14 DAY TRIAL // 
J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter book series has been staple of the last decade, as was the movie franchise that appeared in theaters around the world, but, unfortunately, the video games based on them haven't exactly found their audience.
Now, with the last installment of the movie hitting cinemas across the world, in the form of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Electronic Arts, together with its Bright Light studio, decided to release one last hurrah in terms of Harry Potter video games, bearing the same name and released this week for a variety of platforms, including the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii or DS.
So, is the newest Harry Potter game a worthy installment or should it be forgotten, alongside many, many, many other titles that were based on movies and disappointed horribly? Let's find out.
Story The story of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is pretty much the same as the one from the movie, with famous wizard Harry Potter, together with his friends, Hermione and Ron, needing to destroy the last remaining Horcruxes before the evil Voldemort gains enough power to destroy the world.
Throughout this journey, you get to control Harry Potter, of course, as well as quite a few other characters, from Ron or Hermione to secondary ones like Seamus Finnigan, Ginny or Molly Weasley, all of which need to face off against Voldemort and his army of Death Eaters.
The game's narrative is straightforward enough, scrapping the side quests from the Deathly Hallows Part 1, instead just having players explore all the environment and uncovering secret items that unlock special challenges, music tracks or characters that can be accessed from the menu.
Seeing as how it sticks quite close to the story of the movie, the campaign is pretty short, clocking in at around 6 hours, but it doesn't outstay its welcome through prolonged battles or things like that.
Gameplay It's hard to play Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 without thinking of Gears of War, the massively successful cover-based shooter from Epic Games that delights millions of mature gamers from all around the world.
How so? Well, Deathly Hallows Part 2 replaces the imposing Delta Squad members from Gears with the trio of British wizards, and the infamous chainsaw-equipped rifles with magic wands. Besides that, you're pretty much dealing with the same third-person game, only instead of shooting bullets, you just fire off spells.
You need to stay in cover if you want to avoid getting hit, pop out of the many conveniently placed chest-high walls or objects to cast your magic attacks, and then pop back in before the enemy reacts. The environment is also extremely gritty, just like in Gears, with shades of gray and destroyed buildings dominating the various levels of the game.
But while this Gears of Harry Potter combination may not sound all that good, the resulting gameplay is quite decent, even if it is a bit rough around the edges, proof that Bright Light needed to get it done fast, before the movie was released. The cover-based mechanics work really well, the level design is pretty good and the enemies provide a decent challenge, especially later on, when you're dealing with enhanced Death Eaters. You also get to use a special teleport-like ability, which enables Harry to jump to cover when dealing with an ambush or when enemies try to surround him.
The spell casting mechanic is pretty great, as you need to press three of the face buttons (circle, square or triangle, on the PS3) to select from the array of magic you can do. These spells range from the standard Stupefy attack, to shield-busting or rapid-fire ones. As you progress through the story, you gain access to even more powerful spells, which can be selected by quickly double-tapping the aforementioned buttons, ranging from powerful magic rockets, to a sniper-like petrify attack or a homing spell that locks onto multiple enemies. After targeting an enemy you can just fire with the press of the standard shooting button, or you can even employ blind fire.
You need to quickly alternate between all these spells in combat, as they can become less accurate the more you use them, in the case of standard ones, or have a cooling period, for the more powerful ones, but also because various enemies are susceptible to certain attacks, or deploy shields that require a special spell to dissolve. While it sounds a bit complicated, the combat is quite exciting, and you'll quickly find yourself changing up spells and deploying them in succession on the unlucky Death Eaters that cross your way.
The title also throws at you certain on-rails cinematic sequences, like in the Uncharted games, for example, where Ron and Hermione need to escape a rampaging flood, or Harry needs to avoid debris thrown at him by a fire monster. While these segments lack the polish of the famous action adventure series, they're still pretty well done and offer a welcome change of pace from all the cover-based shooting or the defense missions where you need to protect Hermione or Ron while they unlock doors.
Overall, gameplay-wise, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 borrows heavily from other titles, but the end result is a decent one, which is no doubt going to entertain younger players that can't access just yet Mature-rated titles like Gears of War or Uncharted.
Graphics and Audio Video game tie-ins for movies aren't exactly the most beautiful titles out there, and Deathly Hallows Part 2 is no exception, with the graphics looking extremely simple and, like I've said above, abuse the gritty premise of the movie a bit too much by building lots of washed out and gray environments.
The character models for the heroes are also a bit weird looking, but most of the times you'll be seeing their backs and shoulders, so it doesn't matter all that much.
The same actors from the movies provide the voices of the characters in the game, and they do a pretty good job, without any sort of standout performances.
The orchestral score is pretty impressive, but it's quite likely that it was lifted straight from the movie. Still, this doesn't disqualify the game, and your ears are going to be pleased if you turn up the volume while playing it.
Conclusion Overall, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is quite a decent game, especially when compared with other movie tie-ins. Sure, it's unpolished, looks a bit choppy and copies mechanics seen in other, more popular titles, but it still delivers a pleasant experience based on the movie, so if you're a long time Harry Potter fan, you won't be disappointed with this one.
