Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 Review

Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is the video game incarnation in the long running franchise and unfortunately for fans it’s immensely disappointing.  Developed by EA Bright Light, the game does not do any justice to Harry Potter’s brand name and in fact the entire concept is ridiculous to say the least. The video game which is based on the recently released movie of the same name, places Harry Potter and his long time friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger  in search of the final Horcuxes in order to defeat Voldemort. The plot is pretty intense in the movies and in the corresponding novel, but the game makes no effort to capture that experience. This is one of the major failures of the game that will hit the fans the most and I have no idea why the developers did not gave much importance to the plot considering the brand name that Harry Potter carries.

The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 feels more like a shooting game rather than an adventure and fantasy game. The only difference is you carry a wand and not a weapon. Throughout the game you will be facing off against a huge batch of enemies, numbering in twenties or thirties. The level design throws many cover positions at you, so all you have to do is slide in the cover, pop out and shoot.  This feels more Gears of War than Harry Potter, which in a sense kills the very essence of the game. What saves the game from a total mess is the variety of magical spells that the player has access too.  Other than the age old Stupefy, the player will have access to Petrificous Totalus which can be used as a sniper rifle and zoomed in to take out enemies placed at longer distances. Expulso causes rapid fire spells that can be used to take out enemies quickly while Impedimenta can auto lock multiple targets. However the pick of the magical spells has to be Confringo, whose one hit is good enough to take down almost any enemy in the game. The game also lets the player take roles of multiple characters in the game which may have been used to change the pace of the game. Instead, controlling Harry Potter or any other character has no difference. They all use the same kind of magical spells and gameplay mechanics which made the game even blander. There are some moments where the game tries to fill itself with heart pounding moments, but they are extremely rare.

The game is not a visually superior game, but it manages to capture the atmosphere of the Harry Potter films. The character modelling is ok but the environment is pretty detailed. The places from the movie/novel have been implemented well in most cases but it’s not something that will make your jaws drop.  Voice acting is sub-par, in fact there is very little dialogue throughout the game as it is more about shooting and casting rather than telling an engaging story.  The background music saves the somewhat shabby voice acting.

The game also comes with online capabilities where you can replay the story mission as timed challenges, which may look an attempt to increase replay value, but in all honesty it does not do that all.  The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 also supports the PlayStation Move which may not be most prominent way to play game, switching between magical spells is pretty easy and may appeal to Harry Potter who may imagine the Move as a wand.

This one of the shortest reviews I have written on GamingBolt.com just due to the fact that Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 does not have much to write about. It’s game that tries to do something different and fails at it miserably. The game is extremely short at about three hours and even though you can come back to find the collectibles in it, there is no reason to do so. Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 is a disappointing end to a franchise that had so much potential.

 The game was reviewed on the PlayStation 3.