Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire [PSP]

One issue that will undoubtedly bug older players is the fact you can't choose which spells to use at specific times; they're chosen automatically. One button corresponds to jinxes (attacks) while another corresponds to charms (environmental). There are numerous attack and environmental spells, but it's all context-sensitive so the game chooses which ones to use. Goblet of Fire is very unlike those games where enemies and weapons have unique elemental attributes, and it's up to the player to decide when to use the appropriate attack. Yes, Goblet of Fire is a kid's game and therefore can't be too complicated, but a little more freedom over when and how to use your spells would have gone a long way.

Another area of annoyance is in the way characters control. To start, though, you can choose whichever character you want at the beginning of every stage. You can even assign specific upgrade cards (earned by finishing stages) to grant each character boosts in the area of stamina and spell strength. There are also "friendship" upgrades that let your character heal nearby allies. But for all the character system has going for it, actually running around the various stages of the game feels sluggish, almost as though the characters were running under water. This affects every stage except those with a near complete absence of enemies.

Allied AI isn't the best, either. A big part of the game centers on combined spell casting with your two CPU controlled buddies, but they're not always quick on the draw. They're either slow to respond when you need their assistance moving a fallen tree or boulder, or they just don't know how to navigate the environment. They'll sometimes run into open flames and get stuck behind tables or chairs, for example. They'll even die on occasion by running into poisonous mushrooms or walls of fire. Thankfully, they just come back to life, but it's still irksome.

When it comes to the racing segments, though, Goblet of Fire really shines. Whether you're tearing through the sky trying to evade a dragon or swimming through the sea blasting villainous mermen, the experience is fast and engaging. These sequences aren't as smooth as their console counterparts are, but they're fun regardless. And just like the rest of the game, these sequences look pretty good. Most of these swimming/ flying stages play out like old-school on-rail shooter games, so it's all about steady navigation and (somewhat) quick trigger fingers.

Like most PSP offerings, Goblet of Fire makes use of the PSP's Wi-Fi functionalities and, interestingly, the game sharing feature. Here's a quick recap of the info: here are three games in all and they all support the PSP's game sharing functionality. What this means, of course, is that owners of Goblet of Fire can share the mini-games with other PSP owners who haven't yet picked up a copy of the game. There's also a number of collectible Creature Cards unlocked during the single-player portion of the game that can also be shared with other PSPs wirelessly. These cards can be viewed just for fun, but also can be used in one of the exclusive mini-games.