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Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Harry Potter, Hogwarts and Voldemort have all been turned into Danish Lego. But does TT Games Lego-formula still work? Jonas has the answer.

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The Lego-games are starting to feel very familiar. I have a small plastic figure with a set of abilities, that is followed around by another figure that knows some other handy skills. I can switch between these at any time, or have a friend join up with me and control one of them. A lot of the things you see can be destroyed, and when you do small round Lego-blocks jumps out which I collect and use as cash.

On top of this you have a hub-world were you easily can choose who to play, purchase new figures to play as and a bunch of different platforming levels to choose between. In other words, Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 could have been more or less any of the previous Lego-games, except for the fact that the Danish blocks now have been put together to something out of Harry Potter's world instead of Star Wars or Batman.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

That's not to say that Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 is boring in anyway. No, quite the contrary. TT Games' simple Lego-formula still works perfectly and the games are both entertaining and challenging for the player who wants to do everything. And Hogwarts, with surroundings, is perfect for a game of this type.

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And of course everything isn't exactly as in the previous games. The world in Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 feels a lot more living that previous titles and the weaker parts of the other games have been toned down. There's not as much fighting, not as many unclear platforming parts and there's not as many vehicle levels.

That makes the game a lot less frustrating than some of the other Lego-games could be and the challenges are more about exploring and solving puzzles. Magic is a big part of this, of course, and works similar to how Batman changed costumes in Lego Batman. You easily switch between spells and the result is a seamless and simpler game experience.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

Harry Potters' world is by far the best Lego-world so far. Everything is playful and you almost get the same feeling as when reading the books when you're constantly surprised about how the magic is used. Leaky Cauldron acts as the hub-world, where you choose what to do or where to go next; perhaps you want to spend your Lego-money, replay a level to find any secrets you might have missed or just continue with the story.

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There's a total of 167 different characters to unlock, which covers more or less every character that's ever had a line (or not) in the book. You got Harry, Ron and Hermione, but also Malfoy, Dobby the Elf and even Buckbeat. They all have their unique abilities, which forces you to play through certain passages several times simply because every character doesn't have what it takes to find everything in every level.

Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4

As usual when it comes to the Lego-games, Lego Harry Potter is the most fun together with a friend. TT Games have kept several of the good ideas they introduced in Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, like the screen splitting in two when you and your co-op partner goes in separate directions. Sadly you can't play co-op online, or share your own created levels, which is a big miss. Spending countless hours on creating a level only to share it with a friend that comes over to visit kills that features potential.

The Lego-games never gets boring, that's just the way it is. Sometimes they are even more fun for older players than for the youngest ones. But it's hard for me to say that you should pick up this instead of Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga. The games are so similar that it's more about which universe you want to see translated into Danish plastic. And as long as that doesn't include Indiana Jones, you can be certain that you will be entertained.

07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Big world, clever puzzles, tons of content, charming graphics, good music
-
No online support, boring boss fights, few real changes from previous titles
overall score
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