It will be interesting to see how those invested in the Harry Potter franchise (Scholastic and Warner Brothers, mainly) choose to release the inevitable spate of ancillary products and doodads as the seventh and eighth films draw nigh. The books are deservedly beloved, and each one of the films has been carefully crafted, thrilling, and beautifully designed. But subsidiary products have been lacking and joyless, and I'm sad to say that the Harry Potter: Wizarding World DVD game continues that unfortunate trend.

Organized around fourteen challenges, the game basically boils down to nonstop screen-to-screen navigation - there's a static one which allows the player to choose a direction to move using his or her remote control, and an animated one that transitions the player to the next static screen. The challenges include using the Marauders' Map to sneak through Hogwarts, flying a dragon during the competition for the Goblet of Fire, facing off with Hagrid's brother Grawp, and participating in the Quidditch World Cup.

The graphics and narrated directions warm the soul at first, and provide that cozy Hogwarts sensation with the mention of Butterbeer (something I'm determined to make one day - even if I have to invent a recipe myself). While these tastes of Potter's world do whet one's appetite, the game proves to be a total time-waster. Not only is the format a step back in terms of interactivity - like playing Space Invaders in the age of the Wii and Xbox - but it's almost condescendingly simple. It does allow for up to four players to compete in each challenge, but the multiplayer interfaces are even clunkier than the ones for a single player. Overall, it's a game devoid of magic - a sad Muggle attempt to grasp the wonders of wizardry...

This game is geared towards kids, and rightly so, but navigating endlessly through series after series of screens grows tiresome - and fast. Kids who play the game are going to pop this disc out of their DVD players in no time - and opt to watch one of the Harry Potter movies instead. Maybe that's the whole point, though - not to provide children with a rewarding game, but to get them amped again about the franchise. And the timing for that would be just about right, too, since The Half-Blood Prince gets released a week after the game, on the same day that Ultimate Editions of the first two films come out on disc. Check those out; ignore this forgettable game.

The DVD

The Package
The single disc is housed in a clear keepcase. A small insert with instructions is included, but it's too small to stay held in place by the little tabs on the inside left of the keepcase. Therefore the little booklet is doomed to forever rattle around next to the smugly safe and secure disc.

The Video
The video presentation of this game is extremely distracting. It's fullscreen, for one thing. For another, the film clips that are sprinkled throughout the game are both cropped and compressed on their sides. To fill the fullscreen frame, clips appear to have been cropped to about 1.85:1, and then compressed even further to fit 1.33:1, leaving them both hacked and squished. It's an absurd visual presentation that clashes with the more polished game-specific graphics. The actual quality of the video is good, but not great. The clips feature a lot of artifacts and grain, although the game graphics are fairly clean and solid.

The Audio
The stereo soundtrack is clear but sterile, and kind of choppy. The use of music is especially inconsistent, with cues swelling up and dropping out artificially; the overall sonic effect is of navigating through endless DVD menus, which is actually what the whole game feels like.

The Extras
N/A

Final Thoughts

The classic novels and the stellar films will endure; enjoy them again and avoid this game. Skip it.

Casey Burchby lives in Northern California: Twitter, Tumblr.