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pictures: http://media.wii.ign.com/media/842/842199/imgs_1.html
http://wii.ign.com/articles/779/779905p1.html
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hands-On
Does the Wii remote become Harry's wand?
We've got the answer and first gameplay images.
by Micah Seff
April 11, 2007 - We recently got a rare treat at the IGN offices.
Representatives from EA UK dropped by with the latest build of Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Wii, and let us sink our
teeth into the substantial adventure. We sat down with the game's
executive producer, Harvey Elliot, for a taste of what the game had to
offer.
For this latest entry in the Harry Potter series, EA UK took a cue
from Grand Theft Auto, astonishingly enough. Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix actually has a whole lot in common with that
beloved franchise. That's not to say that Harry is going to be beating
down hookers with a baseball bat or anything. Rather, for this
adventure, EA UK opted to implement the sandbox-style mission
structure of the latest GTA games. Littered throughout the game are
"discovery points," which function as milestone markers. These
discovery points can be activated by completing various challenges,
and reward the player with spell and level advancements.
The new sandbox structure of the game means that you can devote much
of your playtime to scouring Hogwarts for every last mission, rather
than progressing through the game's actual storyline. What this
effectively does is bring Hogwarts to life in a way not seen before in
a game. The digital version of the school is filled with recognizable
elements from the fiction, and characters will be rewarded for seeking
them out. Doing tasks like corralling a group of Snitches in a room
and setting them loose on some levitating books will not only elicit a
chuckle from Potter fanatics, but also will yield some discovery
points.
None of this is to say that the game ignores the formidable storyline
of the movie. On the contrary, the game's plot plays a supportive role
to its celluloid counterpart, filling in the events between the
climactic moments dealt within the film. Everything that happens in
the game will have a lasting effect on the world. When designing the
levels for the game, the developers had access to the film set and
well as the design documents used for the movie. This made for a
vision of Hogwarts that is more true to the movies than we could have
imagined. The game designers opted to use the movie's vision of
Hogwarts because it is more visually iconic. Walking through the
castle as the myriad of portraits shift around and the staircases
revolve is easily as impressive in the title as it is in the movies.
The Wii-specific controls for the game seem remarkably well put
together. Once Harry's wand is drawn, the Wiimote can be used to
directly control the spells you cast. Everything is handled through
accelerometers; there is no pointing in the game whatsoever. Any of
the game's spells can be cast quickly and easily, merely by a flick of
the wrist. Thrust the Wiimote forward, and Harry will propel an object
away from himself. Motion upward with both the Wiimote and nunchuk,
and Harry will cause an object to levitate in the air.
Once you have an object floating, you can move the Wiimote around in
3D space to reposition it. This actually worked better than we had
assumed it would, although it is not yet perfect. There are puzzles
that require placing objects in specific places, which is somewhat
irritating because of the inaccuracies involved in the motion
controls. Despite this, it was a lot of fun to wave the Wiimote in the
air and see Harry react in turn. Hopefully the spell system sees some
refinement before the game's release because they were already
enjoyable, even at this early state.
Visually, the game is quite obviously a port of the PS2 version.
That's not to say that it looks ugly -- far from it -- but there are
some aliasing issues, as well as some blurry textures. Still, the
project runs at a fairly consistent 30 frames per second throughout
and looks impressive nevertheless. It also supports 16:9 widescreen
and 480p. From a visual design perspective, though, the game is quite
striking. Hogwarts and its environs are brought to life flawlessly. We
took the rare opportunity to turn on the game's debug mode and fly
through the levels, and we came away really impressed. All of Hogwarts
is connected seamlessly, creating a palpable sensation of being in the
famed wizardry school. Technical shortcomings aside, the team at EA UK
did a remarkable job of recreating Hogwarts and all of its many
inhabitants.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix still remains an enigma to
some extent. What we saw of the game really intrigued us, and left us
most definitely wanting more; however, there is still a whole lot that
we don't know about the title. Most of the game's missions are still a
mystery at this point, but the brief taste we were privy to was
certainly enjoyable. EA made some promises about a Quidditch mini-game
and playable versions of Sirius Black and Dumbledore, but we didn't
get a chance to scope them out yet. The game comes out sometime in
June, prior to the film's release in theaters on July 13. Be sure to
check back once we get our hands on a final build of the game.
http://wii.ign.com/articles/779/779905p1.html
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Hands-On
Does the Wii remote become Harry's wand?
