Graphically, the Lego games have never been particularly great, but TT have made a bit of an effort here- make no mistake though- this is still the same old creaky engine that has been around for the last five years, just with more bells and whistles on though. The game is no Gears or Heavy Rain, that’s for sure. For kids, they won’t mind- but adults will definitely notice the difference when compared to their other games. You can add a motion blur, which makes things look a little nicer, but made me want to barf- it also badly affects the frame rate.

 

 

However, the Harry Potter style is definitely there- and you can clearly see bits from the films nicely rendered in Lego blocks. It could still be nicer, however, and I wish that more effort would go into the engine

 

Sound is a little better- even though it too is incredibly simple, like in the other games. There is little to no speech- with characters just mumbling, squeaking and grunting- normally to good comic effect- but still- very cheap, all the same. Music has been lifted straight from the films, which is great, as the scores there are very good, but there is no original music as far as I could tell anyway.

 

 

 

Annoyingly, after having made fleeting appearances before, Xbox Live multiplayer has once again been dropped for this release. I find this just lazy to be honest- there’s no excuse for it, especially as the code is clearly lying around the office somewhere, just waiting to be quickly implemented. As it stands, you can play with 2 local players on the same screen, which I guess is fine for kids, but not great for adults, who get to be in the same place as their mates less often.

 

 

If you’re an adult and have played any quantity of Lego games before, then this latest title probably won’t do too much for you unless you’re a big Lego or Harry Potter fan; however, kids will no doubt love the game, and will give them hours of enjoyment.

 

Like the other games in the series, it does nothing new for the genre, doesn’t look or sound brilliant, but does play pretty well- and that’s what it boils down to. The game won’t blow anyone away, but it’s a decent platform romp that kids in particular will really enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 

+ Better graphics
+ Plenty to do
+ Great for kids