Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 - A Warner Bros/Traveller's Tales Game

In the fourth film franchise to receive the Lego treatment, the tiny yellow plastic characters return as witches and wizards in Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 (LHP), the latest offering from Traveller's Tales.

For the most part, the usual rules apply and anyone familiar with the Lego series will know what to expect. Break objects, build objects, solve puzzles, and collect coloured Lego studs whilst playing through familiar storylines from the films themselves. That being said, LHP does to a large extent represent an attempt by Traveller's Tales (TT) to take their tried and trusted formula and perfect it.

As one might expect, the visuals have improved on earlier releases and the Harry Potter world has been brilliantly interpreted. From the clearly recognisable main characters to the gorgeous playing environments, TT have succeeded in providing a polished look/feel to the title whilst faithfully translating very distinctive areas of the films into game form.



Hogwarts is a vast playing area in itself and succeeds in delivering the mix of the unusual and twists and turns Potter officiandos would expect. The same can be said of the storylines themselves and though it would be fair to say I know the films less than say Star Wars or Indiana Jones, I played certain portions of the game wondering how the developers would handle what was to come next. Each scene was approached intelligently, faithfully reproducing the films in increasingly inventive ways. Given the iconic status of the films, and the challenge this might be seen to represent, this achievement should not be underestimated in my view. Certainly it would be easier to get it wrong than get it right.

The gameplay has also been tweaked to improve the user experience and deliver the rounded world of Harry Potter. Though "The Leaky Cauldron" provides the familiar "hub" for the player to access areas of the game, the open world of Hogwarts provides an opportunity to play outside the main storylines. This is an area where the game really succeeds, lessening the the linearity if one so wishes while also limiting any confusion by providing a clear, structured method to access individual portions of the story. The addition of "Nearly Headless Nick", to guide the player around Hogwarts, was a particularly clever touch.



As well as telling the stories of Voldemort's various attempts to get back his physical form, the Harry Potter films also highlight the learning curve of Harry, Ron & Hermione as they are taught the various spells their school curriculum demands. This is very much central to the game also and the spell system is a fresh idea introduced to the Lego series. As the player completes tasks within various lessons, spells are added to the inventory and can be used from then on, often with hilarious results!

It is here that the game is truly successful. Clearly aimed to include a younger audience, LHP is superb in providing kids (and probably some adults too!) with the chance to use the "magic" they've come to love in the films/books. Younger children will undoubtedly love every second as they levitate Harry's pals or change "Boggart" after "Boggart" into roller skating spiders! However, that's not to say the game lacks appeal to a more mature gamer, far from it. It is challenging in places, particularly if the use of cheat codes can be resisted, and there are more collectibles than you could shake a wand at. The achievements are varied and it'll take quite some time to get the full 1000G.



On the downside, some of the traditional problems with Lego games resurface again here from the occasionally iffy AI to the familiar bugs where characters continue to get trapped or fall unnecessarily. The lack of online co-op play may disappoint some, and it remains a mystery to me that only the lead profile is able to pick up the achievements in a local co-op game. If I were to be hyper critical, the huge amount of character collectibles ultimately offer very little to the game itself other than perhaps satisfy the appetites of real Potter obsessives.

It is also a shame that though the game retains the irreverant humour of it's predecessors, LHP doesn't always manage to induce the laugh out loud moments that characterised Star Wars or Indy. The slapstick, silent comedy of the Lego cutscenes isn't always successful in quite capturing some of what were more dialogue driven moments in the films.

These are minor points however, Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is an excellent, beautifully produced game, providing a fun and charming experience for players of all ages.

Quality review fella

Nice to see a top member stepping up to the plate


Have sum reparrami

Nice one mate, one thing i will say is that it is a realativly easy 1000 gs, aslong as you dont mind putting the time in.

Good too see a new reviewer

Good work mate