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| | Harry Potter News Latest news and rumors about the Harry Potter world! | 
06-25-2004, 01:13 PM
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[img]http://www.snitchseeker.com/images/news/hp_grandpre_80.jpg' align='middle'> Review on PoA game - Summary:
Harry Potter is a good role model Article:
Thanks to Wizardnews Quote: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban for the Game Boy Advance not only gives players the opportunity to experience firsthand every major scene from the book, it also happens to be a darn good role-playing game in its own right. Electronic Arts has transformed the places and events from the third Harry Potter book into an engrossing team-oriented, turn-based RPG.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione do battle as a team. Here, Hermione's bickering results in an EXP boost.
Prisoner of Azkaban has a great deal in common with big-name RPGs like Chrono Trigger, Pokemon, or Lunar. The various classrooms and locations in and around Hogwarts have been turned into traditional role-playing-style dungeons. There are plenty of creatures lurking around, and when you walk up to one of them, the viewpoint shifts so that Harry, Ron, and Hermione can battle the monsters as a team. Each character has his or her individual set of spells and special skills, and they can carry around equipment and items that'll improve their defense or replenish their health and magic points. Combat is turn-based, which, in a nutshell, means that Harry, Ron, and Hermione can each cast a spell or use an item, and then the enemy gets to do the same, and so on, until one side runs out of stamina points. Usually, the enemy runs off and the kids are rewarded with experience points, money, and some loot.
The entire point of the game is to level up the characters and upgrade their equipment so that they can make it to the final confrontation with the man that betrayed Harry's parents all those years ago. Experience earned in battle automatically improves a character's defense and magic resistance; money can be used to buy clothing and armor (for the head, body, hands, waist, and feet, along with a good luck charm), and you can learn stronger variations of basic spells by using them repeatedly. The spell system isn't mindless, thankfully. Some monsters are vulnerable to particular spells. For instance, if an enemy is cloaked in flames, you can be sure that an ice spell will dole out massive damage. Besides spells, each character has a different batch of special skills that he or she can bring up in battle. Ron has stink pellets and firecrackers, Harry can unleash magic from the collector cards he accumulates throughout the game, and Hermione can literally pester the group with her loud mouth in order to make the party's spells stronger or to increase the amount of experience that's earned after the battle.
Prisoner of Azkaban doesn't offer up thousands of different pieces of equipment or hundreds of different spells like a Final Fantasy game would, but with more than 100 different equipment items available from the shop and 17 spells to learn as you go, the level of customization feels appropriate considering all of the twists and turns that the story takes. There are times when it seems like the developers intentionally decided to slow the plot down--either the party will split up or you'll be sent on a goose chase back and forth between the grounds and classrooms--but usually there's enough to do along the way so that you don't feel like you're just walking around for the sake of wasting time. Monsters are visible right on the world map, so you can attack them whenever you want, and every so often you may need to use a spell to unlock a door, cut away some brush, or solve a small puzzle that's blocking your way.
In terms of how it looks and sounds, Prisoner of Azkaban is on par with other RPGs on the GBA. The scenery and characters as seen from the top-view map are somewhat cartoonish. The battle viewpoint uses the GBA's scale and rotation abilities to make monsters look big or to spiff up the visual effects that result from spells and attacks. What matters most here is that the artists did a nice job of depicting and decorating the various floors and classrooms inside Hogwarts. The audio, while not necessarily spectacular, offers a healthy variety of different monster screams and Potter-esque musical themes.
All of the key scenes from the book and movie are here.
Expect to invest approximately 10 to 15 hours the first time you go through the game. While the quest does a superb job of reenacting most of the major moments from the book, you'll actually rack up a great deal of that time by leveling up your characters in smaller battles so that they can prevail in the bigger ones--against the forest trolls, Malfoy, a werewolf, the dementors, and so on. After you beat the game, you have the option to play through again in order to find the collector cards you missed. The second run-through is a cakewalk, though, because you get to keep all of your levels, spells, and items from the first game while the monsters don't improve one iota.
The main thing to keep in mind is that Prisoner of Azkaban on the GBA offers a fun way for Harry Potter fans to step into the shoes of their favorite wizard-in-training and experience firsthand everything that happened in the third installment of the series.
Games Spot  | |
06-25-2004, 02:56 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Austin, Texas
Posts: 421
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Ive herd the games are really fun!
