Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 Demo Impressions

Harry Potter games are not well known for being great. In the original few you could run around Hogwarts completing tasks and taking part in a few lessons but they were never anything memorable. In the last installment you were able to take control of a handful of characters and run around firing spells at Death Eaters but that was about as challenging at things got. It appears that may still be the case with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2 as well.

At first glance, nothing much seems to have changed. The graphics are nothing to write home about and the voice acting seems average at best. In this demo you get to play through two levels. The first level you take control of Harry and run across the battlements of Hogwarts fighting off Death Eaters (some of which look like thugs straight off the streets of London) and in the second you play as Hermione where you have to fight Fenrir Greyback.

Neither of these are particularly challenging but they do have some fun qualities but I think this is mainly because of the nostalgic value of wanting to be a Wizard and getting to fire spells out of a wand. Speaking of spells, you have seven to use in this game. Your main defensive spell is Protago (a shield spell). The offensive spells you get to use are: Expelliarmus, Confringo, Expulso, Impedimenta, Stupefy and Petrificus Totalus. I found myself just switching between Expluso (a machine gun type spell) and Stupefy with the occasionally one or two others. Once you have fired them they either have to re-charge or your aim shifts (in other words, you get recoil from your wand). This is quite a nice touch but if you change spell, the recharge is gone and your aim is back to perfect.

All-in-all this exactly the same as the previous title just with different missions. It remains to be seen whether or not this installment can bring some originality to the series. The title is due for release on the PS3, Xbox 360, PC, Wii and DS on the 15th of July. Look out for a full review of the title later this week.