Lawrence.com

When Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets debuted on consoles, both Potter fans and Zelda-like adventure fans had a lot to cheer about. Developer Eurocom did a great job turning the license into a fun and wild ride. This time around, EA decided to save a little money and let their own studios handle Askaban. Did EA's own studio live up to Eurocom's standard?

Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban is a turning point in the Potter series. Harry and company are a little older and the foes get a little darker and meaner. The game is tied very close to the book and recreates the story with much success. Although the game hasn't crawled out of its appeal to the younger audience, there is enough mature atmosphere to sustain the older gamer.

You can rotate between Harry, Ron and Hermione as you battle through the baddies. Each character has specific abilities that allow you to get through certain situations and it's only by mastering the use of each individual's abilities that you will move on in some areas. In other words, you can't just play as Harry the whole time and expect to proceed. This is the most obvious in the many challenging puzzles along the way that require the use of one or more of your characters' specialties.

The array of spells, projectiles and animals you can employ are fun. You can even fly Buckbeak and Hedwig! Unfortunately, many of the game's mechanics get bogged down by weird control issues and overall stunted flow of the game due to invisible walls and long load times. There are many instances where walls that are there can be walked through and characters won't collide with obvious objects that should impede their progress. Many times when you have to kill enemies to clear a room, an enemy will be invincible and frozen until you go back to another room and re-enter to basically make the enemy start to move again.

The lock-on mechanic is also troublesome. When there are several enemies to obliterate, your lock-on will switch to non-sensical objects. Many of these battles require distinct timing between all your characters to pull it off the victory, so when the lock-on system fails, your timing is thrown off and you can't defeat the enemy as easily as you should.

Do these sound like elementary problems that should've been caught early in development? Yes, they do. It's particularly perplexing how buggy this game can get. But the answer is in the release date of the movie. Come hell or high water, EA had to get this out the door to coincide with the movie's release. Instead of happily walking out the development doors, this premature title was violently shoved out kicking and screaming.

It's too bad because when Askaban works properly, it's reminiscent of how good Chamber of Secrets was. Fighting the Dementors (they kind of look like wraiths from LOTR) proves to be the game's most enjoyable action sequences.

The game looks beautiful. With each new Potter game, the characters look more and more like their movie counterparts. The architecture and levels look smoother, supporting more polygons that in Chamber. The soundtrack is also well done. The voice acting is pretty fair with actors that sound close to the movie actors. The fluidity of animation is also a strong point when the game's framerate isn't running wild. Unfortunately the high-polygon landscapes come at a price. There are several excitement-stopping load times when you could easily take a pee break. It doesn't make the world feel connected, thus detracting from the overall suspension of disbelief.

Askaban had tremendous potential. In some ways it proved that EA's internal studios can match Eurocom's quality, but only if they take the time to polish the game. Unfortunately, this game was rushed out the door for the sake of cashing in on the movie's release.

Graphics: B+

Sound: B+

First Play: B-

Last Play: C-

Gameplay: C-

Overall: 70 C-