Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Jewel Case)

List Price: $9.99 Discount Price: $1.48

Accessories:
PC Gamer (1-year)	Games for Windows: The Official Magazine

Customer Reviews:

Most Fun [Posted on 2004-02-09]
I won't say this is the best game I've ever played, but it is the most fun. I'm not a kid, I'm in my twenties, and I love the books. I was able to finish this game pretty fast, but I still continue to play it again and again because it is so much fun. It stays very true to the spirit of Harry Potter, if not the book itself. The only thing I found disappointing is that Harry does everything, so there's not much interaction with Ron or Hermione for instance.

harry potter [Posted on 2004-06-16]
this is a pretty good game overall but some parts are really poorly designed or just annoying. you start out with a set of still pictures that fill you in on the backstory. (how harry is where he is what happened to his parents etc etc) when you enter the gameplay dumbledore blabs at you a bit and then you follow ron up the stairs to go to a tutorial with fred and george. the things that bugged me the most are the fact that you could just fall through a solid floor to your death. i am missing one wizard card and it is in the lumos challenge somewhere. you have spell challenges for every new spell you learn. the best part of the game is where you are delivering norbert to charlies friends and filch is running allover trying to stop you from getting in the tower. the graphics are fairly good besides the fact that ron is still smiling when he has his leg torn into by the chessboard, and hermione never really puts her books down. at 30buckswhen it came out it was WAAAAAYYY to much money but ten bucks is pretty good i think. it kept me busy for four hours which i would have been watching spme movie over again.........

Fun but... [Posted on 2005-11-21]
I really thought the game was fun but Harry's movements were confusing and I couldn't defeat Quirell for two years. Two years!!! The third game was out by then!

Lost CD code [Posted on 2006-01-19]
Hi ... the game of Harry Potter and the Sorcrer's stone has given me and my kids a great time ... however my computer crashed recently and while trying to reinstall the game I found that I had misplaced the original code. Please anyone out there please supply me a code for the installation of the game.

Tandon

It Could Have Been So Much Better!!! [Posted on 2007-04-13]
Although an adult, I have enjoyed the Harry Potter series immensely - and since I also enjoy playing various computer games, I decided to give the "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" computer game a shot. However, I have to say upfront that I was really disappointed. I found way too many "pitfalls" to this game - hence the 3 star review (I'll discuss this further after I describe the gist of the game).

In this game you play Harry Potter - a new student at The Hogwarts School of Magic & Wizardry. Throughout the semester, you'll be given various tasks to accomplish - from learning & practicing new spells, to winning Quiddich matches, to stopping "the one whose name shall not be spoken" from getting his hands on the sorcerer's stone. Along the way, you'll need to keep your ears & eyes open, as you want to collect as many "Bertie Botts Beans" & "Wizard Cards" as you can find - many of which will be found in hidden areas (behind pictures, mirrors, alcoves, etc...) throughout the game.

At the beginning of each "chapter", you'll be told what tasks you need to complete, as well as how many hidden places & wizard cards you should be able to find. You might want to write this down, as there is no way to find out how you did at the end - and no way to go back once you've left that area.

The game does a good job of following the book - with various cutscenes along the way to help you see where you are. Also, I found the voice-overs to be first-rate - something you don't find too often in computer games such as this.

Now for the "downfalls", and for me there were many.

1. You can only save at those places in the game where there are save books - and, you can only use them once (unless you die, then they'll reappears once again). What this means is that you can't save & quit when you want without losing the progress you've made since the last save book & if you've done some hard stuff near the book you used, you can't save again before moving on.

2. You can't skip the cutscenes - so, if you find that an area right after a cutscene is difficult, and you wind up dying over & over again, you'll have to watch the cut-scene over & over again too (and some of them are pretty long).

3. There is 360 degree movement. Because of this, any time you jump or climb up on something (and many times when you're running or going into a new room), the viewing changes. This may not be a big deal for you, but it made me really sick - the same feeling as when I experience car sickness. So, if you or your child suffers from car sickness, you may want to think twice before getting them this game. Most games now a days have a button to shut this off, but this one doesn't.

4. There are several bleed-throughs - where parts of a scene from before bleed into the area you're currently in.

5. There is no summary at the end of each chapter (or even at the end of the game) that lets you know how many hidden rooms you found.

6. The sensors are super touchy - so you have to try standing in all sorts of directions & places when casting spells (especially on chests) to have them open, or even see if they would open.


Overall, I thought this was just an okay game. However, since I did enjoy the series, and I'm hoping that some of these issues have been dealt with since the release of this first game, I do plan to try the next computer game in this series. But, as I said before, if you or your child suffers from car sickness or epilepsy, it might be better for you to pass on this one.

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