Harry Potter Lego for Wii - Nerdblog

Ok. So I love Harry Potter. You might be thinking "omg me too!" but you'd be wrong; you don't even LIKE Harry Potter, not compared to my love for it. Trust me, you don't want to fight about this; I know sectumsempra.

There has been a big hole in my HP appreciation though: Harry Potter video games. So unlike many fans I never really got into the many computer games. I think I played Chamber of Secrets once, I don't remember it. I suspect I was at a phase where I still hoped that my letter was just lost in the mail or that Australian Magic Schools worked on a different system and I still had a chance of going to one and being a witch. So anything that (rather lamely) attempted to recreate the world just made me depressed.

In the last 2 years I've become obsessive about games for Wii and as such, got pretty excited about the concept of wand-like action with the wii-mote. This excitement, as anyone who has played the HP Wii games will know, was unfounded and sadly crushed by the shitty controls and THE FACT THAT YOU USE THE NUNCHUK FOR SPELLS. Stupid. Really, fucking, unwandlike and stupid. I just bashed the keys while writing that, that's how stupid I think that is.

Also both Order of the Phoenix and Half Blood Prince were both a bit, well, ugly don't you think? So grey and urgh. And WHY does that lady painting refer to Sir Cadogan as Sir CaDUGun? Even the movie got that right! So I haven't bought Deathly Hallows Part 1 even thought it *does* look much better. Oh no, I've just rewatched that trailer and now I'm being tempted... don't do it. Must. be strong.

Anyway, the point of this blog ("what?" I hear you cry, "there was a point? egads!" Because as it turns out, you all say egads in my mind) is to rant about Harry Potter Lego Years 1-4.

Um... it's pretty great. It doesn't even pretend for a second that the wii-mote is going to be wandlike and that somehow makes it ok. Also, exploring is actually fun. And while it is dubious to think that lumos would get rid of a devil's snare and wingardium leviosa seems to be the default spell for all situations, I really like it. I love that you get points (those stud things that I first thought were knuts and sickles and then got really confused when there were blue ones) for being destructive. In fact, you aren't a "true wizard" unless you've destroyed everything in sight and then occasionally wingardium leviosad (read: reparod but whatevs) it back into place. It's glichy at times but that just adds to the humour. "Oh no, Harry's stuck behind that toilet again, and I can't switch to Ron because he's disappeared for some reason. Hermione, help a sister out here".

I'm currently in the second year, and I'm enjoying that the more you learn the more you can unlock (it's a metaphor for life!). I'm wondering how shit is going to go down when it turns out Ron's rat is actually a human who has been in hiding for years and whose actions directly caused the deaths of Harry's parents. I say this merely because Scabbers is quite useful for solving puzzles and going through small tunnels and when he's outed as a human... I mean, surely that's going to get a bit awkward? What if I need him to go through a tunnel?

Also... will the lego characters get taller? In a cut scene, Harry's little lego arm came off and Hagrid was all like "ho ho ho" - it's clear that biology doesn't work quite the same way but are they still going to be little squat bricks come the Yule Ball? Coz Hermione's going to look pretty weird in the dress.



You know what would be fucking awesome? A lego LOTR game... I would play the HELL out of that.