The Chamber of Secrets.
My first ps2 game if I recall correctly. I played the shit out of this as a kid, so much that the disk broke. After that I got sad, so much that I prefered my console to be broken instead of the game.
The level design is amazing and Harry is far more fleshed out than in the first game. There is a new variety of spells and the levels are more fun than in the first game. The free roaming and broomstick flying have also been improved. Hogwarts never felt more alive.
They also did a good job capturing the story of the movie, to bad some things like Dobby have been cut out.
8.5/10 missing house elves.
Make sure to check out my review of The Chamber of Secrets on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/xgmanx/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/
My first ps2 game if I recall correctly. I played the shit out of this as a kid, so much that the disk broke. After that I got sad, so much that I prefered my console to be broken instead of the game.
The level design is amazing and Harry is far more fleshed out than in the first game. There is a new variety of spells and the levels are more fun than in the first game. The free roaming and broomstick flying have also been improved. Hogwarts never felt more alive.
They also did a good job capturing the story of the movie, to bad some things like Dobby have been cut out.
8.5/10 missing house elves.
Make sure to check out my review of The Chamber of Secrets on letterboxd: https://letterboxd.com/xgmanx/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/
holy shit can the prefects like relax??? why are these megalomaniac losers just roam around in the hallways and cast spells at me for walking around?? dude you literally sit next to me in biology
Was cool to run around the Hogwarts with what felt like a lot of freedom at the time. Had some clunky mechanics, especially in the duels and broom flying, but was relatively fun nevertheless. It's also crazy how scared you can be of a school prefect or slightly grumpy shopkeeper when you have to sneak around..
This review contains spoilers
This is the best Harry Potter game by the time of this review. The story is the same as the movie, but with a few changes to expand it and make it feel like a game, the changes are welcoming and make the story more enjoyable, to the point where people can ignore the plot hole where the Hogwarts express couldn't have let with Ginny but not Harry and Ron. The Characters slightly different from the movie due to new actors and to fit the character designs. The graphics work great for the game, they don't look realistic, but the cartoon look that reminds me of the style of the books fits well as a PlayStation 2 game and the world of the Harry Potter universe is well imaginative here where all locations look fun and interesting to explore and can get lost in with that appealing art style, and places locked off make you just want to check them out even though there's nothing there. The music is beautiful, fits every scene and makes the whimsical wonder even more fleshed out. The Sounds childlike wonder makes kids want to play along as well and wish this world to be the real one. Controls for moving around are loose, but make moving around more energetic and fun, spell buttons are fun to use, but can annoy having to go to menus to change spells so often. The Gameplay is having you casting spells at targets, do spell challenges during class which are just for the gameplay not story, tasks to do at night and sneak past prefects with a fun sneak system with music that can get you scarred to get caught if you don't want to. Bosses are easy to understand how to beat without the game telling you a great way to teach kids how to notice stuff for themselves and the extra tasks you can do are fun, throwing gnomes, flying practice, collecting cards, trading them at Fred and George's shop, finding lost items for points and your performance in classes can affect whether you win the house or quidditch cups and would have to find items to get more points for the former. This is a game beautifully fun and mysterious adventure that needs to be seen to show what people could miss out on, everyone should get it.
Not very good but kind of comfy (so a perfect adaption of Harry Potter)
Chamber of Secrets is a fun Legend of Zelda clone that should be entertaining enough for fans of the series and is elevated a lot by Jeremy Soule's wondrous score which rivals even the work done by John Williams. Still, its a bit too simplistic and short to be fun for anyone else.
Harry Potter is mid but this game Had that broom thin which was kinda dope
Replayed this a lot but is scary af for some reason
It's a charming game with simple but fun dungeons and puzzles, that speedruns the plot of the book in the final 30 minutes. Just like ron Weasley, that review made me exhausted, well I'm of to bed.
gostava muito de andar por hogwarts, também não lembro tanto quanto gostaria mas acho que é melhor que o 1
Picked it up to mess around. Good nostalgia hit but doesn't quite feel like it did back in the day.
