YouTube Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince review

I haven’t seen the movie yet but braved reviewing the game on the Wii nonetheless even though it of course contains spoilers. I won’t go into the plot of the game or the movie here but it’s safe to say the game features lots of running about Hogwarts as you uncover another mysterious plot that always comes back to Voldermort.

Being on the Wii, you use the nunchuck to move Potter round the environment, but then use the remote in what boils down to three games throughout the main game to either pilot your broomstick in games of Quidditch, mix potions, or cast spells around the castle and when duelling opponents. Unfortunately, apart from running around the castle to trigger the next cutscene, that’s all you really do. Anything else just seems like a lengthy tutorial, even hours into the game.

Let’s start with Quidditch. Basically the game goes on around you as you concentrate on catching the snitch. The action’s on rails here as you follow the snitch and point the Wii remote at the screen to steer Harry through stars that keep you on target to catch it. Keep hitting the stars and you win the game.

Potion making is probably the most fun but not once you’ve done it 20 times. Here you press A on the remote to pick up a potion then you tilt it to pour it into a cauldron. You also shake the remote and nunchuck to heat the pot and can also stir the mixture all using gestures. This works really and translates what you do with your remote almost exactly on screen.

Finally, there are the duels which you’d hope you would be able to employ some strategy in. Unfortunately, all you really have to do is get as close as possible to your opponent and blast them repeatedly as fast as you can until you beat them.

Unfortunately, that’s all there really is to the game. The likenesses and voices are good but the frame rate struggles most of the time and cutscenes (of which there are many) appear a bit rushed. If you’re a Harry Potter freak there’s something here for you. For everyone else, it’s just very, very average, like a Muggle. Harry Potter gets 5 out of 10.

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YouTube Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings review

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3 years ago I saw a rather good looking Indiana Jones game which had some dynamic fighting using their new Euphoria engine. So far, that game hasn’t surfaced and what we get instead is this latest adventure on the Wii, Staff of Kings. This time Indy is looking for the Staff of Moses and once again has to fight thugs, Nazis and mystical forces along the way.

Being on the Wii, LucasArts have decided to eek out every last bit of motion control. You use the remote and nunchuck to punch with your left and right fist, and by holding down the B button and swinging the remote, you can unleash your whip to disarm enemies, pull them closer for a handy headbutt or swing around the environment. You even get to use it as a joystick as you fly a plane and as a light gun during shooting sections.

Although it’s quite novel using the controls in this way to fight at first, it soon gets a bit frustrating. You can’t always pull off the moves you mean to do, not that that matters because your enemies mostly wait around for you to hit them or dodge their attacks. The fighting is fun though as you pick up objects and smash them into tables, fish tanks etc and does feel quite meaty as Indy’s punch-ups often look in the movies.

Unfortunately the game’s also very glitchy and feels rushed and unfinished. Tutorial sections and cut-scenes can’t be skipped so if you happen to die during them ,you have to sit through long sequences before you can try again. Although the Indy sound-alike is very good, audio skips and jumps as the game loads new areas, and even animations jump and skip as you fight and move around.

There’s also a co-op multiplayer mode in there if you fancy it as Indy and his Sean Connery Dad run about together but to be honest, this is pretty throw away too.

It’s a shame I enjoyed the old graphic adventure Fate of Atlantis and the PS2 game Emperor’s Tomb more than this one. It may be better on the PSP and PS2 thanks to a less convoluted control system but if you want a tomb-raiding action adventure, get the recent Tomb Raider instead. Staff of Kings gets an average 5 out of 10.

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After such a long wait we can finally look forward to the upcoming blockbuster movie and accompanying video game releases of Harry Potter’s 6th adventure; Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. Electronic Art’s have spent many months and worked very hard to make this the best Harry Potter video game to date and promise to keep as close to the storyline of the film whilst making the game fun and interactive for the player.

