Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Developer(s)	EA Bright Light
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Engine	RenderWare
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 PlayStation Portable Nintendo DS Wii Game Boy Advance Mac OS X
Release date(s)	NA 20070625June 25, 2007 AU 20070628June 28, 2007 EU 20070629June 29, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player
Media/distribution	Optical disc, cartridge, memory card

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a video game that is based on the fifth installment of the popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and the film of the same name, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance and Mac OS X. It was released in 2007 on 25 June in the U.S., 28 June in Australia and 29 June in the UK and Europe for PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows and the 3rd of July for most other platforms.

The theme of the game is to explore Hogwarts and follow the story from the book and movie. EA encouraged fan participation in the development of this game, and worked with a fan council. The game returns to the sandbox style of the first three games rather than the action-oriented Goblet of Fire. Similar to the Grand Theft Auto series and Bully, Hogwarts is fully explorable most of the time, and there are "discovery points" that provide rewards to the player, which can be activated by completing side missions. Furthermore, there are battles between groups of students, as shown in the game trailer. This is the last Harry Potter game to be released on the Game Boy Advance.

Features

The game presents the player with a large part of the Harry Potter universe, combining the movie blueprints, J.K. Rowling's drawings and books' descriptions to recreate known places, including the Ministry of Magic, Grimmauld Place and Little Whinging.

The game's sandbox style provides the player with a more open environment, as the player is able to move around parts of Hogwarts freely.

As well as the main missions, and as part of the new sandbox style of playing, players can explore Hogwarts and interact with objects, using magical spells to earn Discovery points.

One can duel Slytherins in the Entrance Courtyard, Paved Courtyard, and specific floor corridors. One can also duel throughout the story. Most of them are played as Harry. Nevertheless, near the end, one will play as Sirius Black and Dumbledore in different duels.

Earning Discovery points increases the power of the owned spells, and earns player bonuses, such as behind-the-scenes videos and trophies, which can be viewed in the Room of Rewards. Items in the room such as trophies can also be unlocked by taking part in the various mini games, such as Exploding Snap, Wizard chess and Gobstones.

Their respective actors and actresses voice twenty-two of the characters.

There are various missions to complete which follow the storyline of the film, such as the recruiting of Dumbledore's Army members, or creating havoc when Umbridge is made Headmistress.

Occlumency is also introduced as a feature of the game.

Twelve various Portraits located around the castle can also be used as secret shortcuts to other parts of the castle. However, the completion of a task specific to each Portrait is most likely required. After a task is completed, one will be free to use the secret passage as many times as wanted. To get the portrait of a witch in the dungeon's instead of a task you must wear the invisibility cloak and wait for a Slytherin to open it.

In the PSP version, we see one of the extra features is being able to play as a Dark Wizard. On the back of the box it says one can be 'Crabbe, Goyle, Draco Malfoy, Bellatrix.

Missing features

EA said they could not include everything, in particular:

• The taking of OWL examinations directly; although player will earn OWL grades by lessons - top marks will unlock new rewards (the taking of OWLs is included in the DS and GBA versions though).
• Quidditch and Flying, apart from the section of the game with Fred and George (this is included as a minigame in the DS version).
• Changing characters to Ron and Hermione, but Fred and George Weasley, Albus Dumbledore, and Sirius Black are playable as the game progresses. In the Nintendo DS version, Lupin is also in a duel during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.
• A few areas are inaccessible, especially with there not being an option to debug; The Whomping Willow is on the Marauder's Map but cannot be located, Divination class, Gryffindor Girls' Dormitory, the Quidditch Pitch, and Stadium are inaccessible and Hagrid's Hut cannot be entered; Dumbledore's office is shown in several cut-scenes, but not present; there are also several locked doors on the Grand Staircase leading to unknown parts of the castle.
• You cannot get in the Chamber of Secrets, but you can get to open the entrance.
• Snape's "most regrettable" memory was not featured in this; Snape instead gets angry with Harry for defeating him in Occlumency.

Spells used in the game

While in most platforms the spells are performed by only using the directional and game pad buttons, the PlayStation 3 and Wii also make use of the special features of the SIXAXIS and the Wii Remote, respectively. The DS and GBA have players either using the Stylus or buttons, depending on the system. The PSP version also includes exclusive spells.

Spells

Exploration

• Accio: Brings objects towards Harry.
• Depulso: Pushes objects away from Harry.
• Reparo: Mends broken objects.
• Wingardium Leviosa: Levitates objects and moves them.
• Incendio: Lights certain objects on fire.
• Reducto: Causes certain objects to explode.
• Expecto Patronum: Wards off Dementors. Can only be used at certain points in the story.

Dueling

• Expelliarmus: Disarms opponents
• Stupefy: Stuns opponents
• Protego: Sends spells back at opponent.
• Petrificus Totalus: Freezes opponent temporarily.
• Rictusempra: Stuns opponents
• Levicorpus: Levitates the opponent by their ankles.

PSP Version

There are stronger versions of the spells Stupefy and Protego. Stupefy Duo is a stronger version of Stupefy. The original Protego absorbed the spell being shot at you. Protego Duo sends the spell back to the opponent. Unlike the console versions, Rictusempra is modified into a much more powerful spell, stronger than Stupefy. Finite Incantatum can also be cast in multiplayer duels to end the effects of Petrificus Totalus.

