A magical recreation of Hogwarts and solid gameplay make this the best Harry Potter game yet.
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As a boy, I was obsessed with Harry Potter. It was a fantasy that not only freed up a wild imagination within but brought exotic excitement to boring and rather long school days. This boy lives in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and makes this solid but still sub-par Legend of Zelda clone magical.
The magic is made possible through the recreation of Hogwarts and the incredible soundtrack that brings Hogwarts alive. Never has a soundtrack alone been able to conjure up the sense of magic and wonderment that Harry Potter means to millions of its fans, and never has Hogwarts been crafted to appeal to the wizard within us all. Learning new spells is similar to Link finding a new weapon. Places you once couldn't go are suddenly available and this borrowed mechanic makes exploring Hogwarts fun and exciting. You see many of the beloved sights from the movie as you progress through this stripped down story, re-imagined and every time, remaining a delight.
Exploring is only one of the magical wizard activities you'll be occupied with in your time at Hogwarts others include the well implemented dueling club, the linear and very short quidditch games and sneaking (okay, not really) through Snape's dungeon. They are never really spectacular, but at least they are there.
Hogwarts has character and charm, the grounds of Hogwarts comes alive thanks to the moody textures and magical music that brings the world to its own. The characters have a toy like charm about them as well, the voice acting is adorable and the sparks and sounds as you wave your wand for some reason or another also fit in this world. This is a trip to Hogwarts that not only makes do with the technical limitations of 2002 Hardware, but in a way defined them and owned them.
The controls in this game represented a step in the right direction from the previous game, and still remains the best controls of any Harry Potter game thus far. Players want complete and intuitive control over their wands, and Chamber of Secrets was the last game to truly understand this. The central hub that is Hogwarts is allowed to flourish thanks to these solid controls and combat that would otherwise be dull and shallow, manages to keep being entertaining until the very end.
This game is a re imagining of Harry Potter that has its own identity that fits so well into the Harry Potter universe thanks to its understanding of what makes Harry Potter so special. Although this game is held back by the limitations to Hardware and its own budget, the Harry Potter fan has never and still does not have a game this close to reaching the untapped potential of Harry Potter.