Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

I’ve always liked Lego, I used to enjoy playing with Lego (and then I moved in with my girlfriend and she made me leave it all at my parents’), I even love Lego when you stand on a piece and it hurts. By extension, the Lego games have always had a special place in my heart and now they’ve combined with something else I like to make Lego Harry Potter, a game based on plastic pieces based on the films based on the books. But here’s the thing, is it Accio or Expelliarmus for Traveller’s Tales latest offering?

From the moment you start Year One, you’re transported to the world of Potter. It’s been beautifully realised in virtual lego and, surprisingly, digital plastic is actually less wooden than the Daniel Radcliffe source material. As with most of the Lego games, you’re faced with six levels based on the source material giving this particular title a healthy 24 levels to go at. Previous Lego titles have relied on a healthy dose of combat during these levels, but here (for these particular school years at least) there is minimal combat to be had so the game throws up new obstacles in the forms of puzzles for you to solve using the magic skills you’ll learn along the way.

Yes, this time out, you’ll learn as you play. Whereas before you’ve unlocked characters with certain skills the scholarly setting of Hogwarts is the perfect place to learn things inbetween the levels – skills which will help you either in the levels themselves or as you explore the classrooms and corridors of this great wizarding institution. You’ll be trained in everything from Wingardium Leviosa to Mandrake Handling, with a steady dose of Broomstick Flying and Buckbeak Handling thrown in. Armed with your new-found magic skills you can set forth and explore the game’s levels and Hogwarts hub to discover that other staple of the Lego game, the unlockable characters.

There are something like 167 unlockable characters in this game – quite a lot of these are the more famous students (Quidditch players, key characters from the books) and are pretty much interchangeable but you can also unlock the teaching staff, the Durdsleys and even, if you’re feeling that way inclined, a generic girl and boy. Whereas previous games would unlock characters based on who you encounted in previous levels, the Hogwarts experience is different. The characters are hidden throughout the game – both in the hub and the levels – some are out in the open, waiting to be collected while others require magic and cunning to find. This, combined with the 200 gold bricks to locate while playing, add a good level of exploration to the game which more than makes up for the lack of the more traditional combat.

The game also utilises a couple of additions last seen in Lego Indiana Jones 2, namely the much improved split-screen system and the Lego builder. The split-screen saves you from any of that annoying dragging your friend to their doom gameplay evident in previous outings, while the builder lets your imagination run wild to create your own Potter-based adventures. I have to admit that the Lego games are more fun played together but, in this case, it can be advantageous to play on your own due to the exploration side of things. There’s nothing more frustrating that seeing a 1/6 flash up on screen because your co-op partner has zapped something but neither of you have any idea what it was to help you find the other five.

My only niggle is that occasionally the game assumes you know what’s happening – there’s a moment in Year 3 where you’re finding food for Buckbeak. All is fine until you realise you need a character who can dig. Up to now the only character that fit this bill was Fang, Hagrid’s dog, who is conspicuous by his absense. It’s only after much, much trial and error that you realise that Hermione now has Crookshanks with her – something she hasn’t had throughout the first two years – who can do the digging.  This is far outweighed, however, by the nice little touches throughout – when you first try polyjuice potion you’re blatantly just Harry and Ron with some more Lego hair on top of your own and the scene with Hermione and the Ogre in the toilet is exquisite. The jokes are there for the children and the adults.