The Harry Potter-themed RPG "Hogwarts: Legacy", which was originally scheduled to be released in 2021, has been delayed to 2022 due to the impact of the epidemic and the replacement of the chief developer. Although the specific release date has not yet been announced, according to the launch date announced by the companion book "Hogwarts: Art and Production of Heritage" some time ago, it is rumored that "Hogwarts: Legacy" will be released in September this year, and September 1 also corresponds to the Hogwarts Homecoming Day in the original Harry Potter book, and it is very likely that the official will choose this special commemorative day as the release date.
As a series of films that won the first place in the global box office for many consecutive years before the launch of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, "Harry Potter" has accumulated a large number of fans in China, including many novel original parties that pay attention to the details of the work, which can be said to be an IP with a considerable audience, from the popularity of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone HD Restoration" that was re-released after the domestic theater lifted restrictions in 2020 and the popularity of the Hogwarts scenic spot of Universal Studios Beijing in 2021... Of course, there is also "Harry Potter: Magical Awakening", which is very popular in mobile game circles.
However, in the single-player game circle, players seem to rarely mention the game about Harry Potter, part of which is also because the related games were released relatively early, and the graphics and gameplay methods are not very acceptable to current players, but we may wish to take this topic to make a brief review of the past Harry Potter games. After all, it's still a long time before Hogwarts: Legacy goes, so it's interesting to look at the glory days (or black history) of these Harry Potter vintages, and perhaps add some of them to this year's play plan to spend the summer off-season before Hogwarts: Legacy?
>>> EA's harry potter original series of the same name
When we open the Steam search bar and search with Harry Potter as the keyword, we can only see two games from Warner's LEGO series, LEGO Harry Potter: Year One – Year Four, and LEGO Harry Potter: Year Five – Year Seven, which tell the story of eight films (seven novels) in the unique humorous form of the LEGO series. However, if you talk about the game adaptation that can correspond to the "orthodox" plot of the original work, you must also mention the original Harry Potter series of the same name released by EA.
The following game introduction is mainly based on PC and console versions, and the handheld version with different game content is only briefly mentioned.
> Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone series
Why should a single work be called a series? Because in the early decade of the 21st century, many big manufacturers will take into account the functions and characteristics of different platforms when releasing games, so as to launch different game versions, EA "Harry Potter" original series of the same name is a typical, almost every game will launch many different versions, less differences will have some limited gameplay differences, big differences... It's just two different games.
The original harry potter and the Philosopher's Stone was released in 2001, the same year as the movie, and this release rule has become the law of the release of the same name in each subsequent generation of movies, landing on PC, Playstation, GBC and GBA platforms, and the following year releasing PS2, Xbox and NGC versions. Although the name is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the game content varies greatly between the platform versions of this game: the PC and PS versions are 3D adventure games that combine action, puzzle solving and shooting elements, and players need to explore Hogwarts in the game, constantly learn new magic, and use magic to move items or fight opponents, complete courses, puzzles or challenges, and reproduce some of the plots in the movie.
Although the overall action system of the game is difficult to praise, but as the pioneering work of this series, many classic scenes that have appeared in movies can be presented through the game for the first time, especially the Quidditch Challenge and the invisibility cloak sneak part, although it is not perfect, but the performance is acceptable, the overall evaluation is barely reasonable, and the fans are also as supported as much as possible: the PC version has sold 860,000 copies in the North American market within two months of its release; the cumulative sales of the PS version are directly approaching 10 million sets. In an era when the gaming market was not yet as developed as it is today, it was an astonishing enough achievement.
PS2, Xbox and NGC editions are based on the 2001 version, the story timeline is extended backwards and added a number of new magic enhancements, which are very different from the original content, can be seen as a sequel of the same name, but because of the larger entry from the original in settings, the evaluation is not as good as the PC and PlayStation version.
(The cover of the 2002 edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is completely different from the 2001 edition)
As for the handheld version, due to functional limitations, it had to make compromises and carry out content development separately. The GBC version is a 2D ARPG game with gameplay and graphics similar to the earlier Dragon Quest series; the GBA version is a puzzle game.
