Welcome to the wacky world of LEGO Harry Potter. I’ve always felt that it’s such a lovely idea for the wizarding world we adore to be transformed into a fun-packed game full of mayhem. Considering there is no dialogue in the entire game, the exaggerated noises and grunts from the characters contribute to its charming nature. Whatever your opinions on LEGO games are, one thing is for certain. If you decide to play one, you’re committing to finding every available collectable.
I had planned to make my review covering all seven years, but I simply ran out of time and storage space. Anyway, welcome to Years 1-4. A journey which takes all your attention and doesn’t give it back until you’ve completed it. So, what made LEGO Harry Potter so charming? And why couldn’t we stop playing it?
Entering the Magical World of LEGO Harry Potter
Like other LEGO games, you must play through all the levels first. This means starting at the very beginning of the story with Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. I’m sure most people know the story from either reading the books or watching the films, so I won’t cover it in too much detail. Instead, I’ll focus on the game mechanics and what makes LEGO Harry Potter unique. All while enjoying the legendary soundtrack from the movies.
The other detail I need to mention is that I’ve never played LEGO Harry Potter on my own. I’ve always completed it on split-screen with my wife, and this playthrough was no different. Sharing the experience with someone else symbolises why this game is so special. This was our third time completing it, but admittedly, the hardest.
We arrived at the main headquarters of LEGO Harry Potter: The Leaky Cauldron and were immediately hit with a wave of memories. Breaking things and collecting silver or gold coins is always a joy, but when you find a blue coin hidden in a corner, the excitement rises further. The discovery of a purple coin, though, creates a different emotion. Due to our competitive nature, whoever finds a purple coin is the envy of the moment, and some awkward silences follow.
“We’ll Take the Lot!”
Walking through Diagon Alley was wonderful. I was a bystander for most of the first level because Harry is unable to do magic yet. He doesn’t even own a wand until after leaving the Gringotts bank. At least my wife had loads of fun as Hagrid, though.
There are so many activities to complete in each level. You unlock spells in lessons as you progress through the story, meaning that certain collectables can’t be obtained in your first playthrough. You can unlock Character Tokens to use in Free Play and House Crests in several different ways. Unfortunately, they’re the items that can only be collected if you possess the required spell, potion or device to access them.
Thankfully, there are some objectives that you can complete on your first playthrough. If you break every possible item and collect the coins that spill out from them, you can earn True Wizard by reaching the coin threshold. Then there are the Students in Peril who are scattered around the levels. If you save these students from their various predicaments, they’ll be very grateful. Achieving True Wizard, collecting the full House Crest, and saving the Students in Peril all give you the game’s main objective: gold bricks. You need two hundred gold bricks to complete the game, and then you can really consider yourself a True Wizard.
There is Just so Much to Explore
LEGO Harry Potter requires an abundance of brain power and concentration. There are so many wonderful details hidden throughout the game, so it’s worth exploring every nook and cranny to find them. It’s a horrendous feeling when you accidentally progress the level without exploring the entire area. Your heart sinks when you realise you must restart the level, especially in Free Play mode.
Everyone knows the story of Harry Potter, but the LEGO version tells it in such an adorable way. There aren’t many better co-op games to play. You must work as a team to solve puzzles, and you can change characters depending on what you’re trying to achieve.
Ron has Scabbers, who is useful when you need to enter a pipe. Knowing what we know now, it’s a creepy feeling remembering that he’s not really a rat but Peter Pettigrew. Thankfully, Scabbers is no longer around after the third year, so Hermione’s cat Crookshanks takes over that role.
Witnessing Hogwarts come alive as you travel through the grounds is a dream. The Harry Potter films always go big on Christmas, and this is where Harry is gifted his invisibility cloak. A handy tool when trying to evade the persistent Mr Filch and his cat. That or the angry books, which are lethal if they sink their… pages into you.
The Dark Forest is a terrifying place, and I’ve always questioned why Hagrid thought it was a good idea for Harry and Draco Malfoy to split from the group. I wasn’t scared of Fluffy because he looked like a giant, three-headed chocolate Easter Egg.
Yet, when I saw the angry Voldemort/Quirrell, I found myself scared again. We defeated him by touching his face, and the first year was completed.
Lego Harry Potter is the Game that Keeps on Giving
It’s crazy that this game came out in 2010 on the PlayStation 3, yet the gameplay doesn’t feel out of place today. The graphics are as wacky as intended, and although they’re not groundbreaking, they still hold up well after the remasters. The multitude of vibrant colours on show is a sight to behold at times. It’s a delight to pick up strangers with Wingardium Leviosa and throw them into the distance. Disposing of a Boggart with Riddikulus takes an awfully long time and requires way too many button smashes.
Every level offers something different. Flying on a broomstick was a mixture of agonising and electrifying. Driving the car in the Forbidden Forest was difficult but also rewarding. Then there are the boss fights, which can be repetitive but also satisfying when you win the duel. It’s easy to change spells by pressing L1 and R1, meaning you’re always ready for the next challenge, like Draco Malfoy or the Basilisk.
