Review by Skinny Minnie and Mini Minnie
March 2002

Seven-year-old Mini Minnie first spied shaggy haired, bespectacled Harry Potter on a collection of hardcover novels nestled between some Barbies under the Christmas tree. It was love at first sight (for Mini, not for the poor neglected Barbies). Soon, Mr. and Mrs. Minnie found themselves enamored of Harry's whimsical world as well. They all spent their evenings cuddled together, up a wee bit late they admit, sharing Harry's compelling tales of Muggles and magic. Consequently, they all spent their days crabby and sleep-deprived ...

Perhaps it is the crabby, sleep-deprived state of mind talking, but the PC game does little to replicate the depth of the rich, magical yarn that is woven throughout the Harry Potter series. The game is mainly a 3D-rendered visual tip of the hat to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, although it is an entrancing and vivid graphical presentation nonetheless (see included screenshots). The game requires some first-person mouse aiming for spellcasting and some third-person platform jumping and broomstick flying, all inserted in between the briefest of introductions to the first book's main characters.

This game does give a nod in the most stripped-down, basic way to the plot of its namesake bestselling novel. Its first attempt involves encapsulating the first 112 pages of said novel in a two-minute parade of ivory and black ink flashcard-like pages as the game begins. These are supposed to bring the player up to speed on Harry's whole history and background.

Minnie says, "Read the book or cry."

Mini says, "It was cute! And why can't I be Mini Skinny? I'm a beanpole too!"

You will bemusedly notice that the mob for magical mayhem is present and accounted for here, though: From Harry's Headmaster Albus Dumbledore and Professors Quirrell, Flitwick, and Snape, and his pals the Weasley brothers and Hermione Granger, to Nearly Headless Nick, Peeves the Poltergeist, Hagrid, Draco Malfoy, and You-Know-Who, the gang's all here in brief succession. Mostly, though, you will be controlling in the third person a lonely Harry Potter via keyboard cursor keys and a few keyboard commands, with an occasional mouse swirl thrown in. The mouse is first introduced in Quirrell's Defense Against the Dark Arts class, and it is used to aim spells such as "Wingardium Leviosa" and "Flipendo!"

Minnie says, "The kid always sounds like he's saying 'Nintendo!'"

Mini says, "Ma, you have games on the brain! The spells look cool, and after you get a passing grade in the class you get to use them to move blocks around, finding hidden doors at Hogwarts with stars and Bertie Bott's Every Flavored Beans inside of them. It's easy. You don't even have to pick which spell is needed in what area—the game does it for you. Not to mention that you need the spells in that awesome boss fight against Voldemort at the end ..."

Minnie says, "How would you know? You were off watching Cyber Chase on TV after the first two seconds of that boss fight!"

Mini says, "Well, that guy is scary! He throws fire and green electricity! Harry could get 'electrocued!'"

Oh yes, at Ron Weasley's older brothers' behest, you will be collecting funky colored jellybeans by steering Harry right into them. No one else seems to notice these beans, which float about the castle, except for some playful gnomes who want to steal them from Harry while simultaneously whittling down his lifebar at an alarming rate. This lifebar is ingeniously represented onscreen by a lightning bolt; it's a nice visual tie-in to Harry's forehead scar from the original story at any rate. (Harry can find and consume chocolate frogs to build this lifebar back up again, as well as use his spells to knock the gnomes fanny-over-teakettle, by the way.) Admittedly, this bean situation is ultimately a second attempt at offering a plot and it does succeed to amuse at the very end, when you find out just before the closing credits roll exactly what the brothers Weasley wanted the beans for ... You will also be collecting wizard cards, too.

You can view your inventory of said items by hitting the escape key during gameplay. There are six save slots for starting six separate passes through the game, and the same save slot will be overwritten every time you save as you make your way through the game. You may only save at predesignated checkpoints, each represented by an open, floating book. If Harry's lifebar depletes completely, he "faints" and you are plunged back in time to your last saved checkpoint.

Never was someone so glad to see a checkpoint as after the "moving platforms of doom" section combining "Nintendo" spellcasting to trigger the platforms with split-second timed, third person jumps, over and over and over ...

Mini says, "Oh, silly Mom! The manual mentions a setting in the options menu for an automatic jump feature."

Minnie says, "What? ... Be quiet!"

Hopefully you are not prone to motion sickness, as what Harry Potter game would be complete without Harry's flying his Nimbus 2000 broomstick in Quidditch? Quidditch practice, where you can't "quiddit" until you have passing grades in Quidditch if you have a mean daughter, consists of steering a flying Harry through progressively smaller, colored, floating rings in rapid succession. It is nothing, however, compared to trying to get the snitch back from that delinquent Draco Malfoy later.

Mr. Minnie says, "How would you know? You were off playing Maximo after the first two seconds of that flying chase!"

Mini says, "Yeah Ma, Dad did it for me, and even I beat you at flying practice!"

Minnie says, "What? ... Be quiet, both of you!"

Moving right along, the musical orchestrations are appropriately uplifting, tense, or soothing, depending upon the area Harry currently occupies. The proper British vocalizations of the characters are charming, and it was amusing to finally hear the proper pronunciation of "Hermione," which each of the Minnie family hitherto pronounced differently, and wrongly. (No, the Minnies have not yet seen the movie.) Sound effects were minimal.

This game ran without a hitch on Mini's Windows 98 machine, which is well above the system requirements. Despite some challenging areas, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is undoubtedly a children's game. Adults may be disappointed with its stripped simplicity compared to the novel's tale, but the game is highly rated by every kid who is related to or has ever been befriended by the Minnie family.

Mini says, "If it's such a kids' game, then why'd you burn the broccoli quiche while you were stuck to my chair during all of the platform jumping?"

Minnie says, "What do you care? You don't eat quiche anyway!" 

The Verdict

The Skinny from Minnie:

The Skinny from Mini:

The Lowdown

Developer: Electronic Arts
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Release Date: 2001

Available for:  
  
 (version reviewed)

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Screenshots

System Requirements

Windows XP/ME/2000/98/95
266 MHZ Pentium II or AMD K6-2
64 MB RAM
4X CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
500 MB free hard drive space
8 MB video card with DirectX 8.0 compatible driver
DirectX 8.0 compatible sound card

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