(GBC version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)
> Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban series
Putting these two games (or two series) together is because the two works can basically be seen as an extension of the Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone series in terms of gameplay, whether it is the PC/console version or the handheld version, you can clearly see the shadow of the previous game, in the mouth of some enthusiasts, the first three series are also called the "old trilogy" series.
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" was released at the end of 2002, landed on the PS2, Xbox, NGC, PC, PlayStation, GBC and GBA platforms, in addition to the GBC and GBA platforms, the gameplay basically inherits the previous PC and host platform versions of the gameplay, requiring players to operate characters, cast spells, explore in Hogwarts, complete a variety of adventure levels with climbing, dodging, parkour and other action elements, compared to the previous game can explore the area is larger, The fluency of the movements has also been greatly improved, and the evaluation has suppressed the other two of the three early series, and by 2003, the total sales of each version have exceeded 10 million, which is an extraordinary achievement.
The PS2, Xbox and NGC versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets were personally developed by EA UK of that year, and the overall game flow of the three versions was the same, but PS2 and NGC each had exclusive platform content: the PS2 version supported players to drive a broom into free flight mode and land in any position; the NGC version introduced Nintendo's favorite linkage gameplay at that time, and the NGC and GBA versions could be linked to open exclusive secret rooms in the game.
(NGC version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
Playstation and PC versions are developed by Argonaut and KnowWonder, the developers of the previous Playstation and PC versions, respectively, and there are differences in character design, learnable spells and gameplay flow between the two versions, and there are also major differences with the new generation console version developed by EA, but they have been significantly upgraded on the basis of the gameplay of the previous game.
(Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for PC)
The handheld version is still similar to the situation of a generation, the GBC version is a 2DARPG work, and the GBA is an action puzzle game based on the PC and console versions.
(GBC edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
(GBA version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets)
In 2004, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released. At this time, the GBC based on the 1989 GB has been eliminated, and the original PlayStation has been completely replaced by the fully rolled out PS2, which only launched PC, PS2, Xbox, NGC and GBA versions. There is little difference between the console platform version and the PC version, but the PC version is closer to the previous game in terms of perspective and puzzle solving settings; the GBA version inherits the ARPG gameplay of the previous two generations of GBC versions.
Compared with the previous two games, "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" has a significant improvement in the picture, although the Quidditch game is cancelled in the gameplay, but the three-protagonist setting is added, players can operate Harry, Hermione and Ron to play, and the different characters have their own unique spells and story lines, which is a major breakthrough. Unfortunately, due to the imbalance in the difficulty of gameplay and the construction of some scenes, this work has not been able to break through the glory of the second generation in terms of word of mouth, and the sales volume in the US market within two years of release is only more than 1 million sets, which is also a work of fan purification.
> Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire series
Time to 2005, a generation of magic machineS PSP and NDS entry, EA naturally will not miss the opportunity to launch games on the new platform, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in this year landed on the PC, PS2, Xbox, NGC, GBA, NDS and PSP platforms.
In addition to the GBA and NDS versions, the gameplay and graphics style of this generation on various platforms are basically the same, all of which are linear action adventure games that can operate the top-down perspective of the three protagonists, compared with the previous three generations of works that use traditional third-person perspectives and integrate a lot of TPS elements and sandbox exploration gameplay. Although the game has made some innovative levels such as underwater levels according to the storyline, and has also added new online elements such as multiplayer cooperation to release magic, and has tried to diversify the content, the overall production is really not sophisticated, the process is short, the wind review can only be regarded as average, plus the game is the same as the movie version of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", there are some more critical plot deletions that are inconsistent with the original, the fan popularity is not good, and the sales are not very good.
This generation of GBA and NDS versions have simplified the graphics on the basis of the PC and console versions of the gameplay, and the latter has also made some gameplay adjustments with the dual screen of the NDS, which can be regarded as a separate new work.
