Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is EA’s big franchise title this year, and it’s about on par with what they’ve put out in the past. It’s got a lengthy Single Player mode, all the highlights and references from the movie, and some other bells and whistles (i.e. mini games) thrown in to try to up the replay value. In the end, as usual, it will mainly appeal to fans of the franchise, but not those looking for a great gaming experience.
In this rendition of Harry Potter, you play as Ron, Hermione, or Harry in a series of adventures that take you through the events of the book. You can play as any of the three characters on each level, and even though their skills are identical, there is good reason for choosing between which will be explained later.
As you progress through each level, you will come upon enemies, discover chocolate frogs, encounter obstacles, and pick up various assortments of Bertie Bott’s Every-Flavor Beans. With your wand in hand and your friends at your side, you tackle these obstacles through various means of magic. Running over the frogs yields different cards that can be used to upgrade each character, and the different beans do different things depending on their color; heal life, build a power meter, etc.
Some of the beans are also used to purchase the cards that you have collected. Between each level, you can buy the various cards that you have found and use them in different combinations to increase the capabilities of each character. This is why you would want to switch between different characters after each level; only the character you are controlling can collect the beans to purchase their respective cards.
While these cards offer some depth to the game, the unfortunate implementation of the spells does not. Each person has a basic jinx spell that can stun enemies, as well as the Accio spell that pulls distant objects to you. Also at your wand-tips are the charms; these push, pull, levitate, or douse items with water. The only problem is that you don’t get to choose which charm to use; they are condition-based and all are activated with the same button.
As you progress through the Single Player Campaign, you will unlock various mini-games. Though these are at first slightly amusing (the initial game is nothing more than "Concentration") their appeal eventually wears off. In the end, they will only serve as a novelty for Multiplayer.
Amazingly enough, the developers were on to something here with the Multiplayer aspects of the game. Not only can you start up an Ad-Hoc server for up to three people to take part in, but they don’t even need the game to play. Though you can only play the mini-games, and there is a rather large uploading process on the host’s side beforehand, this capability is one that will hopefully start to be the trend in PSP games.
