Unrivaled writing. Impeccable characters. Definitely my favorite installment in the franchise, original movie trilogy included.

There aren't many games where I love every side character. Every companion has an interesting story and iconic voice acting. It's a true testament to the script when one of my favorite parts of the game is the slow, silent cruising of the Ebon Hawk between destinations as I pry as much exposition out of coy characters as I can. (By the way, I know you're always docked during these segments, but the world is so immersive that I prefer to imagine it that way.)

Combat and the accompanying frame rate has to be the weakest element. I don't like the live-action queue of attacks that I've never fully understood how to effectively utilize. As soon as RPGs start delving into invisible dice rolls, I get disinterested quick.

If you've never experienced any Star Wars media before and you played this in the early 00's, it may have been compelling enough to suck you into the world. I hope the remake comes out someday because a graphical and a Soulslike overhaul of the fights would be all thats needed to make a masterpiece.

This game goes so hard for no reason. The first game was just alright, a serviceable tie-in game that loosely followed the plot of the first game while being a decent 3D Collect-a-thon.

Rather than reinvent the wheel, the sequel is basically the first, but better and longer. There are more spells, more dungeons, more enemies, more hidden secrets to find, and it's all wrapped up in this thick layer of Potter-atmosphere that still holds up to this day.

There are still some models and environments that are pretty fugly, but I think they do a better job of hiding it in this one than in the first.

The biggest disappointment however was the final boss of the game. After fighting Aragog (who, no joke, is the reason I have arachnophobia), the Basilisk really fails to live up to the hype in size or sense of scale. And the Arena isn't doing him any favors either, the statue is like 3 feet tall, come-on.

Outside of that though, the game holds up pretty damn well. They only hold your hand so much as to show where you can go, but rarely actually force you into anything. This means you can take your time and fuck-abouts the castle at your own pace to find all of its secrets.

The dungeons and the puzzles aren't too difficult but they make up for it in those hidden secrets I keep raving about. You'll be combing every inch of the place trying to cast alohomora on every surface, and each class will teach you a spell that unlocks more stuff for you to find. It's incredibly well paced for a movie tie-in game.

I think they do a decent mix of combat and exploration here, with emphasis more in the exploration pool. You'll be jumping around climbing over boxes and tables like a horse climbing a mountain in skyrim. Most of the enemies in the game are beaten by a single spell and you have so much health that mistakes are rarely actually punishing. But you can't exactly ignore them either, and you're actively rewarded with secrets or beans for defeating enemies.

The two minigames, Quidditch and Dueling are both just okay. They don't actually tell you that you can go and do more Quidditch after the first time, but there's a whole season of it. It's a shame it boils down to mashing a button over and over. Dueling was much more fun and even had a modicum of strategy to it. But it also completely fucked the bean economy, meaning I could buy the most expensive stuff in the game with ease as soon as I got access to it. I guess, in a way, it is serving its intended purpose though: a neat side thing with a reward if you want to grind at it.

I think where the game truly excels however is the atmosphere. Hogwarts has a certain feel to it that oozes magic. The NPCs are all running around going from class to class, it always feels like there's something going on.

And then, when the game wants to, it rips it all away and the warmth of the castle becomes a cold and lonely place at the drop of a hat. The words written in blood on the wall in the charms corridor is genuinely haunting. I have no clue how that got into an E for Everyone game, for real.

Overall, I'd say this one's pretty darn good. You'd have to go pretty far out of your way to play it, but if you like HP and are looking for something to play you can't go wrong with the good ol Chamber o Secrets.

(Note: This is not an endorsement of JKRs shitty behavior. Trans rights.)