It’s pretty easy to dismiss the Harry Potter video games as typical licensed pap, but the one based on Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took a much more interesting approach. By mixing the Harry Potter world with the gameplay style of Bully, EA Bright Light gave players the opportunity to feel like they were actually at Hogwarts. That formula has been retained for the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game, reproducing the atmosphere of the fiction that fans love so dearly, but it falls short of meeting its full potential due to sheer simplicity and minimal content.

The film’s story is largely glossed over by the game, outside of giving players the opportunity to play through some of the key moments in the film while providing little in the way of context or setup. After fighting Lord Voldemort and the Death Eaters, Harry begins receiving private lessons from Professor Dumbledore as they look into the Dark Lord’s path for a way to defeat him and his loyal followers. Harry also discovers an old potions textbook which belongs to the mysterious Half-Blood Prince, whose scribbled notes in the margins help him to greatly improve his potions skills along with learning some new and dangerous spells. Meanwhile, the actions of Draco Malfoy start to arouse suspicion, and Harry becomes determined to prove that his rival is doing Voldemort’s bidding.


Having left most of the story at the door, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince has a very disjointed structure. It never really feels like you’re building up to something; one minute you’re mixing potions in class, the next you’re fighting the Death Eaters with little explanation as to how or why you got there. That’s not going to be of concern to people coming into the game fresh from seeing the movie or who have previously read the book, but if you have no prior knowledge of the story, then the flow of events will seem quite confusing. The game manages to successfully create the feeling of attending Hogwarts, with the vast majority of the school and its various quirks and nuances recreated for players to explore. It is, however, almost exactly the same as it was in the last game, so it may seem stale to those who ran through Harry’s last video game adventure. Gryffindor ghost Nearly-Headless Nick acts as a guide, replacing the Marauder’s Map from the last game.

There are three main activities which dominate your time with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; potions, duelling and flying. Between these activities, you’re free to roam Hogwarts and see some of its eccentricities, like the Great Staircase and Astronomy Tower. There’s also a major side quest involving finding Hogwarts Crests around the school (125 solid, 25 comprised of finding mini-crests hidden in objects around the school), which in turn rewards you with a bunch of extra content like costumes for multiplayer duels.

The potions mini-game is really enjoyable in spite of its simplistic structure, and that enjoyment only increases as the more complex brews are requested and the game demands more from the player. Potions is a Simon Says-type game; players are given a number of ingredients and must add them to a mix in a specific order to achieve a nominated colour. A selection of between five and ten ingredients appear on the table; some need to be picked up and dropped in, while others need to be poured in. Objects have realistic weight properties, so there is the occasional instance where you’ll throw an object into the mix a little too enthusiastically, and have it bounce off. Additional steps are introduced in later potion mixes, like having to shake a bottle before pouring it in, stirring the mixture or adjusting the heat. Time also becomes a major factor – completing a step perfectly nets players extra time, but if too many mistakes are made you’ll be scrambling to complete the mixture before time is up. Players are rated on their performance at the end, and awarded extra points for combo chains and time left on the clock.


Duelling puts the player up against various Hogwarts students (and occasionally the Death Eaters) in contests of offensive magic skill. Players start with Harry leading trials for the Gryffindor team, and can challenge members of the other three houses’ teams throughout the game. In spite of his more diverse offensive knowledge, Harry starts out with only the Stupefy spell, adding further spells like Expelliarmus, Petrificus Totallus and Levicorpus to knock over or restrict your opponent, and Protego to protect oneself from other attacks. Eventually your basic Stupefy attack can be charged to deal a lot of damage. It seems like EA could have added a lot more spells to the game, but even with the slim selection, most opponents can be easily defeated just relying on Expelliarmus.

The flying sections mostly revolve around Harry’s Quidditch exploits (though you do control Ginny for one match). It’s all very simple as it’s completely on rails; players just need to ensure they pass through the giant stars on screen. Passing through the middle will give players a little more time than simply touching the gate, but it’s so pathetically easy that it will never be a concern. After about 30-40 gates, you’ll catch up to the snitch and the game will be won. It could have stood to be a little more exciting; aside from the occasional run in with the opposing seeker, players are never under threat from anyone or anything else on the field and the game is always won when the snitch is caught.

Sadly, those three segments and a bit of exploring is all there really is to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You’ll blast through the story section of the game in a little over three hours; cleaning up the last of the achievements and finding those Hogwarts Crests will bump the total up to a maximum of 10 hours. It’s ludicrously devoid of content, with everything in the game revolving around those three mini-game types with the time between padded out with roaming around Hogwarts.


Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince’s presentation is decidedly inconsistent. It looks much better than the previous game, but the various characters in the game look very disproportionate and robotic. Ron Weasley is probably the best example, looking akin to some sort of neckless troll. Music motifs inspired by and borrowed from the films make up the majority of the soundtrack, giving it a boost in authenticity that is quickly blown away by the use of some unconvincing sound-a-likes in place of the majority of the main cast members.

EA Bright Light has nailed the Harry Potter atmosphere in Half-Blood Prince, but has failed to deliver enough content or variety to make the game live up to its full potential. There are moments when the game genuinely shines; the Potions classes have no business being as fun as they are, and exploring the Hogwarts School is quite novel for first timers. Unfortunately, many segments in the game feel uneven or undercooked, and most players will see everything the game has to offer in a single afternoon. If there was a little more to Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it’d be a much better game.