Solid RPG for Harry Potter fans, decent enough platforming & combat.
6+/10
Not a fan of Harry Potter, but this game is really fun.
Not a fan of Harry Potter, but this game is really fun.
FLIPENDO
God I loved playing this game as a kid. I need to replay it. It felt very immersive for a licensed game.
I remember the music and just general throughline of the game being really fun. The stealth sections sucked, but everything else was good. Flying around on a broom outside and all around Hogwarts was so awesome.
God I loved playing this game as a kid. I need to replay it. It felt very immersive for a licensed game.
I remember the music and just general throughline of the game being really fun. The stealth sections sucked, but everything else was good. Flying around on a broom outside and all around Hogwarts was so awesome.
This game did open world Hogwarts two decades before Hogwarts Legacy.
The first PS2 title is a strong outing for the Harry Potter games, it really raised the bar in a lot of ways and provided a great deal of wish fulfillment. Most importantly, it has a fully explorable castle, and the game leans into that a lot.
The game is split in two: day activites, such as classes in which you gain new spells and quidditch, and night acitivites, where you do things that go against the school code, which largely just mean that you'll be sneaking around prefect which patrol the halls. At night you can also visit a shop Fred and Goerge set up, with additional cards, prank items and even a spellbook to buy for beans. This currency is a tad bit too scarce for my liking, but it's not a terribly important problem if you decide to complete the game.
This version of the story takes several major liberties in order to make both sections relatively short, meaning that, for example, in this iteration of the story it is never revealed that Lockhart is a conman. He's only ever seen twice, once in Diagon Alley and once during his class. Some liberties were also taken with the intro, having two tutorial sections in Weasley's household for the very basics and some minigames, and then the Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley, which are largely about stealth and items. It's a very memorable section, similar to the portable titles, where the Alleys are much more expansive and you get to visit all sorts of shops and other buildings. Afterwards, you get to Hogwarts itself.
With a hundred cards to collect (every 10 increases your health), there is an abundance of chests, locations, secrets and even sidequests available once you begin the aforementioned Hogwarts day-to-day routine. During the day you can use everything you've learned to get closer to completion without too many threats. The problem is, everything is a bit too spaced out, and, just like in the RPG title of this part of the series, there is just so much running back and forth for some of these things. You go to the grounds and find these tiny objects, sometimes without any indication of where exactly they could be, and to return them to their owner, you either have to fly around the grounds or go all the way back up to the top of the castle, to your common room. You have to do a lot of this to win the House Cup, and without that, the ending just doesn't feel satisfying at all. It's a bittersweet design choice, having to do ardous tasks just for a short moment of satisfaction at the end. There are some minigames to go in-between, like gnome-throwing (every attempt costs beans and is also a bit too finnicky for my liking) and a genuinely fun version of Quidditch, but they're still very short bursts of variety.
Worth noting that the castle grounds are only fully open in the PS2 version, the Gamecube and Xbox ones may avoid this problem, as they simply teleport you across it to fit on the disc.
This particular part of the saga has probably the most video game potential, with several major encounters that can be turned into bosses and several areas that are only ever appear in it. It's a shame that a lot more of your time will be spent on these mindless, clueless searches, because the story sections are actually really fun. They're a bit more nonsensical than even your standard HP game section perhaps (Some spell challenges have BUZZSAWS in them) but this style of a game works so well with the extremely nefarious and oppressive nature of the Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban, where the danger is always looming, even though it is only felt as poignantly by Harry. The Basilisk is always waiting within the Hogwarts pipes, and you can hear its faint whispers if you listen in on the chatter, though it sometimes also speaks very loudly, directly to Harry. There are also spiders roaming the halls from day one.