(NDS version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
> Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix series and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince series
With the release of the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii in 2006, the game console fully entered the seventh generation, the style of video games on the market is getting closer and closer to the AAA development style we know today, and the best work in the EA "Harry Potter" series "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" also came into being under the wave of the new era. It landed on PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, PSP, NDS, and GBA platforms in 2007.
In contrast to the style shift of the Goblet of Fire generation, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix returned to the open-world sandbox style of the previous three generations of games, introducing RPG elements while bringing the entire Hogwarts into the game. Although there is no longer the previous three-protagonist multi-line mode, players can only play Harry for most of the game time, but the excellent open world construction, creative wand shaking combined with mouse/joystick movement spell casting mode and UI-free game interface, players can experience an immersive Hogwarts in this game, for the "Ha fans" can be regarded as a complete enjoyment.
In terms of open world design, most of this work is built according to the movie scene, excluding the technical conditions of the year, the degree of restoration can be described as quite high, and the plot and gameplay about "forming Dumbledore's army", "destroying the rule of Umbridge" and "dueling between students", very good use of the various environments in the map, so that the entire open world appears very fulfilling. In addition, the game was the first game to be licensed for film music, and the original author of the Harry Potter series, J. K. Rowling also gave opinions on some of the plot and gameplay of the game, it can be said that this generation of works is a generation of classics that gather forces from all sides to create, although there are some media reviews for the repetitiveness of the game tasks and the dubbing performances of film actors in this game, but the overall flaws are still flawed.
"Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" GBA version and NDS version are based on other versions of the 2.5D, respectively, in the turn-based and dual-screen semi-real-time gameplay of the magic showdown link, the overall quality is acceptable, this is also the harry potter original series of the same name last landed on the GBA platform; although the PSP version also uses sandbox real-time action adventure gameplay, but in terms of perspective compared to the console version of the lens is farther, and there are also great differences in the process, It has also been greatly reduced for the handheld platform.
(GBA version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth-generation work that basically follows the RPG mode of The Order of the Phoenix, was originally scheduled to be released in 2008, and was "forced to skip tickets" to coincide with the postponed film until June 2009, landing on PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox360, PSP and NDS platforms. While maintaining the RPG gameplay, this game does not inherit the very successful open world elements in the previous game, only a small amount of exploration content, focusing on the linear process, but the problem of task repetition in the previous game is more prominent in this generation, coupled with the deletion of key plots, various factors have brought a lot of bad reviews to this work.
The NDS and PSP versions of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince are unified into 2.5D RPG gameplay in this generation, of which the NDS version, although the picture quality is not as good as other versions of the current generation, some small games with dual-screen features are interesting, and they are relatively well-rated versions in this generation of games.
(NDS version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince)
> Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows series
Like the movie, the game version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was split into two films, released in 2010 and 2011, respectively, on PC, PS3, Xbox360, Wii and NDS platforms. Due to the videos produced by some well-known anchors, the popularity of these two works in China is significantly higher than that of the previous works, unfortunately... It's basically all negative impressions.
Whether it is the sandbox action adventure of the early trilogy, the four generations of top-down chapter adventure, the fifth and sixth generations of RPGs, the previous Harry Potter original eponymous series has put a lot of effort into the effects and casts of various spells, in an effort to restore the magic effects in novels and movies, but in the two works of the seventh generation, the most critical magic in the entire Harry Potter worldview has been abandoned.
EA made these two final chapters into a TPS game with a shoulder-to-shoulder perspective - there is nothing wrong with itself, from the beginning of the series, aiming and shooting is a very main way to cast spells, but these two Deathly Hallows games dilute the role of the spell itself, almost turning the wand into a simple shooting weapon like a gun, and adding a "headshot" such as a "headshot" that is obviously not in line with the Harry Potter battle mode setting, plus the seventh generation of the plot has no campus life, The whole game flow is to burst through the linear level + watch the animation. Although in the second half of the game, the player can manipulate the protagonist trio, Neville, Ginny, Professor McGonagall and other characters to play, but a "shooting range" that does not change the soup, tedious, lacks imagination, and lacks the most critical magical elements can satisfy which "Ha Fan"?
