Written by: Ian

 

 

 

I believe that this is the 7,607th Lego themed game to hit the 360. After so many very similar titles, is "LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 - 4" any fun to play?

 

 

TT made the good decision to use the films, rather than the books, for the inspiration for the story and graphical feel of the game. Therefore everything will seem instantly familiar to anyone who has seen at least one of the films- and let’s face it- this was the audience that they were going for- I can’t imagine that anyone else will be interested in the game.

 

The levels, like with previous games, follow key moments from the first four films in the traditional Lego way- with added comedy, no speech, and a tongue in cheek attitude that definitely had me chuckling along the way.

 

 

If you’ve played one of Traveller’s Tales Lego games before, then you’ll pretty much know how this game will play- there are very few gameplay improvements (like normal). Basically, it’s a platforming game where you can choose a couple of characters, use their abilities to solve puzzles, with a fair bit of exploration and basic platforming thrown in.

 

 

For me, the one major improvement is something that is more down to the IP rather than any work done by the developers at TT. In previous games, characters have been able to magically build structures and solve puzzles by holding down the B button. Here, you have a magic spell which does the same- which feels like a better solution- but given that Harry & Co have always been able to use magic in the books- it feels like the spell system is a bit of a convoluted cop-out on behalf of the developers.

 

Generally, everything else is the same- the spells mean that you need a smaller selection of characters to complete the levels, which is good, but you will still need to return to the levels later on in order to complete them. Like with the other games, there is a decent amount of levels (24), and plenty to come back and unlock- getting 100% will certainly take some time for most people- especially if you’re a younger player.

 

 

The game is certainly simple enough for kids to eventually plough through, whilst adults may take pleasure from completing some of the harder optional puzzles- but for me, having played through most of the previous titles- I found it overly familiar. Therefore, be careful if you are a tiring veteran of the TT games.