And, as mentioned, the bosses should deliver, and they actually do! They're not fully polished, but both serve their purpose well enough. Aragog perhaps less so, it feels like he should be able to completely destroy you, but when you fall into a hole and go mano-a-spidero he is just very limited. The Basilisk, on the other hand, is fantastic, it slithers through the pipe holes in the Chamber, it can feel your presence, but it cannot see you—it was blinded by the phoenix beforehand—so it crawls randomly and you have to avoid its gigantic body. After each strike the sword (or a dagger: it's very short because it's actually a reskinned wand) falls out of your hand and the snake attempts to slither its way before you can grab it back. In the original book, and in the movie as well, this encounter is so cool because it's more so a stealth section—Harry is running and hiding and gets that one, big final blow in— so it's weird that they never utilize actual stealth—which is a core mechanic in every iteration of HP video games up to this point—but at least the gigantic blind snake boss battle feel is there in this one.
This game in particular is very fondly remembered by people who played it, and is considered one of the best, but I honestly think a lot of the other games have it beat, even back when it was released. Technologically it was rather impressive, and it was an absolutely awesome game to show around when HP was at peak popularity, but going back to it, it sadly hasn't aged very well. Other HP games have really switched their focus onto that exploration aspect after this one came out, and they do it a lot better, while this game, unfortunately, does it rather poorly. It feels like playing a tech demo, where a lot of the ideas for what to do with the assets and the castle itself were mere prototypes. However, as a Harry Potter video game, this is an impressive and ambitious title indeed. All it really takes for this game to seer itself into an impressionable mind is to use the broom, go for a ride on the Hogwarts grounds, and stare for a bit at the giant building in all its glory.
The game is split in two: day activites, such as classes in which you gain new spells and quidditch, and night acitivites, where you do things that go against the school code, which largely just mean that you'll be sneaking around prefect which patrol the halls. At night you can also visit a shop Fred and Goerge set up, with additional cards, prank items and even a spellbook to buy for beans. This currency is a tad bit too scarce for my liking, but it's not a terribly important problem if you decide to complete the game.
This version of the story takes several major liberties in order to make both sections relatively short, meaning that, for example, in this iteration of the story it is never revealed that Lockhart is a conman. He's only ever seen twice, once in Diagon Alley and once during his class. Some liberties were also taken with the intro, having two tutorial sections in Weasley's household for the very basics and some minigames, and then the Knockturn Alley and Diagon Alley, which are largely about stealth and items. It's a very memorable section, similar to the portable titles, where the Alleys are much more expansive and you get to visit all sorts of shops and other buildings. Afterwards, you get to Hogwarts itself.
With a hundred cards to collect (every 10 increases your health), there is an abundance of chests, locations, secrets and even sidequests available once you begin the aforementioned Hogwarts day-to-day routine. During the day you can use everything you've learned to get closer to completion without too many threats. The problem is, everything is a bit too spaced out, and, just like in the RPG title of this part of the series, there is just so much running back and forth for some of these things. You go to the grounds and find these tiny objects, sometimes without any indication of where exactly they could be, and to return them to their owner, you either have to fly around the grounds or go all the way back up to the top of the castle, to your common room. You have to do a lot of this to win the House Cup, and without that, the ending just doesn't feel satisfying at all. It's a bittersweet design choice, having to do ardous tasks just for a short moment of satisfaction at the end. There are some minigames to go in-between, like gnome-throwing (every attempt costs beans and is also a bit too finnicky for my liking) and a genuinely fun version of Quidditch, but they're still very short bursts of variety.
Worth noting that the castle grounds are only fully open in the PS2 version, the Gamecube and Xbox ones may avoid this problem, as they simply teleport you across it to fit on the disc.
This particular part of the saga has probably the most video game potential, with several major encounters that can be turned into bosses and several areas that are only ever appear in it. It's a shame that a lot more of your time will be spent on these mindless, clueless searches, because the story sections are actually really fun. They're a bit more nonsensical than even your standard HP game section perhaps (Some spell challenges have BUZZSAWS in them) but this style of a game works so well with the extremely nefarious and oppressive nature of the Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban, where the danger is always looming, even though it is only felt as poignantly by Harry. The Basilisk is always waiting within the Hogwarts pipes, and you can hear its faint whispers if you listen in on the chatter, though it sometimes also speaks very loudly, directly to Harry. There are also spiders roaming the halls from day one.
