Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (WII)

It's going to be very difficult to escape from Harry Potter this month. With JK Rowling's final installment in the series set to arrive towards the end of July and the fifth movie due for release next week, the triple-bill of Potter entertainment ends with Electronic Arts' adaptation of the feature film. The first title in the series to arrive on the likes of Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, The Order of the Phoenix follows the boy wizard in his fifth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, which sees the newly re-surfaced Lord Voldemort build up a new power base from the shadows.

Beyond the brand name, past games have generally treaded a line of mediocrity, and (storyline aside) haven't managed to really pull players into the world created by Rowling. This year however, EA promises something different, with a small range of features all aiming to create the most immersive Potter game to date - not least of which is the control system.

It doesn't take a wizarding genius to suppose that with its wand-like shape, the Wii version naturally lends itself to the spell cast-heavy game. You can target with the on-screen pointer before waving the Wii-remote and nunchuk in one of several contextual movements (depending on whether you target on an object or a person), such as the sharp upward pull into the gravity-defying 'Wingardium Leviosa' or the push into a opponent-stunning 'Stupify'. The responsiveness is surprisingly accurate and a fun novelty early on. Additional spells such as 'Ignitio' and 'Reparo' are used to complete the extended thread of piecing broken bookcases, statues, and set alight the torches that line the walls of the school...something that you'd expect the janitor to do.

The camera is far from responsive and ultimately becomes one of the letdowns of the game, nullifying all of the solid work EA UK has managed to do with the gesture-controlled spells. Largely out of the control of the player, getting the camera to look around at times can be clunky at best, and at worst, frustrating. Some level of camera control is available for players when they use the wand by moving the pointer closer to the edges of the screen, but it's not exactly an ideal solution.

For the first time in the video game franchise, the true scale of Hogwarts has been revealed. From the upper tower housing Professor Trelawney's Divination class, down to the Great Hall, and beyond the walls of the school itself to Hagrid's hut, the Boathouse, and the Owlery, EA UK has undoubtedly been hard at work replicating the movies' and books' interpretation of Rowling's school. Ultimately, with most of the story set behind the walls of the school, that's to be expected. However, both the structure of the game-world and the gameplay means that players will find themselves drawn into seemingly endless traveling up and down corridors for the bulk of their time in the game - which is about as fun as it was back in the days of going to school in the real world.

Decidedly fractured gameplay, linked together with the inevitable cut-scenes that push the story forward to the events below the Ministry of Magic, and the death of Sirius Black makes the Order of the Phoenix one of the most crawlingly slow titles as it seldom breaks into a sweat. Rarely gearing up to be anything nearing compelling, it's hard to imagine even the target younger audience of gamers grinding through the dull missions once the initial novelty of using the Wii remote to cast spells has worn off. Also, if the game's missions are anything to go by, the kids attending Hogwarts are probably some of the most apathetic in the country. They are constantly bribing Harry, Ron, and Hermione that, in exchange for completing their homework, or retrieving objects like a stolen camera or a gift, they'd attend an all-important "Dumbledore's Army" meeting...which they'd already signed up to so they wouldn't get fried in a battle against Voldemort or his Death Eaters. The strange thing is that Harry is easily prepared to turn away requests for help from other students, so why shouldn't he just do the same for the "D.A." members? Probably because if EA UK didn't add such pointless and dull tasks, there'd be very little to the game beyond endless 'Reparo' spell casts to put a dilapidated Hogwarts back together, play Snap, Solitaire, or Chess with other students, or taking part in various lessons held by Professors Sprout, Filch, and later on, Snape.

Instead, dull and/or frustrating searches for some randomly hidden warthog gargoyles, flowers, and even Sirius' malevolent House-Elf form the bulk of Harry's adventures. Occasional run ins with various members of the ambitious Slytherin house break up the 'action', but even these duels get bogged down after a short time...though the game does switch playable characters towards the end of the game, with both Sirius and Dumbledore himself taking the fight to Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

But where could EA UK have improved the game? The fact is that Order of the Phoenix ticks many of the boxes necessary for a Harry Potter game: visually the characters and Hogwarts are both faithful to the hugely successful movies; the new switch to casting spells with motion controls creates an extra angle of immersion for fans of Potter to enjoy; and lastly, the main story thread stays faithful to the events of Harry's fifth year at the school. Perhaps next year gamers will be able to shout "Wingardium Leviosa" into microphones whilst swinging their arms about...and forget about doing other people's homework for them.

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