Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
Ages - Everyone

You've read the book, seen the movie and now you can play the game. The producers are counting on the magic of the book to carry over to the game. The graphics are the best part - you do get the feeling of being down in the bowels of Hogwarth and casting spells is pretty much fun. You play Harry, and have him running about the corridors, casting spells, learning magic and collecting Bertie Bott Beans and chocolate frogs. While the game follows some of the action and settings of the book - don't expect much story here. Aside from the haunting graphics and weird sounds, the PC version plays like it was made for the GameBoy - in other words - an arcade game.

Navigation is done with the arrow keys and what could have been an exciting dash through the mysterious corridors of Hogwarts becomes a halting spastic journey. There are very few saves, so once Harry fails at a task, the play reverts to the beginning of that level. Each level must be successfully accomplished before you can go on to the next. And all must be ‘learned' before you can get to play Quidditch. There is no way to adjust the difficulty level and so it can become extremely frustrating because you are stuck playing that level over and over again. Ever been left-back? Playing the game feels a lot like being in school. Perhaps that was the designers intent -- repeating the ‘lesson' until you get it right so that you feel that you are in Hogwarts. I ‘dunno, Harry had more fun. The game is basically for kids. Adults will go back to getting their jollies from reading.

Editor Review

Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone is more of a video game. You can tell by the way the people move and because of all the jumping. You don't really have to think as much as you do in a game like Zoombinis, which is also a good game. The game is related to the movie and the book because it has all of the potions to get to the sorcerers stone. You also have to run away from the mountain troll. Plus it even has the invisibility cloak. All the same characters are in it.

It's really fun after you get the hang of it. I thought it was kind of difficult to figure out how to jump and cast the spells in the beginning. There are not really any instructions on how to play it. I liked this game because it's kind of challenging to go and find all the classes and to get past all the levels. There were some things that I didn't really like about it like the graphics. That is because you can't tell when to jump to get to an area. I don't play very many video games so I think this would be a good game for some people who are just getting into video games. I think both girls and boys would like it but someone who's older or has been playing video games for a while wouldn't like it as much. I don't think that you need to read the book or see the movie to like the game.

Review by Elizabeth S.