The two NDS games of this generation perform better than the PC and console versions. The two games on the handheld machine use the top-down view action shooting gameplay, with a simple bullet screen shooting element, although the diversity of the spell itself has been diluted, but the overall experience of the game is smooth and refreshing, the player and the media evaluation is stronger, which is also the fulfillment of the sentence "no contrast, no harm", the PC and console versions of the seventh generation of the two games can be said to be a "strange disaster".
(NDS edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II)
> Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup
Although it is not the original series of the same name, but it is also produced by EA, and there are some connections with the first three parts of the original series of the same name, let's talk about it together ~ This game "Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup" was launched in 2003, landing on the PC, PS2, Xbox and NGC platforms, except for the GBA version of the 2D flat field performance, the rest of the version is restored to the Quidditch game in the movie in 3D scenes. The PC version of the game was included in 2005's Harry Potter: World along with the old PC trilogy.
Players can challenge the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup on behalf of different colleges in this game, form teams with the characters in the original game, operate individual players, win the Hogwarts Cup in fast-paced chase and competition, unlock the Quidditch World Cup, play or face the Quidditch national teams from different countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Japan, etc., and win the championship. The game also comes with a multiplayer competitive mode, and in our real-life "Muggle" world, there are fans who use this game to form Quidditch teams.
It is said that in the worldview of "Harry Potter", there are very few settings related to the Chinese magical community, but the Chinese Quidditch national team is clearly mentioned, it is a strong eastern team, and the matchup with the Moldovan national team in the World Cup final in 2010 is widely regarded as the best Quidditch event of the century, which is in stark contrast to the performance of the Chinese football team in the real world... Unfortunately, there is no Chinese team in this old game.
So far, in addition to some early mobile games, EA's "Harry Potter" series has been completely sorted out, which is also the largest series of all "Harry Potter" games, involving many game platforms in the 10 years from 2001 to 2011, the number of versions is large, such as the specific spell gameplay in the game and other details are inconvenient to expand, but still hope to help everyone understand this series! It is worth mentioning that although this series is relatively old, the genuine version is more difficult to start, most of the friends who want to play will go directly to find download resources, but in addition to the three works of the later "Mixed Blood Prince" and "Deathly Hallows P1 &P2", the rest of the works have a Chinese Simplified PC physical version introduced by the China Book Import and Export Group or China Television Network Yuan, if you see them in the online store or some magical stalls one day and the price is not expensive, maybe you can consider starting a collection?
(The domestic agent version of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", if you can get started cheaply, it is still very good)
>>> Sony PS3 Harry Potter AR series
In the seventh generation of the console where PS3 is located, various game hardware and software companies are still developing some somatosensory and AR games that need to be combined with specific peripheral hardware, and it seems that only Nintendo is still insisting on this road. Oh, far from it... Released in 2012 and 2013, book of potions is sony and Warner's attempt to make the Harry Potter series in the field of AR and somatosensory.
In the game setting, "Book of Spells" and "Book of Potions" are magic books from the World of Harry Potter hundreds of years ago, players play as a student at Hogwarts, under the guidance of the two books to learn how to release spells and prepare potions, using the PlayStation Eye camera and PlayStation Move somatosensory control lever, experience the feeling of waving a wand and stirring potions.
In addition to their own gameplay, these two virtual magic books also tell players some small stories in the Harry Potter world: the Book of Spells will show the player some fables of the failure of former Hogwarts students to release magic after the player successfully releases magic; "Book of Potions" is more integrated into the author's memory and spirit in the setting, gushing to the player about his own past. Although as far as the game itself is concerned, these two AR works can only be regarded as experimental attempts, but it does break the dimensional wall slightly, allowing many "Ha fans" to explore the charm of learning magic in person, unfortunately, the current game industry seems to be less fond of these creative small works.
