7 /10 1 Votes
Engine Bright Light Halogen Initial release date 25 June 2007 | 69% GameFAQs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distributor(s) Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Adapted from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix Developers Electronic Arts, EA Bright Light, Visual Impact Similar Electronic Arts games, Action-adventure games | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is a video game that is based on the fifth installment of the popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling and the film of the same name, for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PSP, Nintendo DS, Wii, Game Boy Advance and Mac OS X. It was released in June 25, 2007 in the U.S., June 28, 2007 in Australia and June 29, 2007 UK and Europe for PlayStation 3, PSP, PlayStation 2, Windows and the 3rd of July for most other platforms.
Contents
The theme of the game is to explore Hogwarts and follow the story from the book and movie. EA encouraged fan participation in the development of this game, and worked with a fan council. The game returns to the sandbox style of the first three games rather than the action-oriented Goblet of Fire. Similar to any sandbox, Hogwarts is fully explorable most of the time, and there are "discovery points" that provide rewards to the player, which can be activated by completing side missions. Furthermore, there are battles between groups of students, as shown in the game trailer. This is the last Harry Potter game to be released on the Game Boy Advance.
Gameplay
The game presents the player with a large part of the Harry Potter universe, combining the movie blueprints, J.K. Rowling's drawings and books' descriptions to recreate known places, including the Ministry of Magic, Grimmauld Place and Little Whinging. As well as the main missions, and as part of the new sandbox style of playing, players can explore Hogwarts and interact with objects, using magical spells to earn Discovery points. One can duel Slytherins in the Entrance Courtyard, Paved Courtyard, and specific floor corridors. One can also duel throughout the story. Most of them are played as Harry. Nevertheless, near the end, one will play as Sirius Black and Dumbledore in different duels. Earning Discovery points increases the power of the owned spells, and earns player bonuses, such as behind-the-scenes videos and trophies, which can be viewed in the Room of Rewards. Items in the room such as trophies can also be unlocked by taking part in the various mini games, such as Exploding Snap, Wizard chess and Gobstones. There are various missions to complete which follow the storyline of the film, such as the recruiting of Dumbledore's Army members, or creating havoc when Umbridge is made Headmistress.
Development
The game's sandbox style provides the player with an open environment, as the player is able to move around parts of Hogwarts freely. Hogwarts in this game was modeled after the movie sets rather than a recreation of the developer's own design. They recreated every single iconic background from all movies and added their own unfeatured rooms.
Soundtrack
The game's soundtrack was composed by James Hannigan and conducted by Allan Wilson. Hannigan wrote themes for the various characters and incorporated "Hedwig's Theme" by John Williams into the score. IGN has given the game's music a rating of 9.5 out of 10. A small number of tracks present in the Order of the Phoenix videogame were also featured in The Philosopher's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets and The Prisoner of Azkaban video games, composed by Jeremy Soule. The Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game soundtrack featuring James Hannigan's music was released on the E.A.R.S. label in 2007, with references to John Williams' Hedwig's Theme removed, to much critical acclaim from fans of film and game soundtracks. For reasons unknown, the soundtrack, along with Hannigan's later Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince soundtrack and the earlier game scores by Jeremy Soule, was withdrawn from sale in 2009. It has been speculated that market confusion involving multiple soundtracks with the same title may have led to the withdrawal, but others have speculated that reviews by various soundtrack critics describing Hannigan's work as superior to the score of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix film may have contributed to the decision.
Reception
The game itself received "mixed or average" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.
Hyper's Daniel Wilks commended the game for its "great looks, the Wii-wand and in-game exploration". However, he criticised it for its "repetitive quests and poor waypoints".
Charles Herold of The New York Times gave it a mixed review and stated that the game "has an unfinished feel, as though the game’s designers stuck in a placeholder for game play, planning to flesh it out later, only to run out of time."