Thursday, July 26, 2007

The Review: Harry Potter vs. The Transformers


Its a battle of movie video games! Can Harry Potter and his gang of awkward, stick waving teens take down Optimus Prime and his band of human-loving shape shifters? Lets find out which game offers more bang for your buck in a new feature I like to call, "Game vs. Game".
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More loyal to the movie its based on
Transformers - The game follows the path of the Transformers, unlike the movie which is more about Shia Labouf's character Sam Witwicky. Good choice Activision. While the Witwicky character works well in the movie, playing a game as a nerdy guy chasing after a hot chick with a beat up Camaro would suck.
Harry Potter OOTP - This game is standard movie-to-game fare, it follows the general plot of the movie and adds a number of other missions. Too bad that sometimes includes running errands for professors and fixing broken crap around Hogwarts.
Edge: Transformers
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Graphics
Transformers - The robots in disguise look great but the environments and the cutscenes are not quiet next-gen. The explosions, thankfully, would make Michael Bay proud.
Harry Potter OOTP - The Big Three (Harry, Ron, Hermione) look good and so does good old Hogwarts (makes me misty-eyed thinking about my rable rousing days as a Gryffindor...sniff, sniff). All of the other characters, especially the random NPC's wandering around? Not so much.
Edge: Harry
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Audio
Transformers - Labouf reprises his movie role in the game, as do the actors for Optimus Prime and Megatron. As my boy Borat likes to say, very nice.
Harry Potter OOTP - Repetitive dialogue (if I hear wingardium leviosa one more time, I'll jam two broomsticks in my ears) detract from the number of actors who lend their voices to the game.
Edge: Transformers
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Gamplay
Transformers - In a nutshell: robots pounding each other and destroying buildings.
Harry Potter OOTP - Forever running around Hogwarts with Ron and Hermione following you like lost puppies.
Edge: Transformers
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Coolest thing about it
Transformers - Um, uh...does transforming as Autobot badass Optimus Prime count?
Harry Potter OOTP - Running around Hogwarts like a 1st year. This game could almost be called Grand Theft Potter.
Edge: Harry
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Worst thing about it
Transformers - Robot-on-robot fighting sounds cool but gets old pretty quick, the game is very short.
Harry Potter OOTP - Running around Hogwarts like a 1st year. Gamers have to literally walk all over the school, this is time consuming and anger inducing. There are some shortcuts but they're not short enough.
Edge: Transformers
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So what if I had to pick just one?
That depends on which series you grew up with. If you love Harry Potter, the wide open Hogwarts experience is a blast. If you're a little older and were a big fan of the Transformers cartoon, getting a chance to act out your childhood TV memories is too good to pass up.
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Transformers: The Game
Cost: $29.99 - $59.99
Players: One
Formats: DS, Wii, PSP, PS3, PS2, Xbox 360
Rating: T (Teen)
The Grade: C
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Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Cost: $29.99 - $59.99
Players: One
Formats: DS, Wii, PSP, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360
Rating: E 10+ (Everyone 10 and older)
The Grade: C-
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