PS3 Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

Hallows be thy lameā€¦

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 was a poor attempt into changing the traditional game into a third-person shooter with a flawed cover system and terrible controls. I hoped that Part 2 would redeem the series after that mess, but sadly I was wrong and instead it suffers from the same problems as its predecessor.

The game has a nice opening which explains that you are on a dangerous and urgent quest to locate and destroy the remaining Horcruxes to defeat Voldemort and the voice-acting isnā€™t too shabby, although the game doesnā€™t do a very good job in telling the full story, probably to avoid spoilers for those who havenā€™t watched the film yet, but it just feels a lazy attempt to tell it.

The gameplay remains sadly unchanged from Part 1 and is just a complete mess, itā€™s repetitive, predictable and most of all, dull to play. I just donā€™t understand what made them think that itā€™d be a good idea to turn the game into a third-person shooter with a cover system, it just doesnā€™t make sense. Both enemy and ally AI is terrible, I was able to walk upto a lot of enemies and blast them, not even needing to use cover. It also doesnā€™t make sense to have a shooter with a wand that only works at close range, itā€™s not a shotgun so it should be able to reach wherever I aim, but it doesnā€™t.

The game is only roughly 2-3 hours long, although it can be even shorter than that if you donā€™t bother to look for collectables or try it on the harder difficulty. Itā€™s pathetically short for the price of admission, the film is probably longer than this cheap cash-in. Move support is added to the sequel, but its still a total pain to play with it. You will unlock challenges to attempt for collecting items through the story, but thereā€™s no online to speak ofā€¦which is just as well, I shudder to think of a multiplayer modeā€¦

I donā€™t hate the game because Iā€™m not a fan of Harry Potter, I hate it because itā€™s just a terrible game that was definitely rushed to reach a deadline, as are most games based on films and the quality suffers as a result. Unfortunately, this game has no quality to speak of and is easily the turkey of the year alongside DNF. The graphics arenā€™t bad, but they are average and an IP like Harry Potter deserves more attention than what has happened in all his games thus far, especially the latter two which are the worst in the series.

The Verdict

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a terrible game matched only by the poor excuse that was its predecessor. Itā€™s over quickly, has no redeeming features and has flawed gameplay from start to finish. Harry deserved better for his ā€œfinalā€ outingā€¦