Take Cover, Pop Out, Shoot, Take Cover, Pop Out,….. X Infinite Times

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.

Atleast the enemies look different

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.

That wand should be replaced by a lancer

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.

Dune Buggies are a staple component of many solutions in Create.

The game starts with a lengthy loading screen which eventually leads to a tutorial. I found it to be unclear and muddled, and it didn’t do a good job of explaining the controls. Fortunately, after passing the tutorial by trial and error you can access the game’s Help Center at the push of a button. This screen allows you to review the control layout (not re-mappable) or receive a vague hint as to how to proceed. When I say vague, these hints would give Confucious a run for his money.

The game world consists of an interactive main hub, ofwhich the tutorial is the first level, hence the enormous first load. This hub is split into ten themed stages, such as Theme Park and Transportopia, and a bonus stage. In each stage there are ten challenges to conquer. Each challenge falls into a category depending on its objective. Each category involves the player using specific objects in several different modes to: reach a goal/target (Pickup Party), rack up a massive score by using several items at once (Scoretacular) or even building their own machine out of blocks, girders, wheels and hinges (Contraption-o-Matic).

Different stages unlock different items, dependent on theme.

Upon completing a challenge, the player will unlock ‘Creative Sparks’. Each Spark will reward the player with an item to use in challenges or to their own devices, props to place in their scenery, terrain paint schemes and even “sky stickers” (also known as clouds, to you and I). Challenges generally have three levels of completion, the usual Bronze, Silver or Gold, with increasingly difficult parameters to attain them. Achieving gold also unlocks silver and bronze, so no grinding is needed.

To access items, the player must open the main interface which comprises the four categories of tools (Game Objects,  Brush Tools, Environment and World Tools) as well as options to Reset or Save your creation. As benefits consoles, this interface is a wheel-type, with specific tools organised under and accessed via their category. During challenges the permitted items are accessed in a different selection menu which only needs one button-press to access.

Once you master the slippery controls, YOU TOO can produce something like this. Maybe.

Due to the pants tutorial I found myself referring to the Help Center frequently, and until I got to grips with them the controls felt unwieldy and unnatural. My biggest gripe is that, rather than have A (x for you Sony fans) as the selection button, B (o for PlayStation) has been set. This, for me, was almost game-breaking as I was often inadvertently cancelling item placement/adjustment. The fact that you cannot remap the controls is probably a good thing, given the open-ended gameplay, but this took me some time to get used to.

The challenges start off easy and slowly ramp up to fiendishly dfficult. Lateral thinking skills are a must as solutions are often convoluted and not always obvious. Challenges are unlocked in order by completeing earlier ones, but once unlocked can be completed in any order. If one particular sequence is giving you trouble, skip it and come back later. Experimenting with different combinations of available items is a must, and often produces humourous results. Seeing a torrent of dodgems pour off a cliff is just one of the moments which sticks in my mind.

Spielberg might have pioneered the flying BMX, but EA has the SURFING flying BMX.

The game doesnt push the graphics envelope in any dimension, but Create’s clean and uncluttered visual design really helps when you have many interacting items on-screen at once. The audio seems charming at first but over time can grate on the ears. The theme for the Fairground stage should come with a Public Health warning. The lack of any voice-acting means that the player is subjected to endless loops of tinny music whilst working through each challenge.

Create will appeal to a niche audience. If you don’t like physics puzzles, this game is not for you. Similarly, if you’re looking for a LittleBigPlanet replacement the lack of protagonist (no charming Sackboy shenanigans here) and narrator (no honeyed tones of Stephen Fry, only annoying music) may be a turn-off. Ultimately, the game is a good package but deserves its 7+ rating from PEGI. Definitely one to purchase to keep your kid brother or sister quiet whilst the grown-ups have ‘Tall-Time’.

This game was reviewed on the Xbox 360.