In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry and his friends return to prepare for a coming war on all major consoles including the PSP.
The game opens with Harry hanging with his mean-spirited Muggle (non-magical) cousin when Dementors (those pesky specters from The Prisoner of Azkaban) attack Harry right out in the open. Seeing no other choice but to defend himself, Harry fights off the Dementors and once again finds himself the talk of Hogwarts. As events unfold, Harry and his closest friends gather to prepare to face off against the Dark Lord.
Unfortunately, the game skips various aspects of the story to concentrate on key elements found in the novel as well as the upcoming movie.
The game’s second weakness comes in the form of the controls that don’t feel as good on the PSP than on the PS2 version of the game. For one thing, casting spells feel awkward and a tad unresponsive at times. This is actually bad since the game will put you in a number of duels. Harry uses a small list of spells that range from Reparo (which repairs broken items), Incendio (set things ablaze) and Wingardium Leviosa to levitate objects and people. There are also a number of spells you’ll use throughout the game to solve puzzles you’ll encounter. It’s unfortunate that pulling them off requires patience … a lot of it. Then there’s the camera, something that isn’t such a huge problem in the PS2 version but here it gets in the way of the action and obscures areas. Try navigating through the Grand Staircase and you’ll see what I mean.
The game’s graphics are pretty good and come close to rivaling those of the PS2 version. Impressively, the character models resemble the film’s actors and not just in the cutscenes either. The game also does backgrounds wonderfully as well and when it comes to the visual effects this is one dazzling game that shows off the PSP’s graphical capabilities. It’s just too bad the camera often has you looking right through the character you’re talking to if you’re facing a character the wrong way.
The game’s music is beautifully cinematic and, no doubt about it, belongs on the big screen. Aside from the beautiful soundtrack, the game includes great voice acting that brings the characters to life. There are some detailed sound effects here as well so you’ll definitely be impressed by the sounds that will be coming out of your PSP.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix for the PSP lacks the spark of magic that would have made this one of Harry’s finest adventures to date. Unfortunately, the game just doesn’t translate as well on Sony’s portable gaming machine thanks to some bad controls, an awful camera and a weak representation of such a dramatic story. If you’re a true hardcore Harry Potter fan, this game mixes fan service with its various flaws that make this a game you should skip instead.
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