Review: LEGO Harry Potter Years 5 – 7

It’s really quite difficult not to fall in love with the Lego games by Travellers Tales. Based on the last three books of the Harry Potter series, Years 5 – 7 sees the trio of heroes and their friends battle Voldermort, for the survival of the beloved Hogwarts Wizarding School. It’s a fun and humorous game which greatly appeals to my inner child. I’ve been a fan of the Lego games since playing: Lego Star Wars (The Video Game) on the DS, back in 2005.

You play through the final four movies of the series in a re-imagined Lego way, with tons of unlockable characters as well as collectables. You’ll be getting your money’s worth with this title. There’s plenty of spells, characters and gold bricks to purchase with your studs, it took me the best part of 24 hours of game play to complete single play and collect all the spells, although I’m still looking for a few more characters.
I did struggle to get into the game at first, as it’s very similar to the previous Years 1 – 4 game,  I had a sense of Deja Vu wandering around the castle. The Slytherin kids’ constant booing – when you walked anywhere near them -  drove me insane, and I almost ate my controller trying to figure out how to throw pumpkins at Death! (push your stick to the left and throw – was that obvious to everyone else but me? Let me know in the comments below).

I wasn’t sure if TT was playing it safe with this game being similar to the previous, but after a few hours of gameplay I was back in my happy place. I really do enjoy the Lego games, my wandering round a level and being completely clueless on how to complete it and having to unwillingly ask the help of a 10 year old is on the up. Having said that, I think that’s a charming point of the game. Had it been God of War that I was wandering around aimlessly at, I would have been a tad frustrated, yet with the Lego games, you take it as part of the games mechanics. You’re meant to get lost and scratch your head for a few minutes trying to figure out the puzzles.

There are different features in the game, such as the advance guide feature (unlockable by a red brick) which saved me hours of trying to figure out if there where more character tokens and bricks to collect from an area, combine that with the brick detector, when your near game completion and your well away! The Duelling is new, battle your enemies with spells from school, but be careful in free mode, as not all your unlocked characters have the spells you need, so best to swap to Harry, Ron or Hermione for duels.

It’s still a game for the kids, and much like its predecessor and Star Wars: Clone Wars, there’s quite a lot here for the adult fan. There’s definitely something about Lego games that draws you to playing them, I think Travellers Tales and Lego have created something special and unique with their games and will continue to do so for a very long time. With Lego Batman 2: DC Superheroes on my playlist and Lego Lord of The Rings on pre order, its going to be a busy few months!

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