Way better than the movie.

At its core Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is a pretty basic puzzle-platformer. Although it has combat too, it could barely be classified as an action game. Most of the game you're solving very simple puzzles and jumping over platforms. Despite its simplicity, it actually works really well, and the tactile feeling is sufficient enough to make the process enjoyable. I think there's just the right balance between challenges and rewards.

However, the core mechanics do have a few flaws. The spells don't always get casted; not all ledges can be grabbed onto (which can lead to some frustrating deaths out of confusion); the camera and movement controls are pretty clunky and especially become a problem during boss fights, which are the only cases you're allowed to move while shooting casting. The cutscenes are unskippable, and the checkpoints are usually placed before them, so you gotta watch them again and again every time you die.

That being said, they keep them short. There isn't a lot of story here, but it somehow manages to cover the entire plotline of the movie (maybe because most of the movie did not have much of a story either). Also, unlike the movie, there are black people in this game, hooray! It is no longer a white supremacist paradise.

One thing I love about this game is the presentation. The colors are vibrant and the music is beautiful. That's one of the main reasons I kept wanting to return to it and actually completed it, despite starting to get a little bored.

I mean, this is clearly a game designed for kids, but for what it is, it works. It's pretty simple, but it gives you a quick and immersive little adventure through Hogwarts. And, personally, as far as I can remember, I liked these first three games way more than the follow-ups. Complexity doesn't always equal quality.

That dreadful italian dub with its FLIIIIIIIIIIPEEEEEEEEENDOOOOOOOO and those obnoxious wand sound effects remained on my subconsciousness. And now that I'm doing a quick review I still hurry and finish to write it before I go crazy.

The game feels an action-platform similar to Zelda. Don't expect the same level of fun, it has so much frustration (the learning spells sessions where you have to be really precise with your mouse, the trolling escape level and the stealth session with the invisible cloak...). I really hoped the game gave you more freedom in many parts (like, idk...exploring freely Hogwarts), but no. In the end they force you to keep doing only levels puzzle structured.
They do have some charm, I'll give it that.

A very, very nostalgic game for me... but even as a kid, I felt this was half-baked. Don't get me wrong, I loved it so very much, and I still feel a lot of that love (even this rating's probably generous), but you can tell they didn't quite stick the landing. Bugs are very easy to reproduce, the game's pacing is very lopsided (though, on revisit, that's actually pretty in-line with the book), world and level design feels very restricted, things like the bean checks and the missable Wizard Cards feel like they should belong in an open world game rather than a strictly linear game, this isn't the game with PS1 Hagrid but the graphics aren't that far off, etc etc etc.

But the game does nail a lot of the appeal that comes from exploring a setting like Hogwarts, ever-changing and full of secrets. This would be much stronger in later games, but there's hints of the potential here. Also, Snape's pretty well-used here; there's Fred and George's prank at the end, of course, but I was charmed by his Potions Class overall on this playthrough.

This game is quite enjoyable, although it has a bit of jank. The controls are crazy stiff, and jumping feels really wacky. However, the structure and exploration of the game carries it hard. Each individual sections feels very nice and looks very good for the time the game came out in. The voice acting is a tad rough but it’s much better than the PS1 version. Harry’s arsenal isn’t super well explored, but all the standard spells are there. The bosses are a bit lame, and the ending is quite rushed, but the game remains fun throughout the whole thing. Plus it actually included some content from the book that isn’t in the movie, which is nice.