This time around Harry Potter faces his darkest and most terrifying battles yet and will need all of his magic skills and cunning to defeat the evils brought on by Lord Voldemort. You will need to help Harry, Ron and Hermione protect Hogwarts once again in the sprawling and detailed game which is jam packed full of exciting things to do which include;

• Competing in the exciting Quidditch Cup
• Learning new magic duelling skills and taking them into battle
• Creating exciting magic potions
• Taking part in cool and stealthy night time adventures in Hogwarts while everyone is asleep
• Exploring brand new magical areas outside of Hogwarts such as The Burrow and Horcrux cave

No matter what system you own you can look forward to Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince because it’s coming out for Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PC, PSP, PS3, DS and Mobile phones. The Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince release date for North American fans is June 30th and the release date for Harry Potter 6 in the Europe is just 3 days later on 3rd July.

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Rather unusually for a series of action figures, G.I. Joe (or Action Man for British Readers) actually started off as a toy and then moved into comics, a cartoon show and now the upcoming blockbuster movie G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra. As most of you will probably already know, GI Joe is a tough action hero who can adapt to any scenario and learn any skill necessary to stop bad guys from the evil Cobra Organization. You could say he’s a tougher version of James Bond although I wouldn’t like to commit and say who would win if pitted against each other.

Hasbro have entrusted EA to develop the heavily anticipated tie in video game and from the looks of the latest GI Joe Video Game trailer it seems that was a jolly good idea because it looks full of action, guns and melee combat. G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra video game is coming out on all platforms including 360, Wii, PS2 and PS3 and we’ll bring you more news as we get it.

The G.I Joe The Rise of the Cobra Release Date is August 4th in North America and 31st July in Europe.

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If you can’t get enough of Silent Hill the original game’s coming back for the PSP, Wii and PS2. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories will offer a remixed version of the PSOne original complete with unique controls for the Wii. The release date for Silent Hill Shattered Memories is Autumn 2009.

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YouTube Rock Band 2 review

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Rock Band 2 came through my door a couple of weeks ago and unfortunately, I still haven’t got hold of any of the peripherals. Still, I do have a set for Guitar Hero but unfortunately, only a drum kit for the PS3. Still, apart from the fact that the drums are now wireless, not much has changed when it comes to how you hit the buttons so I’m going to concentrate more on what you get on the actual disc.

You get a lot of songs with Rock band 2. Over 500 in fact if you count the 80 on the disc, the 20 you can download for free, the ones you can import form the original game for a small fee and future downloads. There are classics from AC/DC, Fleetwood Mac, Bon Jovi, Bob Dylan and the Chili Peppers in there, as well as some more modern tunes and some from the days of Brit Pop. Remember that? Oh, those were the days. As usual you can play solo or as part of a band, and then hit the buttons and strum, drum or sing in tune in time to the music.

At first glance you’ll think it’s just more of the same, but they’ve tweaked the gameplay enough to make it much more user-friendly. To begin with, you don’t just play songs in order. You can now choose from set lists which are either mystery, user-created or solo songs. As you unlock new gig venues and cities to fly to, the choice widens. Some gigs you can play in 5 minutes, and some are a whopping 7 songs or so which will take you at least half an hour to complete. It’s also good news that you can change your difficulty on the fly without having to play through the career again. This means someone can play unlocked tracks on your profile on easy mode if they’re not as good as you. Individual band members can also set their own difficulty so everyone can play at their own level at once. If someone’s truly dreadful but wants to play along, there’s even a no fail mode which won’t chuck you out of a song when the crowd are ready to kill you.

You can also take the tour online and play with other band members not in the same room as you – useful if you have a small flat or only have the guitar and want to experience playing in a full band.

On top of that there’s a slightly better character creator and extra challenges to compete in to earn yourself double money for example. You can even hire managers and staff which effect how many fans you get and ultimately how successful you are. Rock Band 2 is once again great fun to play and even more versatile this time around. It’s great for parties, playing alone, or even to practice the real drums using the tutorial mode. It gets an excellent 8 out of 10.

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