Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Harry Potter and the Gamer looking for Secrets
"Congratulations! You've completed the challenge! You're almost as good as I was at your age." Oh? That was a challenge? I'll give you my honest opinion to start. I didn't think that this game was a huge improvement from the first. Some things were too easy, others were just a waste of time hard! Of course there were some welcome changes, like the ability to skip cutscenes or that the characters' mouths actually move when they speak, but I think I had more fun playing the first game. Maybe it's just that I expected a lot more. Don't get me wrong - - I love Harry Potter and this game was still worth the money. The spell learning was a waste of good arrow keys. I liked tracing it better. There were too many wizard cards everywhere, and so when you can't find a few, you feel like the whole game was a waste. Also, the quidditch was inferior to the first game. It keeps you on a defined track, and you can't adjust your speed. It's like a battle between you and the other seeker, instead of a hunt for the golden snitch. The character development is rather minimal, except for Gilderoy Lockhart. And I love the British accents! But you don't get to know Ginny or even meet Ron's parents or learn to hate Malfoy. Wizard dueling is a definite improvement. Once you finally master expelliamus, it's an exciting competition each time. You can duel real students from each house for an increasing amount of beans each time. That is, until you get up to 200, and then it's a battle of the expelliamus. How long can you bounce a spell back and forth? The challenges are improved, except that there are too many secrets. Wizard cards everywhere, and beans galore. The "enemies" are the same thing over and over again. If there's a space with a firecrab symbol on it, you know what to do. The gnomes are easy and obvious, and the Wiggentree things are plain annoying. But you can go and replay each challenge and try to beat your high score, an addition which I liked. I played it on PC, but I've heard about what you can do on XBox and PS2. If you are blessed (or spoiled) enough to have one of those systems, don't buy the PC edition. It skips the degnoming the garden and the scenes that serve as the introduction are boring, but necessary. THE BEST THING IS THAT YOU CAN SKIP THE CUTSCENES! Overall, it's a good game, and probably for children ages 6-14, but it may be too easy or too hard for some, depending on age. Parents should get a kick out of it too, but don't go searching for every secret or you'll kick yourself literally out of frustration.
Rating:  - Great fun for any Potter fan
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is now a computer game that's out for the PC as well as PS2 and other platforms. While they could have sold millions even with an awful game, this one is pretty good.The game starts out with a reasonably good 3D model of Harry being rescued in a flying car by his friends. They fly back to Ron's house, where their mom promptly scolds them for their hijinks. They're sent out into the yard where Harry (i.e. you, the player) start to learn how to use your controls. You're shown how to use your want, how to gather up beans. You move along to degnoming the property, which is great fun! You have to knock over the gnome and then whirl and fling him as far as possible. You get Wizard cards, chocolate frogs, you play Quidditch, and try to earn house points. There's some button-pressing games which are quite fun, but there are also a lot of puzzles for you to reason through. While the game is one player, other people get involved in trying to figure out the riddles and offer advice. Even when the puzzles are figured out and the game is won, it's still a great deal of fun to go back and play again, to try to get an even better score. This is sure to be a hit with any Potter fans, and is great for all ages of gamer.
Rating: - Harry does it again!
The Chamber of Secrets game follows Harry in his second year at Hogwarts as he attends classes, duels, and plays quidditch. The game opens with Harry meeting Ginny and Mr. Malfoy at Flouish and Botts, and we see Malfoy put the Diary in Ginny's bag. Ron and Harry fly their car to school and land in the Whomping Willow. Then, it's off to classes, just like in Game I, and we get to meet Gilderoy Lockhart. You also meet a lot of tiresome fire crabs and orange snails, which you not only knock out, you can push around. You get wizard cards and beans all the time. You'll need the beans to trade for potion ingredients. Some nice improvements over Game I are: The character's mouths move when they talk, Harry turns around when you back him up, and you're told if doors aren't going to open so that saves trying again and again. Best of all, you can press Enter to bypass the cutscenes! I don't like that you get a Loading Game screen every ten minutes or so. You can wander all over the school at any time, which, while fun, can get you off-track if you want to complete a challenge. The Save Game books are still too far apart. There are also long periods without music, and the music isn't as eerie as in Game I. But these are all minor things compared to the overall excitement of the game. (Hint: you'll need to make lots of potions to complete the Aragog and Basilisk scenes.) It's definitely addicting and lots of fun for all Harry Potter fans, especially if you liked Game I. Have fun. (P.S. I hope you're not afraid of spiders!)
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