Do you feel that? There's magic in the air. Never since butter met bread, shorts met hot weather, or Rick Astley met YouTube has there been a combination with more potential than this. With a setting that appeals to adults and children alike, an aura of mystique and imagination - and a sense of humour that the game can capitalise on, LEGO and Harry Potter seem like the perfect mix.
The magical world of Hogwarts - given a LEGO overhaul.
For those of you not familiar with the LEGO franchise, the series has so far seen developer Traveller's Tales take huge, popular film franchises, and shrink them down, zapping them with a bit of LEGO-y magic along the way, to turn them into a co-operative platforming romp that's perfect for children, adults, and families alike. Finding the perfect blend between being child friendly, and having challenging gameplay, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Batman have all fallen to LEGO's irresistible charm - and now, it's young 'Arry's turn to get sucked in.
As you may have guessed from the title, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 takes in the events of Harry's first four years at Hogwarts, chronicling the events of the The Philosopher's Stone (which will hopefully retain it's original name without being dumbed down, seeing as the game's been developed in England), the Chamber of Secrets, the Prisoner of Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire. As in the previous LEGO games, each book will be broken down into six levels (giving a total of 24 - which should hopefully provide plenty of play time), but this time, the game will be much more open than before.
You're a wizard, 'Arry.
Rather than choosing your levels from a hub, like you've done in the previous five or six games, you'll actually be playing the role of Harry at Hogwarts, as he goes from being a complete novice, to a powerful wizard. Coming to Hogwarts with no skills at all, you'll marvel at the sights around you, and how accurate it all looks, from the rotating staircases, to the many cheeky nods to the film, as you go to lessons, explore the ancient school, and generally get to grips with your magic.
Here's Ron, getting something wrong, as usual.
Of course, attending the lessons is nowhere near as boring as it sounds, as the lessons are liberally sprinkled with a dose of LEGO comedy. Usually, you'll sit back and watch as poor hapless Ron gets chosen to perform a spell, and gets it completely wrong, before you're called up to show him how it's done. As you attend your lessons, and progress through the story, you'll unlock not only new levels, but new powers to boot. Being a LEGO game, Harry's magic has given Traveller's Tales the perfect excuse to let us play around with LEGO, albeit in a slightly more digital form. With a wave of his wand, Harry can freeze characters, make platforms levitate, or, in a new addition for the series, you can even build your own creations - although these will obviously be fairly limited. Allowing you to build a random pile of blocks into a staircase that'll let you reach some previously unattainable studs, this is certainly a cool feature - and one that should make for some interesting puzzles.
Each of the levels is a perfect blend of puzzles and team work, as you, and either your co-op buddy, or an AI partner, have to work together to finish the levels. Whether it's holding enemies off while your buddy builds something out of LEGO, or simply lifting a platform for your partner to climb on, there's a strong emphasis on working together - something which has always been a strong point for the LEGO series.
Ear muffs? Or LEGO growths?
Of course, not wanting to stray from what was already a winning formula, all the things that made the first LEGO games so brilliant will be present and correct here. From the co-op mode, that lets another player drop in and drop out at any time, to the ever present LEGO humour, LEGO Harry Potter will be a slapstick ride, that's sure to appeal to kids and adults alike. With the return of the ever illusive red bricks in each level, Traveller's Tales are also taking a step in the right direction, by including at least some collectibles, which were unceremoniously stripped out of LEGO Indiana Jones 2 level's - although there's no word yet as to whether the deviously hidden minikit canisters will return. We certainly hope so. Solving puzzles together in order to work out where that last minikit piece was one of the things that made LEGO games so good - and something that stripped a lot of the fun from LEGO Indiana Jones 2.
Unfortunately, however, a few of the more rubbish ideas from LEGO Indiana Jones 2 will be making their return in Harry Potter as well - not the least of which is the child-unfriendly split-screen mode. Sadly hurting the LEGO games strongest feature - its co-op mode, and family appeal - rather than restricting you to the same screen, and keeping both players together, the split screen mode now lets you wonder off on your own. It's a good idea in theory, but in reality, it all too often leads to kids (and adults) getting completely lost - and playing with an oddly shaped, restrictive section of the screen doesn't exactly make the platforming elements - or finding each other again - all that easy either.
Maybe Harry can use his magic on the flipping split screen mode to make it behave.
Of course, it's not all bad - and if that's the worst part of LEGO Harry Potter, we think we can find it in ourselves to live with it. With an authentic, haunting soundtrack that's been "borrowed" from the films, and over 140 characters (including villains and animals - even Hermoine's cat Crookshanks is in there) to unlock, each with their own special abilities, this is bound to appeal to the hardcore Harry Potter fans - but even those without even a passing interest in the books are bound to be drawn in by the magic.
With all the elements for an incredible adventure seemingly in place, if someone can cast a "behave" spell on the awful split-screen mode, Traveller's Tales could be onto something amazing here. We're already dusting off our wizard's hats and magic wands in preparation, ready for the game's release this June.
