Nukezilla Review: Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (Wii)

Since I’ve already seen Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 three times in theaters, I jumped at the chance to play Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 for the Wii. Purists might find the videogame version of the story a little ridiculous, especially when certain important scenes are changed and could have been solved with a quick cut scene. However, this Harry Potter story in particular seems difficult to conceptualize into a game, considering most of the story involves Harry, Ron, and Hermione running away from enemies and camping in the woods, instead of happy-go-lucky times at Hogwarts.

The gameplay is more of a first-person shooter with a bit of role-playing in between. When enemies attack Harry, the player, either seen through Harry’s eyes or above him, repeatedly shoots spells at each enemy, until he or she falls over. Purists once again might complain since one successful Stupefy spell would knock anyone out in the book or film. Especially when one Crucio spell from an enemy will nearly drain Harry’s life bar.

Game controls are also mildly frustrating. As far as I’ve found, there’s no button command to make Harry turn around quickly to fight off an enemy. Instead, you must tilt the Wiimote until you’re facing the right direction. This results in a relatively instant death if there are several sudden enemies around Harry.

Enemies can vary between Death Eaters and Snatchers, who all perform relatively similar spells; Pixies, who are just obnoxious little blue fairies that drain your life rather quickly unless you Stupefy them or throw a certain potion; and Dementors, who literally suck the soul (and life bar) out of you until you cast Expecto Patronum. When all of these enemies are bearing down on you, the ability to switch between spells can be time consuming. Not to mention, you use both the Nunchuk and the regular Wiimote for completely different spells. The Nunchuk houses most of your defensive spells (Protego, Expecto Patronum), while the Wiimote is generally used for attacking spells (Stupefy, Petrificus Totalus).

Another tricky aspect of the game is the use of Harry’s Invisibility Cloak. In one of the first missions of the game, after Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape the Death Eater-infiltrated wedding, Harry must walk through the busy streets of London to make sure the people selling newspapers are not Death Eaters. But, if you walk continuously without stopping, you will be “discovered” and your mission fails. And if you accidentally bump into someone, you will again be “discovered” and your mission fails.

As well as the regular story, there are several side quests, which must be completed before you can continue on with the general plot. Rescuing Muggles (non-magically-inclined people) from Snatchers and escaping from a dragon in a maze-like cave are just some of the side quests found in the game. These quests are peppered throughout the game before a big plot point is revealed.

Aside from controller frustrations, the game was paced well, certain details were perfect (e.g. Mrs. Black in Grimmauld Place yells about “Blood traitors and Mudbloods” if you walk by her painting, just like she does in the book), and it’s great fun to explore the same places seen in the movie. Perhaps Wii is not the right medium for this game. The pointing and shooting aspect is best played on a Wii, but there needs to be better movement and camera controls to pull it off successfully.

All in all, it seems as though someone quickly threw this game together so its release would coincide with the movie.