Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - Fun while it lasts.
I did pretty well, it wasn't until the release of Goblet of Fire that I bought the first book and even then only did so to shut up my colleagues. It sat on the bedside table for months before I touched it. I had flu and it was the only thing in reach. Needless to say, I finished it in one sitting, just sucking up the great storylines.
I've since converted to Potterism, happily lining up to buy the new books, and dvd's. Games on the other hand, I stayed away from, fearing they wouldn't translate well from the book into a game.
However after watching the trailers and playing the demo of Order of the Phoenix I was quite intrigued by this game. So I rushed out and bought Order of the Phoenix.
Ultimately I really quite enjoyed it. Hogwarts is fully realised, you can walk from room to room, nip into the portraits to take a shortcut...you truly feel that you are there. "Fellow" pupils wander the halls and either cheerfully greet you or curse at you for having the audacity not to be a member of Slytherin. The spells were quite fun to perform, wandering around and fixing broken pots, revealing hidden items by levitating the curtains etc. Eventually you can even cast spells on other students, which comes in quite handy when you've had enough of listening to Slytherin's prattling on about how good they are.
There are 3 minigames, Chess, Marbles (Gob-Stones) and Exploding Snap. I had a problem with the chess (kept coming to a stale-mate regardless of the fact it should have been a check-mate) but it was still fun, as were Gobstones and Exploding Snap.
Of course no game is perfect, this one is no exception. While the spells are fun they can be tricky to perform, the movements are too similar so when you are trying to levitate something it ends up being pushed away from you instead, annoying to say the least, and don't bother trying to do it with a trackball setup. Definitely need a mouse for this one. Same goes for Gobstones, mouse requirements there too.
The most frustrating aspect of the game are the movement controls. The camera rotates automatically, so one minute you're running down a hallway and the camera pans around, so you end up going backwards instead. Going through doorways can be interesting sometimes, you end up caught in a loop of going in/out of the same doorway.
Another frustrating aspect is that the Makers assume that the player has either read the book or seen the movie. Plot-points are advanced way too quickly, often with no explanation for the events that have occured. Even having read the book and seen the movie there were a few moments of "Huh?!".
------
Ultimately the game is not perfect, there's no such thing. But if you can look past the quirks mentioned above it can be quite an enjoyable game. If a bit too short. Give the game a chance, you may find yourself pleasantly surprised.