And, as mentioned, the bosses should deliver, and they actually do! They're not fully polished, but both serve their purpose well enough. Aragog perhaps less so, it feels like he should be able to completely destroy you, but when you fall into a hole and go mano-a-spidero he is just very limited. The Basilisk, on the other hand, is fantastic, it slithers through the pipe holes in the Chamber, it can feel your presence, but it cannot see you—it was blinded by the phoenix beforehand—so it crawls randomly and you have to avoid its gigantic body. After each strike the sword (or a dagger: it's very short because it's actually a reskinned wand) falls out of your hand and the snake attempts to slither its way before you can grab it back. In the original book, and in the movie as well, this encounter is so cool because it's more so a stealth section—Harry is running and hiding and gets that one, big final blow in— so it's weird that they never utilize actual stealth—which is a core mechanic in every iteration of HP video games up to this point—but at least the gigantic blind snake boss battle feel is there in this one.
This game in particular is very fondly remembered by people who played it, and is considered one of the best, but I honestly think a lot of the other games have it beat, even back when it was released. Technologically it was rather impressive, and it was an absolutely awesome game to show around when HP was at peak popularity, but going back to it, it sadly hasn't aged very well. Other HP games have really switched their focus onto that exploration aspect after this one came out, and they do it a lot better, while this game, unfortunately, does it rather poorly. It feels like playing a tech demo, where a lot of the ideas for what to do with the assets and the castle itself were mere prototypes. However, as a Harry Potter video game, this is an impressive and ambitious title indeed. All it really takes for this game to seer itself into an impressionable mind is to use the broom, go for a ride on the Hogwarts grounds, and stare for a bit at the giant building in all its glory.
The Gamecube/Xbox versions are seemingly only a slightly different experiences, but the differences here are extremely worthwile. While you cannot walk around the grounds fully, this is actually a HUGE benefit. It cuts down on so many boring sequences of walking back and forth, yet it sacrifices nothing as everything is still fully modeled and you can still fly around on a broom once you unlock it. The assets they saved up by removing freeroaming seemingly went into making the entire game look better, more colorful and vibrant. The game is also streamlined in a lot of other ways, all for the better. Sidequests are much faster and easier to complete, secrets are moved around to much more convenient locations, some enemies are reskinned to add to variety, and during the final boss fight with the Basilisk you get to use an actual sword rather than dagger that's just a reskinned wand. Just a purely improved experience, for me anyways, but do take that with a grain of salt, as I am binging all these games in a row.
My favorite of the Harry Potter titles and one I've revisited quite a few times throughout the years. This one takes inspiration from the Zelda franchise and proves to be a pretty fun adventure game with a relatively small but fun explorable Hogwarts.
Chamber of Secrets came before the games really tried to match the look of the movies and was all the better for it. The art style really works for the game and gives it a whimsical feel all its own, complete with an actually endearing soundtrack with original themes not found in the movies. The voice acting can be pretty cheesy at times but is charming all the same.
Chamber of Secrets has you mapping your spells to various face buttons and working your way through a number of dungeons. These areas are often presented as "lessons" that Harry must go through to find a spellbook and unlock a new ability. The puzzles are simple enough for children but fun and some of these sprawling areas are pretty elaborate. I won't soon forget the dizzying heights of this game's restricted section.
There's a lot of varitety from the Quidditch minigame to stealth sections with lite Metal Gear Solid type mechanics where you'll try to sneak your way past the aggressive prefects. The sense of exploration really comes through as Hogwarts has plenty of hidden passes to uncover, and you can even fly your broomstick above the castle and all around the grounds.
Harry Potter fans would be remiss not to check out Chamber of Secrets- and I hope that the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy captures some of its magic.
Chamber of Secrets came before the games really tried to match the look of the movies and was all the better for it. The art style really works for the game and gives it a whimsical feel all its own, complete with an actually endearing soundtrack with original themes not found in the movies. The voice acting can be pretty cheesy at times but is charming all the same.
Chamber of Secrets has you mapping your spells to various face buttons and working your way through a number of dungeons. These areas are often presented as "lessons" that Harry must go through to find a spellbook and unlock a new ability. The puzzles are simple enough for children but fun and some of these sprawling areas are pretty elaborate. I won't soon forget the dizzying heights of this game's restricted section.
