Look At Me I'm That Noobish Wizard Guy Who Got That Thing On His Head. Nuff Said.
EA's take on most games usually turn out to be great, fun, action packed games worth a purchase. You'd normally just have to look at the label, see that EA sports made the game, and buy it. EA did a fair job with Chamber of Secrets (released prior to this one, believe it or not) and did another fair job with the Quidditch World Cup. However, when they went back and rushed together a giant fetch-quest, the results weren't quite as good as one would hope for.
Graphics : The graphics presented in this game are far below par. You'll notice this the moment the game allows you to take control. You'll look at the screen, and see a poorly drawn Harry Potter. Yes, you can recognise him. But the graphics are blocky (think PS1 blocky), and sometimes they can get choppy. The stiff, weird animations don't help. I don't get how Harry could toss a gnome 2 feet in front of him after tossing it with force, or why he makes great leaps when he's jumping even the smallest gap. It doesn't make much sense. It also hurts that the graphics are far too dark - before I got the 'Lumos' spell (which lights up the area), dungeons had me struggling just to see, forcing me to take blind jumps and the like. The cut scenes are pretty well done, with cartoony realism that you can expect from a game like this. But the blocky, poorly drawn, PS1/Dreamcast graphics aren't acceptable. EA obviously rushed on this one, and it shows.
Sounds : While the graphics weren't the greatest out there, the sounds aren't half bad, for the most part. The background music is fantasy music (and in the dungeons, well, it's the kind of music you'd hear in a dark, puzzle area, sort of like Legend of Zelda games, or the previous game in the series, Chamber of Secrets). It seems to fit well with the game, and is acceptable. There's a bunch of 'hidden' noises too, little extras like Harry saying various things when he picks up a Jellybean ('Mmm... Chocolate' or 'Oh, yuck! Bogey!'), though it can get annoying. The creatures all have their own separate noises, and the creaks and scraps, running, others' footsteps are all there (which is somewhat of a surprise for a game this rushed). The sound comes cashing down when the voice acting comes, though. Most of it sounded... well... fake. Or unrealistic. In times of great suspense or danger, Harry and whoever else would speak very calmly, like nothing around them was occurring. And the final boss... too much expression. There's all this calm talk among Harry and the others, and then suddenly this bad guy comes with a harsh (but easily fake) voice, 'I'll get you Potter!', filled with rage. Of course, Harry's expression doesn't change, or his tone, or anything. He keeps calm. Bad voice acting, but ok sounds and music make this a fairly good score.
Gameplay : Read my tagline? That sums up the entire game. One huge, annoying fetch quest that'll leave you feeling many things, from puzzled (the game's so dark it's nearly impossible to see) to angered (Try killing a Giant Troll WITHOUT getting the camera stuck, for the first time. Every game I'd play, the camera always got stuck...). It was annoying. You start off easy enough, making way to the Common Room. Then you're put in a stealth position - you have to sneak past someone in order to get to a secret room. The trouble is, this part was pulled off so terribly I was better off running for it than using any stealth at all. The AI character moved everywhere so much he gave you little to no time to sneak around. And it's really unrealistic how when you're pressed to a wall, they can't see you, at all, yet when you have an invisibility cloak and you're out in the blue, they can spot you. Anyway, you're then sent to your first class, and your first dungeon. Dark. You have no idea what to do. You take a few blind jumps. No luck. You crawl across the ede of a room. Awesome, you're on the other side. You cage some gnomes who are out of their cages for some reason or other. No where to go. You take a blind jump. Oh, lucky you, you landed somewhere. You repeat, until you find a spell. Then, you go back out of the dungeon. See what I mean? All dungeons are like this, repetitive fetch quests. And annoying. But among the annoyances, I found a little fun - boss battles actually take a little strategy, and at that point it feels more like a Zelda game than anything else. For example, one boss battle has you stunning the heads of the beast plant, and then chopping them off, while it's spitting acid at you. Not that bad there, but it doesn't make going through the dungeons worthwhile. The gameplay is very poorly done and rushed.
I played through twice to see if I got anything special. Guess what. I got zippo. And the game wasn't any easier/different either. The same old boring fetch quest. So you won't be giving this game another go when you beat it.
So, rent or buy? Neither, if I have anything to say about it. If you're a real Potter fan, a rental might be worth it (my Potter fan friend loved the game), but if you even just mildly don't like this, best you just don't give it a go. There are much better adventure games of this style out there (Chamber of Secrets, Wind Waker) that pull off this style so much better than this game does. In conclusion, I can only give this game a 4/10. It just isn't worth it.