Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2

FULL REVIEW

The Harry Potter saga has finally come to a close cinematically. The books had already reached the finale a long time ago. Which is why theatres were full of those annoying people who kept saying along to the dialogues and talking about what happens next, ruining it for all the cinephiles who kept it pure and “waited for the movies”. Now finally the gameophiles can also get some closure, with the second part. As a rule of thumb, most games based on movies are terrible, so does Deathly Hallows Part 2 change the game?

Deathly Hallows Part 2 continues with Harry Potter and his friends on the quest of finding the Holocrux’s that are essentially the hidden parts of Lord Voldemort or better known as he-who-should not-be-named’s soul. Once found they should immediately be destroyed, ultimately leading to a showdown between Harry Potter and Voldemort. All of this is told through annoyingly-rushed story sequences.

The gameplay is almost exactly like Gears of War, so with that sentence you immediately get a picture of what to expect. Instead of massive guns with chainsaws at the end, you have your trusty wand and an arsenal of pretty magic spells. While the cover system of Gears of War works for a game with a Mature rating, it doesn't seem the best fit for Deathly Hallows. Especially when the cover system is a very strategic mechanic that is great for situations where you need to toss a grenade or reload.

Consider the target audience those wide-eyed kids in the theatre who all want to be Harry Potter. Of course there are adults too, but they're a small minority compared to the Enid Blyton goes wizarding quality of the books. So for them, the Gears of War system would be definitely quite difficult and quite monotonous in the later points. Especially when you keep spamming to kill enemies.

Deathly Hallows would have been absolutely perfect for Kinect or Move. Not to mention an even more perfect marketing device to push more units of motion controllers. The wand-play of Harry potter would make for a fantastic rail shooter, and even actually pep up the story sequences. For example at the Gringott's bank sequence, you can have an invisibility cloak minigame which then has Harry cast Imperio. The ending fight especially would have been pure awesome in Kinect or Move.

The campaign is 4 hours, which is awfully short. However, in that four hours you play as not only as Harry Potter but also as Hermoine, Ron, Weasley and a lot more characters from the movie. This may be something fans would like, experiencing the battle from all those different eyes. To push the playtime a bit more, there are a lot of hidden tracks and other collectibles to seek out.

The graphics is one of the saving graces, where most of the locales from the movie like the aforementioned Gringott's Bank, Hogwarts and Hogsmeade are all recreated in stunning atmospheric beauty. Of course, to push in the combat elements, certain extra sequences had to be dropped in which feel decent, if not forced. The characters and well rendered and look as close to their movie actors. The animations also are well done, and the spell effects are quite electrifying, with great light sourcing effects.

Deathly Hallows Part 2 is a playable game that offers just the right amount of fan service. However as the final chapter in a very good franchise, it’s disappointing to see this as a lot of potential just thrown to the dogs. Nevertheless, this should provide a few hours of fun to those fans still wanting some more of the Harry Potter franchise to cling on to.