Back to Hogwarts with Harry Potter! (Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (PS2))

Member Name: heekeer

Product:	Harry Potter: Order of the Phoenix (PS2)
Date:	19/08/09 (15 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Goes back to the school, some good duels, control other characters, minigames

Disadvantages: No co op, no Quidditch, storyline is cut significantly

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is an action game for the Playstation 2.

The story takes place during the book of the same name written by J.K Rowling and follows Harrys fifth year of education at the magical Hogwarts school. With Voldemort back and no one willing to believe both Harry and Dumbledore the wizarding world is a more dangerous place and Harry has to recruit an army of followers, there is also a nasty new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher Delores Umbridge who is from the Ministry of Magic who will try her best to stop Harry from causing any panic! The game does skim over the storyline so for the full experience you will still need to read the book.

The gameplay has thankfully made a return to the former way it was, you get the entire school of Hogwarts to roam around and it has been really streamlined as there are no loading times as you explore. The game has you go to classes and complete lessons and recruit new students to join the DA or Dumbledores army, participate in wizarding duels and you will find your way around the castle using the Marauders map which will show you your destination with a series of footprints on the floor which is a very nice touch.

You usually control Harry but there are some portions of the game that allow you to control some of the other characters such as Dumbledore duelling Voldemort himself to Fred and George as they cause chaos around the castle on their brooms. Exploring the castle is fun as you can fix things up and light fires and generally just solve little environmental puzzles which give you discovery points to increase the power of your spells, you can also play minigames like Gobstones and swap chocolate frog cards with the students of Hogwarts.

Some features that were good from the previous games don't make a return which is slightly annoying such as the co op play that was found in the Goblet of Fire which allowed friends to team up with you and play the game together, and the Quidditch which allow you to play as Harry as he is a Seeker from most of the other games isn't in this either.

Graphics are good with an accurate Hogwarts to explore and the characters keep the appearance of the movies actors which was introduced in the Goblet of Fire.

Order of the Phoenix is a step back in the right direction for the Harry Potter games provides some fun for Potter fans.

Summary: Better than Goblet of Fire, but still could use some improvement!