Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [PSP]

Anyone keeping up with our coverage of the Harry Potter series knows the first batch of games weren't very action packed. Instead, each offered a platform-heavy puzzle-based experience. Most people compared the gameplay in these titles to some of the later installments in Nintendo's Zelda franchise in that both featured similar lock-on systems and exploration aspects. With the latest title though, and the first title to hit the PSP, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, EA has veered from established tacks and shot after a decidedly action oriented approach.

EA has decided to make versions of Goblet of Fire for every platform on under the sun, including PS2, Xbox, GameCube, GBA, DS and PSP. But it's the PSP version we're most interested about since, well, this is a PSP site. To start, the PSP version looks and plays almost identical to the console versions. The game is structured the same way in terms of level design, narrative flow and the like, and there's very little sacrifice when it comes to visual detail. In fact, we'd even say Goblet of Fire is one of the more visually impressive games on the system.

Here's a quick recap for those who need it: The Goblet of Fire splits between 11 locations from the film, each of which has several missions and sub-missions. We could choose to play as one of the three main characters in the film before jumping into each stage, with the other two characters delegated to CPU control. Unfortunately, the single-player story missions are strictly single-player. Like the book, the game follows Harry Potter as he and the Hogwartz School battle against two rival institutions for supremacy in the Tri-Wizard Tournament. This makes for a very different adventure than what fans may recall from earlier installments. And it's not just faster pacing due to action scenarios either, but the overall feel of the game is a little darker.

The first scenario stage has Harry, Hermione and Ron battle enemies who have invaded the Quidditch World Cup Camp Site. This specific stage helped demonstrate much of what differentiates Goblet of Fire from previous Potter games. First, there's a big emphasis on teamwork and action. Having a trio of young wizards helps in many situations such as combat or to remove roadblocks such as trees and boulders by using magic spells. We also needed to kill overgrown frogs with energy blasts from our magic wands. Having to extra characters helped make the task easier.

Using the Wingardium Leviosa spell to lift objects only works on stones and small boulders when used by a single wizard, but get three of them using the same spell on the same object garners impressive results. It's also pretty fun, not to mention cool looking, to pick up random stuff and hurl it toward enemies or chucking it randomly. We could choose to play as one of the three main characters in the film before jumping into each stage, with the other two characters delegated to CPU control. Unfortunately, the single-player story missions are strictly single-player.