While some activities are unnecessarily difficult, most of them are enjoyable and even educational at times. This makes LEGO Harry Potter a great game to expand your child’s imagination… and your own.
There are only one or two levels that I don’t enjoy, and it’s not because they feel repetitive. For example, there isn’t always a split screen in certain areas. This makes completing activities with your partner frustrating and often leads to me feeling nauseous. The aiming system can be awkward at times, while picking objects up and carefully placing them where they’re meant to be placed can be agonising.
“Eat Slugs, Bugs and Glitches!”
Then there are the many bugs and glitches. Midway through our first playthrough, we were consumed by claustrophobia after we found ourselves trapped in Snape’s potion classroom. After some research online, I came to the gut-wrenching conclusion that we had to start the entire game again. Thankfully, we haven’t encountered that issue since.
Instead, the game crashed repeatedly. We did have to restart a level because a vital green block completely vanished. There was a terrifying moment where we thought we’d lost an hour of gameplay because we were transported to the Quidditch pitch. Deceivingly, every item was available to be collected again, but after some exploring, we realised that our progress had initially been saved. Hallelujah.
After all these issues, I was very concerned that some of our statistics weren’t tracking correctly. My eyebrow was raised when the maths behind how many students we’d saved just didn’t add up. Yet, with so much more of the game to complete, I shrugged my shoulders and loaded up the next level.
The Levels End and the Free Play Party Begins
In the final year of years 1-4, we’re introduced to the epitome of evil: Lord Voldemort. We also witness the traumatic event of Cedric Diggory’s death.
Well, it’s certainly traumatic in the books and films. Here, though, Cedric doesn’t exactly die. He’s transported back to Hogwarts in pieces, before Dumbledore hilariously hands Cedric’s father a guide on how to put LEGO people back together. Considering this is usually such a heartbreaking moment, it proves that LEGO are putting their own fun stamp on the story, and that this is a game designed for children.
That is the end of the story so far. The levels are great, but the free play levels and exploring of Hogwarts are where the real magic is. In Free Play, you can switch between characters which you’ve bought at the shop, depending on the activity you need them for. Griphook is vital because he can open safes, while it’s pivotal to unlock a character who can use dark magic as early as possible.
We also get the opportunity to unlock some crazy extras by giving red mail to Hedwig. Some extras are totally useless, but once the coins multiply, they become irrelevant, and you get a small glimpse into what it feels like to be ridiculously rich. Going to the shop and paying for the rewards is a positive step, but it’s a waste of time if you forget to turn them on in the pause menu.
Come Out, Come Out Wherever You Are
Finding all the secret rooms in Hogwarts is exhilarating. Then there is the time-turner, which takes you back in time to moments in the original story that have been missed. We missed a few items again, so we had to keep restarting levels. Finding the Hufflepuff crest within the ink was torturous, but we finally managed it, and the Free Play levels were completed.
I’m always disappointed when I remember that it’s mandatory to complete the bonus levels under Gringotts Bank. This time, though, we passed them with ease, and I could see the victory appearing on the horizon.
Trying to find the last few collectables is agonising, so we turned on all the trackers. They created a kind of carnage that Venom would be proud of, but we found most of the items with them. It’s when they’re no longer appearing that is the problem.
I had explored every last metre of Hogwarts, but there was still a Student in Peril left to find. Perplexed, I turned to Google. This informed me that there was a glitch where the Student in Peril wasn’t registering from the time turner in Hagrid’s Garden.
After some of my own magic, where I had to go to the Leaky Cauldron and return to Hogwarts, the Student in Peril registered, and my ordeal was over.
Once you’ve unlocked all two hundred gold bricks, you’re then treated to a crazy final level. You’re Lord Voldemort, and your mission is to destroy everything you can until you reach one million coins. Once you achieve this, you unlock his character. All that’s then left to do is buy the remaining characters, and there you have your 100% completion.
So, What Makes LEGO Harry Potter so Charming?
If I were to sum it up in one word, I’d say personality. It’s the personality and the sense of humour that make this game so enjoyable. Yes, there were some frustrating glitches along the way, but we got there in the end. We got there because, as frustrating as some of the bugs are, we’re just not able to put the controller down before collecting every last item.
This is my favourite LEGO game because of the variety of spells, every tool from the story, the hilarious cut scenes, and, of course, the party version of the Harry Potter theme tune. I’ve been a Harry Potter fan for as long as I can remember, and it truly is a special experience to share this game with someone who loves it too. The Voldemort mission perfectly sets us up for years 5-7, so I’ll see you then.
Verdict
My overall rating for LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4 is 8/10.
The video for this blog post will be available on YouTube at 6 pm BST. Link: https://youtu.be/EE2_oXPRUWY
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