I dont have any though :/
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06-25-2004, 03:04 PM
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#3 (permalink)
| | Lethifold
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: <.<
Posts: 21,038
| Twitchy TomsLovelyLady
I actually think for the most part its quite fun. The castle and grounds...wow...the character abilities are really cool too. Dont like how uve got to equip spells and potions, though.
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swirly doom
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06-25-2004, 07:01 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: U.S.A
Posts: 71
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i have played them before at a freinds house and they r really fun i wish i had the PoA one i bet its the funnest of them all!!! 
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i heart daniel radcliffe<3 | |
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06-25-2004, 07:05 PM
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#5 (permalink)
| | Glumbumble
Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: uk
Posts: 200
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i heard that it is a really cool game
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06-25-2004, 07:17 PM
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#6 (permalink)
| | Guest |
the PC version is good if u have never seen a computer before. it is pathetically easy. i completed it in 3 hours! it is better than the 1st and second though in graphics, sounds and surroundingd terms. the hogwartz is much better and it is exactly like the film. i'd be an absolutely brilliant game if it was a lot harder.
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06-25-2004, 07:46 PM
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#7 (permalink)
| | Guest |
Just to let everyone know that review doesnt represent all of the differnet versions of PoA the game as in the pc version u arent able to buy armour or clothes etc..
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06-25-2004, 07:49 PM
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#8 (permalink)
| | Guest |
yeah, well, spose, im just saying that the game was really easy, it was good what u cud do and stuff, like the hippogriff flying and fred and georges shop. the content was good it's just the difficulty level.
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06-25-2004, 11:25 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Godric's Hollow
Posts: 1,077
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cool!!
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JKR: Well I think anyone who is still shipping Harry/Hermione after this book -
ES: [whispered] Delusional!
JKR: Uh - no! But they need to go back and reread, I think.
ES: Thank you.
JKR: Yeah. | |
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06-26-2004, 01:03 AM
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#10 (permalink)
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Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: USA
Posts: 1,369
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the game looks amazing.
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06-26-2004, 01:15 AM
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#11 (permalink)
| | Plimpy
Join Date: Apr 2003
Posts: 1,184
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The Game is Short, but Really Good Fun! You get to collect cards, Folio Bruti monster pages containing Information and Pictures of Dementors, Red Caps, Doxys, and more! The castle is fun to explore, and they have additional challenges like the Stink Pellet Scavenger Hunt Game and the Statue Scavenger Hunt Game. Flying Buckbeak is amazing, and so are some of the Challenges and
The Collecter Cards are really informative, too. I especially like all the different spells you have, and the additional "Snuffilors" spell which turns attacking, flying books into mice that run into a Mouse Hole and give out Beans and sometimes Collector cards. So if you're new to Video Games, or aren't very good at them - this is the game for you.
You should definantly rent it, not buy it. The game can only last a couple weeks, days, or even just hours. I've heard it has some bad replay value, so you should suggest that. Also, there is no Quidditch in this game. There is, but you don't get to play the match - just a very small cut-scene.
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[~Call Me Caroline~][Ron/Hermione Forever]
[*Proud Hufflepuff//Quidditch Player*] | |
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06-26-2004, 05:31 AM
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#12 (permalink)
| | Troll
Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Los Angeles ;)
Posts: 5,038
Hogwarts RPG Name:
Daisy Jamie Mason
First Year
Ministry RPG Name:
Evangeline Danielle Owens
Accidents & Catastrophes |
Quote: Originally posted by danix87@Jun 25 2004, 06:30 AM
Ive herd the games are really fun!
I dont have any though :/ i have the pc game and its totally fun! i got through practically the whole thing in less than a week. im stuck on the draconifors-lapifors exam where hermy has to make the dragon fly
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"I'm married to my music." - Lady Gaga | |
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06-26-2004, 11:28 AM
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#13 (permalink)
| | Jarvey
Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Australia
Posts: 126
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The game looks really good.
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08-01-2005, 02:50 AM
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#14 (permalink)
| | Guest |
i actuall don't have poa on game boy advance i have it on xbox and it is a really good game but i'm pretty sure the gameboy advance game is great from past experience with hp games
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10-28-2005, 12:28 AM
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#15 (permalink)
| | Bicorn
Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: butler, pa
Posts: 1,718
Hogwarts RPG Name:
chrisd2000
Graduated |
it is very easy on the ps2 version.
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Chrisd2000  | |
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