Coming off the previous two games on PS1, this title is a massive improvement from those two games.

Instead of feeling passable, I'd say this game is actually "good" if not exceptionally flawed in places. It's more mechanically rich than it's predecessors and it uses it's three playable characters well to make each feel distinct from one another.

Can't speak for the Gamecube or Xbox versions but the PS2 port is held back by several glitches, nothing game breaking but all noticeable. Loading is also fairly time consuming which isn't good for a game as menu heavy as this one.

That said, it's a massive step up from Harry Potter's outings on PS1 and is undoubtedly where the mainline games peaked.

There's a handful of good things in this game and improvements over the previous two titles, which are hindered by a fair share of lackluster and downright inconvenient elements. In terms of story adaptation the cutscenes are doing the bare minimum, it's clear the game expects you to know either the book or movie because otherwise you'll have no idea what's going on. It's nice to have voiced cutscenes instead of still images, but when there's a lack of consistency with the story it seems kind of pointless.

Playing as all three characters is a fun idea, yet other elements of the game can spoil the experience. Any form of challenge is gone since the characters will tell you over and over again what you're supposed to do as if you have a short term memory. Switching between spells can get annoying fast because you're only able to equip two at a time and it's not something you can just solve by switching to another character, since they all have an individual set of spells. The ending is also very weak from a gameplay perspective with the lack of a proper boss fight that rushes through the finale with one cutscene after another, leaving very little to do for the player. The mini games are a nice attempt of offering more content after you beat the main game, but are generally quite underwhelming and repetitive.

However, the controls are good, the presentation and score are great for the time and make for an immersive experience any fan of the series can appreciate. Take that and the variety of spells between the three characters and you can still get some enjoyment out of the game by exploring Hogwarts and looking for collectibles if you don't let the previously mentioned inconveniences sour your experience.

The movement feels stiff but is actually quite pleasing.

It's a bit weird of a game, but it gets on you.

I really enjoyed it, while it last.