Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [GC]

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Once more to Hogwarts. The fall has become Harry Potter's season, thanks to Warner Brothers and their film franchise. (Yes, last year the movie came early, but don't expect it to happen again.) And with the film comes EA's inevitable series of tie-in games, which faithfully replicates action and dialogue. This time, however, the adventuring spirit has been left behind, leaving the game a little pallid compared to its film and novel brethren.

Anyone who's also played the Game Boy or DS version of the game will recognize the action. In fact, graphics aside, there's really not much difference between the versions. Players step in as Harry, Ron, or Hermione and navigate faithfully recreated scenes and environments from the novel/film. Much time is spent on Defense Against the Dark Arts, as that's where the action is, but soon enough Harry goes off to the Tri-Wizard Tournament to find his fate.

Past Harry Potter games have retained some ambition and spark. This time, however, the only thing setting Harry apart from any other licensed action game is the particulars of the Potter universe. Harry and friends run through lush 3D areas, casting spells on creatures and moving objects in what can be called puzzles in the loosest sense only. The linear action falls short of the solid adventuring that has infused past Potter games. Instead of offering exciting gameplay, Goblet asks players to collect beans and chocolate frogs.

The only new element is the set of collector's cards which are occasionally doled out as rewards for grabbing enough beans or mashing enough buttons. The cards improve character abilities and spellcasting. It's a minor conceit to depth, however, and we'd be happier with a more rounded game that skipped the collection grind.

The action here is, quite simply, spoon-fed to anyone who plays it. All spells are context-sensitive, which removes one of the better aspects of past games. There's no need to choose a spell for any situation; the game engine takes acre of that. And what's the fun in that? We want to explore this world to see how we'd make the magic work, and here comes a rather presumptuous game to make all the decisions. That the decisions invariably involve button-mashing is a bit insulting, especially when the DS has a cool stylus-based system.

The only upshot to the game design is that two other players can frequently plug in and take control of the rest of Harry's trio. Some spells form pretty decent combos attacks when used together. A single player can pull these off, as the AI will help out, but it's better with other people. Similarly, a group attack can be charged up to let loose a large burst of spell energy.