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Harry Potter Interactive DVD Game - Hogwarts Challenge
There's a reason most DVD extra games are short and simple: loading each separate element of the game combined with the relatively limited options of the DVD remote make any really sophisticated gameplay literally out of reach. Why the geniuses at Warner Brothers Interactive decided to devote an entire DVD's worth of content to such a limited format game is anyone's guess (can you say easy money?), but the results are tepid at best and will probably frustrate anyone who has ever held a real game controller in their hand.
Taking a basically chronological trip, schoolyear by schoolyear, through the Harry Potter movies, the game offers either a single player or multi-player option and then has each player either select their "house", or have the famous sorting hat choose for them. Players are then asked to complete tasks (with three options of difficulty), all of them standard fare for any DVD extra gameplayer: using the limited functions of the DVD remote, which basically are the arrow keys and enter button, players can have literally seconds of uninterrupted play at such things as moving staircases and spotting items on Diagonalley before the play lurches to a halt as the next segment loads.
There are brief (full frame) clips from the Potter movies, some of them weirdly nonrelatable to the gameplay at hand (Harry and Hermione riding the hippogriff after too many wrong answers, for example).
The DVD
Video:
The video quality is exactly what you'd expect of a DVD extra: full frame, reasonable sharpness, though brought to its knees repeatedly as the game pauses every few seconds to let a new segment load.
Sound:
What apparently is a standard Dolby soundtrack (there's no info available on either the packaging or the audio menu) is fine, since the bulk of the disc is the "guide", one assumes meant to sound like Dumbledore, explaining the tasks and telling you what to do next.
Extras:
There are no extras in the traditional sense, but there are "extracurricular activities" available on each level after two tasks have been completed, with such momentary diversions as guiding Hedwig through a forest.
Final Thoughts:
This is a real waste of time and talent and reeks of a profit-hungry marketing ploy. Stick with the platform games for any interactive Harry Potter fun.
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"G-d made stars galore" & "Hey, what kind of a crappy fortune is this?" ZMK, modern prophet
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