>>> lego's Harry Potter series
Finally to the current player friends are most familiar with the Least difficult to start the LEGO Harry Potter series, but don't worry... We still have to talk about the old game that is more than 20 years old before we can enter the LEGO Harry Potter: First Year - Year Four and LEGO Harry Potter: Year 5 - Year Seven sessions, and everyone knows it best to put it at the end, right?
> Harry Potter version of LEGO Creator
Back in 1998, LEGO, which initially entered the video game industry, wanted to create an "evergreen" game for constantly recreating real-life toy products on the virtual end, and offset the regret of not being able to actually touch the toy with infinite bricks that could not be achieved in reality, and to achieve a completely free Lego world in the game - this is the earliest "Lego Creator". However, due to technical constraints, this idea was soon broken, and the game content of LEGO Creator has not been updated and expanded, and the next three expansions are presented in the form of separate game works, such as LEGO Creator: Harry Potter and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Released on PC in 2001 and 2002 respectively, the gameplay is not freely built like the original LEGO Creator, but is close to the later LEGO movie IP adaptations we know, using different models to play different characters under limited construction, exploring, driving, building and other activities. Together with another LEGO Creators expansion game, LEGO Creator: Knight Kingdom, these three games can be said to have laid the foundation for all the later LEGO video games.
> the LEGO Harry Potter series
This is probably the only Harry Potter game still on sale in this article. LEGO Harry Potter: Year One – Year Four and LEGO Harry Potter Year Five – Year Seven, released in 2010 and 2011 respectively, landed on PC and several console platforms known to gamers today, as well as simplified versions on PSP and NDS.
At this time, the LEGO film adaptation series has undergone the polishing of many series of works such as "Lego Star Wars" and "Lego Lord of the Rings", and has been quite mature, the fun form of expression that belongs to lego bricks and minifigures shows full playability under the action of various magical spells in the magical world, and the humorous narrative in the series shows players another way of story advancement that is different from novels and movies; going out of Hogwarts to freely explore Hogsmeade Village, Diagon Alley and other places is also to meet the "Ha fans" Our desire to play freely is, on the whole, very worthy of fan play.
Both works are currently available directly on the Steam platform, and there is no Chinese problem that has been solved by a mature Chinese patch, which is a good choice for navigating the magical world.
>>> ended with a little hope for Hogwarts: Legacy
The inventory of the "Harry Potter" series of games is almost here, such as "Harry Potter: Magic Awakening", which has a certain popularity on the domestic mobile game platform, and "Harry Potter: Wizarding League" and other mobile games similar to "Pokemon GO", which were once popular in the foreign mobile game market, are not included in the inventory, and we still take the PC and the game console as the core! Whether as a novel, movie or game, Harry Potter has crossed more than 20 years with many fans, during which time EA's Harry Potter copyright expires and the studio responsible for development disbands; Sony no longer carries out AR game projects; "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them", which tells the story before Harry Potter, also appears on the big screen... Harry Potter and the magical world full of mystery and romance have also entered a new stage. Fans are also looking forward to new surprises about it in the future.
Will Hogwarts Legacy fulfill the wishes of fans? From the available information, this work is set in the early 19th century, when there is no Dumbledore, Newt, grindelwald in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, let alone the later harry, Snape, Voldemort and other characters, which can basically be identified as an original story within the worldview that has little relevance to the novel and the movie; the development team is Avalanche Software (not the avalanche group Avalanche, which is known for its formulaic open-world games as players often say). Studios), representative works include "Disney Unlimited" and "Cars" series, are highly gameplay and fan-friendly film adaptations, but the production team itself does not have any experience in the development of AAA works, and players are not easy to guess its quality. However, as the first AAA game in the entire Harry Potter series, I would still like to believe that it can present players with a wonderful magical world, which may not be related to the original, but it will greatly improve the worldview; the adaptation ability shown by Avalanche Software can also prove that they are fully capable of creating a Hogwarts campus pattern that combines feelings and gameplay for fans.
Finally, I hope that you can always maintain that imagination and curiosity in life, and may magic accompany us!