First, I should probably point out that this page will be used to compare the Quidditch World Cup game to both of the previous games, since it isn’t a “normal” game so to speak, meaning that it isn’t an action/adventure game based upon any particular book or movie, but more of a sports game. The fourth game based upon the third installment, Prisoner of Azkaban, only shows a short video of a Quidditch game, but does not give you an opportunity to play it.
For starters, like the Overview page of this game explained already, you have the opportunity to control all of the players, rather than just the seeker as the previous two games are limited to. You can read the paragraph on the Chamber of Secrets review to learn more specifically the differences between the two other experiences of Quidditch, but basically the Sorcerer’s Stone was too easy to win, and Chamber of Secrets I found somewhat too difficult to win. I managed to get the hang of it after a while, but have not been able to as of yet to win the Quidditch Cup for Gryffindor for the second game.
Normally, I would break this page into several different subsections and expand on them like I did for the previous review, but since this game involves so few different aspects; I will try to cover them all at once. You can be sure I will break it down again for the next game. The first thing I found difficult to get the hang of for this game was controlling everything with the keyboard, and trying to remember and execute so many different combinations of keys to perform so many different tricks. I suppose I had been so used to just using the arrow keys and the mouse for the previous two games that this one came as a bit of a surprise. Anyway, thankfully there were several “tutorial rounds” to go through at first to ease you into the newer controls, and winning the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup was fairly simple.
Playing internationally was quite a different story for me. I started out with my home country of the United States of America, but I didn’t do so well the first few games and I quickly slipped right to the bottom of the rankings. So I decided to start over and go through the initial rounds at Hogwarts to try to get some more practice in. Once I won the Hogwarts Cup again, I chose another team, the Nordic. My luck turned out much better with them, and after winning a couple of games, I was ranked number one on the international list. By that time, I was getting rather bored with the game anyway, since it really is the same thing over and over again, and I figured I should quit while I was ahead. Of course, that really doesn’t mean anything, being ahead and not playing the game, but I still haven’t returned to it since then.
Although I found playing at Hogwarts easy, and playing internationally difficult, I really don’t have much more criticism for this game. Since it’s so much different than the others, I can’t really compare them that well. I would like to say though, that I found the game really fun while I was still playing it. The different combo moves, although hard to get used to, kept everything fresh, as you had the opportunity to try out more new ones as you went along. The way they had the whole game set up worked nicely as well. At first you just have control of the chasers, then as you gain more points and do better with those players; your beaters are put into play, although I found controlling the Bludger rather difficult. Finally, you gain control of the keeper when the other team gets closer to your goalposts, and once a certain meter is filled up, the Snitch is let loose, and depending on how many points you scored during the game, you either get a head start or you start behind the other seeker.
Altogether, I thought the game was well made, but I didn’t personally enjoy it as much as others probably have; I’m not a big fan of playing the game anyway. I hope this review, although shorter than what I’m used to writing, helped in some way to either make up your mind to buy it or not, or just helped you make up your own opinions of the game!