Casting spells

The casting of spells is taught by various other characters to Harry, who practises them first, then is able to use them. In the PC and Mac versions of the game, different movements of the mouse whilst pressing either the left or right mouse button allows Harry to cast spells. In the Nintendo DS version, the stylus is used to cast the spell. In the Wii version the Wii remote is used as a wand.

Spell strength

During the game, you will earn "Discovery Points" and "Discovery Levels" by discovering various secrets in the game - when you collect a certain number of Discovery Points, your spells will become more powerful (ranging from level 1 to 13). As you rise in Discovery Levels, the following traits are going to affect your spells:

• Strength - Reparo repairs objects faster, Accio/Depulso summons/pushes objects at a greater range, combat spells do more damage etc.
• Range - Combat spells will fade out and fall to the ground at lower levels, increasing the level increases their range - eventually leading to infinite range.
• Behaviour - Stupefy, Rictusempra and Petrificus Totalus gain more spells cast in one casting; some start moving from a straight line to a random track to improve chances of hitting the opponent.

Dumbledore and Voldemort (playable in a mission) have a special level, which is not achievable by Harry. Stupefy and Rictusempra cast two more individual spells than Harry, Petrificus Totalus moves in a pattern like Rictusempra, Levicorpus waddles around, while Expelliarmus achieves a very large amount of damage.

In the Nintendo DS version, the spell strength only has three options: Uno, Duo, Tria.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was composed by James Hannigan and conducted by Allan Wilson. Hannigan wrote themes for the various characters and incorporated "Hedwig's Theme" by John Williams into the score. IGN has given the game's music a rating of 9.5 out of 10. A significant amount of tracks present in the Order of the Phoenix videogame were also featured in The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban video games, composed by Jeremy Soule.

Characters

The game has most characters voiced by the cast of the film. The following actors have contributed their voices to the game for their characters:

• Adam Sopp and Daniel Larner – voice of Harry Potter (likeness provided by Daniel Radcliffe)
• Rupert Grint – Ron Weasley
• Harper Marshall – voice of Hermione Granger (likeness provided by Emma Watson)
• Bonnie Wright – Ginny Weasley
• Evanna Lynch – Luna Lovegood
• Matthew Lewis – Neville Longbottom
• Katie Leung – Cho Chang
• Lewis Macleod – voice of Albus Dumbledore (likeness provided by Michael Gambon)
• Eve Karpf – voice of Minerva McGonagall (likeness provided by Maggie Smith)
• Isobel Middleton – voice of Sybil Trelawney (likeness provided by Emma Thompson)
• Jonathan Kydd – voice of Rubeus Hagrid (likeness provided by Robbie Coltrane)
• David Robb – voice of Sirius Black (likeness provided by Gary Oldman)
• David Bond – voice of Grawp (likeness provided by Tony Maudsley)
• Allan Corduner – voice of Argus Filch (likeness provided by David Bradley)
• Allan Corduner – voice of Severus Snape (likeness provided by Alan Rickman)
• Rachel Atkins – voice of Dolores Umbridge (likeness provided by Imelda Staunton)
• Ralph Fiennes – Lord Voldemort
• Jonathan Hansler – voice of Lucius Malfoy (likeness provided by Jason Isaacs)
• Dominic Coleman – voice of Arthur Weasley (likeness provided by Mark Williams)
• Natalia Tena – Nymphadora Tonks
• James Phelps – Fred Weasley
• Oliver Phelps – George Weasley
• Tom Felton – Draco Malfoy
• Alfred Enoch – Dean Thomas
• Afshan Azad – Padma Patil
• Shefali Chowdhury – Parvati Patil
• Warwick Davis – Filius Flitwick
• Louis Doyle – Ernie Macmillan
• Josh Herdman – Gregory Goyle
• Harry Melling – Dudley Dursley
• Tiana Benjamin – Angelina Johnson
• Hugh Mitchell – Colin Creevey
• Nick Shirm – Zacharias Smith
• Charlotte Skeoch – Hannah Abbott
• Jamie Waylett – Vincent Crabbe
• Luke Youngblood – Lee Jordan
• Timothy Bateson – Kreacher
• Anna Bentinck - Professor Sprout (likeness provided by Miriam Margoyles)

Reception

The game itself received mostly positive reviews from critics.

• Metacritic 69/100
• ONM (Wii): 88%
• GameTrailers.com (PS3): 8.0
• 1UP.com (Wii): 8.0
• X-Play (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360): 4 out of 5
• IGN (Wii): 7.8
• IGN (Xbox 360): 7.6
• IGN (PS3): 7.6
• IGN (PC): 7.3
• IGN (PS2): 7.0
• IGN (DS): 6.0
• Gamestyle (Wii) 6.0
• PSM3 (PS2): 56%
• PSM3 (PS3): 55%
• GameSpot (All versions): 5.0
• Gamestyle (Xbox 360) 4.0
• The Wiire (Wii): C+. The Wiire also awarded the game with the Family Friendly and Ease of Use awards.
• Game Revolution: C-
• Nintendo Power: 8/10
• Game Informer: 6.5/10
• NGamer (Wii): 60%
• NGamer (DS): 55%

Hyper's Daniel Wilks commends the game for its "great looks, the Wii-wand and in-game exploration". However, he criticises the game for its "repetitive quests and poor waypoints".

External links

• Official website
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix at the Internet Movie Database