There's a lot of varitety from the Quidditch minigame to stealth sections with lite Metal Gear Solid type mechanics where you'll try to sneak your way past the aggressive prefects. The sense of exploration really comes through as Hogwarts has plenty of hidden passes to uncover, and you can even fly your broomstick above the castle and all around the grounds.
Harry Potter fans would be remiss not to check out Chamber of Secrets- and I hope that the upcoming Hogwarts Legacy captures some of its magic.
That menu theme still fills me with copious amounts of nostalgia. Game's pretty good also.
I need to try and track down and play the PC version still, since it's apparently like a completely different game. I did also play that one and I suppose both of them blended in my mind, because revisiting this one beared a lot of memories that weren't present in the game.
I need to try and track down and play the PC version still, since it's apparently like a completely different game. I did also play that one and I suppose both of them blended in my mind, because revisiting this one beared a lot of memories that weren't present in the game.
Genuinely fire
comfy trash.
apparently this game was the best harry potter game? I don't know. I was a dumb 6 year old.
I didn't make Harry complete the Incendio challenge several times when this was my only HP game only for him to have to relearn it in almost every following game
I always had some issues with the mobility of the Harry character: the aiming of the spells, the platforming--jumps and reaching ledges are especially frustrating along some sections, like in the Forbidden Section of the Library and the godforsaken Avifors challenge. The loading screens are frustrating and diminish the magic of exploring this quite passable version and admittedly rather moody version of Hogwarts. As superior as the Hogwarts in Order of the Phoenix is, exploring the school at night here is way scarier, especially for a child. Jeremy Soule's music is amazing, such a good vibe.
Flawed but comfy, one day I'll play the PC version. The Xbox one is very good, the final boss is disappointing but after playing almost every HP game from 5-8 this is a masterpiece in comparison.
I always had some issues with the mobility of the Harry character: the aiming of the spells, the platforming--jumps and reaching ledges are especially frustrating along some sections, like in the Forbidden Section of the Library and the godforsaken Avifors challenge. The loading screens are frustrating and diminish the magic of exploring this quite passable version and admittedly rather moody version of Hogwarts. As superior as the Hogwarts in Order of the Phoenix is, exploring the school at night here is way scarier, especially for a child. Jeremy Soule's music is amazing, such a good vibe.
Flawed but comfy, one day I'll play the PC version. The Xbox one is very good, the final boss is disappointing but after playing almost every HP game from 5-8 this is a masterpiece in comparison.
Used to ask my mam to do the night-time sections for me cos I was so scared of the ghosts
Sneaking into the library's restricted section is the definitive video game roadblock from my childhood
Also, to the guy who designed the portion of the Avifors challenge where you jump across the pits while ghosts run into you and it randomly plays triumphant music anytime they drain your health: who hurt you?
Also, to the guy who designed the portion of the Avifors challenge where you jump across the pits while ghosts run into you and it randomly plays triumphant music anytime they drain your health: who hurt you?
Very rough around the edges but still captures some of the magic found in the HP series, especially with the ability to fly around Hogwarts.
OK license game from my childhood.
Lo recordaba mucho mejor de chico honestamente, y también muchísimo más largo. Lo terminé en unas 12 horas y eso que intenté alargarlo haciendo contenido secundario... si se le puede llamar así.
De todas formas lo disfruté y por fin me saqué las ganas de rejugar esto ya que por mucho rato este juego no funcaba en el emulador de PS2.
De todas formas lo disfruté y por fin me saqué las ganas de rejugar esto ya que por mucho rato este juego no funcaba en el emulador de PS2.
The story in this version (PS2) feels incredibly rushed. The developers of this game just didn't seem to care in comparison to the PS1 and particularly the PC version which is superior in nearly every way. Unlike that version, the whole atmosphere of hogwarts feels lifeless with no charm. There are barely any students around but instead a ton of prefects trying to catch you out of your dorm. The whole aspect of Hogwarts is that it's supposed to feel safe, but instead even around the grand staircase there are ghosts and books trying to kill you and Jeremy Soule's music is barely ever played and when it is it's always forced into a cutscene and feels off.