We've got the answer and first gameplay images.
by Micah Seff
April 11, 2007 - We recently got a rare treat at the IGN offices.
Representatives from EA UK dropped by with the latest build of Harry
Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the Wii, and let us sink our
teeth into the substantial adventure. We sat down with the game's
executive producer, Harvey Elliot, for a taste of what the game had to
offer.
For this latest entry in the Harry Potter series, EA UK took a cue
from Grand Theft Auto, astonishingly enough. Harry Potter and the
Order of the Phoenix actually has a whole lot in common with that
beloved franchise. That's not to say that Harry is going to be beating
down hookers with a baseball bat or anything. Rather, for this
adventure, EA UK opted to implement the sandbox-style mission
structure of the latest GTA games. Littered throughout the game are
"discovery points," which function as milestone markers. These
discovery points can be activated by completing various challenges,
and reward the player with spell and level advancements.
The new sandbox structure of the game means that you can devote much
of your playtime to scouring Hogwarts for every last mission, rather
than progressing through the game's actual storyline. What this
effectively does is bring Hogwarts to life in a way not seen before in
a game. The digital version of the school is filled with recognizable
elements from the fiction, and characters will be rewarded for seeking
them out. Doing tasks like corralling a group of Snitches in a room
and setting them loose on some levitating books will not only elicit a
chuckle from Potter fanatics, but also will yield some discovery
points.
None of this is to say that the game ignores the formidable storyline
of the movie. On the contrary, the game's plot plays a supportive role
to its celluloid counterpart, filling in the events between the
climactic moments dealt within the film. Everything that happens in
the game will have a lasting effect on the world. When designing the
levels for the game, the developers had access to the film set and
well as the design documents used for the movie. This made for a
vision of Hogwarts that is more true to the movies than we could have
imagined. The game designers opted to use the movie's vision of
Hogwarts because it is more visually iconic. Walking through the
castle as the myriad of portraits shift around and the staircases
revolve is easily as impressive in the title as it is in the movies.
The Wii-specific controls for the game seem remarkably well put
together. Once Harry's wand is drawn, the Wiimote can be used to
directly control the spells you cast. Everything is handled through
accelerometers; there is no pointing in the game whatsoever. Any of
the game's spells can be cast quickly and easily, merely by a flick of
the wrist. Thrust the Wiimote forward, and Harry will propel an object
away from himself. Motion upward with both the Wiimote and nunchuk,
and Harry will cause an object to levitate in the air.
Once you have an object floating, you can move the Wiimote around in
3D space to reposition it. This actually worked better than we had
assumed it would, although it is not yet perfect. There are puzzles
that require placing objects in specific places, which is somewhat
irritating because of the inaccuracies involved in the motion
controls. Despite this, it was a lot of fun to wave the Wiimote in the
air and see Harry react in turn. Hopefully the spell system sees some
refinement before the game's release because they were already
enjoyable, even at this early state.
Visually, the game is quite obviously a port of the PS2 version.
That's not to say that it looks ugly -- far from it -- but there are
some aliasing issues, as well as some blurry textures. Still, the
project runs at a fairly consistent 30 frames per second throughout
and looks impressive nevertheless. It also supports 16:9 widescreen
and 480p. From a visual design perspective, though, the game is quite
striking. Hogwarts and its environs are brought to life flawlessly. We
took the rare opportunity to turn on the game's debug mode and fly
through the levels, and we came away really impressed. All of Hogwarts
is connected seamlessly, creating a palpable sensation of being in the
famed wizardry school. Technical shortcomings aside, the team at EA UK
did a remarkable job of recreating Hogwarts and all of its many
inhabitants.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix still remains an enigma to
some extent. What we saw of the game really intrigued us, and left us
most definitely wanting more; however, there is still a whole lot that
we don't know about the title. Most of the game's missions are still a
mystery at this point, but the brief taste we were privy to was
certainly enjoyable. EA made some promises about a Quidditch mini-game
and playable versions of Sirius Black and Dumbledore, but we didn't
get a chance to scope them out yet. The game comes out sometime in
June, prior to the film's release in theaters on July 13. Be sure to
check back once we get our hands on a final build of the game.
