just like they do in the films, and the actors even did the voices for the games.

Wizard's chess and gobstones are fun diversions. Gobstones is like a cross between boccie ball and marbles, where you flick a stone and try and get it as close as possible to a target stone as possible. The flick must remain inside a large circle (like marbles), and the closest flick out of three tries wins.

Using the spells is really intuitive, at least on the 360. What sucks is that spells make use of the right analog stick. In most games, the right stick is used for turning or rotating the camera. Since that doesn't happen in this game, and since you can only steer with the left stick, you are often left with bad camera angles. Tapping B centers the camera behind Harry, but it doesn't always work too well.

Even still, the bad camera at times is still not enough to detract from the massive open world.

Spellcasting is really fun, as you have to flick the right stick in different patterns to do certain spells. For example, flicking up on the stick twice will cast "depulso" which will push an object away from you.

The game also does a pretty good job of following the story. It moves too quickly, but hey, it was an 864 page novel.

The fetch tasks involve both people and places. At times Hermione will let you know you are running late for a class and you must get there. In terms of people, a large fetch task is rounding up all the DA members. Each member has a task that they need to complete before they can go to the room of requirement. For example, Michael Cormer needs you to get the Monster Book of Monsters for him from the library since he must finish an essay before attending the meeting.

The castle, as I said, is huge, and there are all sorts of secrets to find and explore.

Many portraits contain secret passageways that require either a test of your knowledge or completion of a task to get the password.

Once portrait requires you to tell him where Rowena Ravenclaw was born. Since you don't know, you have to find a student from Ravenclaw and ask him/her.

There aren't too many duels in the game, but the ones that are there are really fun as you get to use offensive and defensive spells such as "protego" and "expelliarmus."

I haven't gotten to the ministry part yet, but I do know that it is in the game.