Riddle's diary felt rushed, Goyle was rushed and the Chamber was definitely rushed. As fair as the ending level was, there was no build up to the end of the game. I was in the chamber fighting the Basilisk 2 minutes after the last quidditch match. The game takes no time seeing itself off.
Verdict: Stick to the PC or PS1 version which both have great atmosphere and gameplay. I would recommend both.
Riddle's diary felt rushed, Goyle was rushed and the Chamber was definitely rushed. As fair as the ending level was, there was no build up to the end of the game. I was in the chamber fighting the Basilisk 2 minutes after the last quidditch match. The game takes no time seeing itself off.
Verdict: Stick to the PC or PS1 version which both have great atmosphere and gameplay. I would recommend both.
Now this is how you make a game.
It's immediately more polished than the first one, with an opening FMV cinematic instead of just a collection of in-game rendered clips.
It's immediately bigger, with you getting to walk around the Burrow and Diagon Alley as well, instead of just Hogwarts.
The attention to detail within levels is great. You know, just stuff lying around, not really there for a purpose. The rubber duck in Mr. Weasley’s barn; Dedalus Diggle hanging out in the Leaky Cauldron; the constantly increasing amount of spiders you can spot running from the castle, and then returning after defeating the basilisk. It makes the game feel more full of life.
The controls are smooth and quick, and the gameplay compliments the controls very well, and despite not being able to control the camera this time around, they actually do a pretty good job of scripting the camera in certain sections. The only part of it that feels more slow and clunky is the flying, which was the best part of the first game, so that's kind of fucked up.
As a kid, I always thought it was weird how Harry basically starts off from scratch again with spells, but they actually pull it off pretty well, with you already knowing flipendo, and getting lumos very early, before Hogwarts,
Harry doesn't shout out the name of every single bean he picks up, so just there is a point. And there are no potions classes.
And the music; OH, THE MUSIC! Jeremy Soule composed a great score for the first game, but this one is magical. It's my second favorite video game soundtrack of all time. It's the aspect of the game that I remember the most from my childhood. And the accompanying sound effects when you run across different surfaces. I used to just listen to this score on loop in math class. The title theme is absolutely legendary! And the night theme! And the day theme! And the stealth themes! And the Diagon Alley theme! And do I even have to mention the basilisk fight theme? GOD DAMN!
It's immediately more polished than the first one, with an opening FMV cinematic instead of just a collection of in-game rendered clips.
It's immediately bigger, with you getting to walk around the Burrow and Diagon Alley as well, instead of just Hogwarts.
The attention to detail within levels is great. You know, just stuff lying around, not really there for a purpose. The rubber duck in Mr. Weasley’s barn; Dedalus Diggle hanging out in the Leaky Cauldron; the constantly increasing amount of spiders you can spot running from the castle, and then returning after defeating the basilisk. It makes the game feel more full of life.
The controls are smooth and quick, and the gameplay compliments the controls very well, and despite not being able to control the camera this time around, they actually do a pretty good job of scripting the camera in certain sections. The only part of it that feels more slow and clunky is the flying, which was the best part of the first game, so that's kind of fucked up.
As a kid, I always thought it was weird how Harry basically starts off from scratch again with spells, but they actually pull it off pretty well, with you already knowing flipendo, and getting lumos very early, before Hogwarts,
Harry doesn't shout out the name of every single bean he picks up, so just there is a point. And there are no potions classes.
And the music; OH, THE MUSIC! Jeremy Soule composed a great score for the first game, but this one is magical. It's my second favorite video game soundtrack of all time. It's the aspect of the game that I remember the most from my childhood. And the accompanying sound effects when you run across different surfaces. I used to just listen to this score on loop in math class. The title theme is absolutely legendary! And the night theme! And the day theme! And the stealth themes! And the Diagon Alley theme! And do I even have to mention the basilisk fight theme? GOD DAMN!