I love Harry Potter.

Okay, I’ll be honest now, anyone who knows me would say I’m a little obsessed with Harry Potter, Fum included.

But she’s just jealous, so ignore her.

Anyway, being as unhealthily in love with the books as I am, I am probably both the target demographic for Lego Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and their worst critic. On one hand, they’re adopting the characters and the world I love. On the other hand, they’re adopting  the characters and the world I love. I’ll be the first in line to queue for it but I’ll also be the first to whine “But that’s Ron’s line, stop giving it to Hermione! And stop giving her perfect curls! And why in the hell is there a fucking talking Lenny Henry head in the Knight Bus?”

Yes, I know, I have issues. But let’s ignore those for a minute and carry on with the review. [cont...]First things first – the price.

I think it might be because I’m rather cheap but shelling out £40 still pains me, even if I trade in games to lessen the blow. However, shelling out £40 for one half of a game?  Bad form, Travellers Tales/Lucasarts/Warner Bros/Satan’s nipple. Bad form.

I alone have got enough of your kids through college or rhinoplasty, now I have to spend another buttload for years 5-7? All I’m saying is that Year 7 better be split into two games like the films or… or… I’ll complain some more.

This aside, however, I really liked this game.

Similar to other games in the Lego franchise, you take control of your favourite characters, who are displayed in such unbearably cute lego form that you want to pinch their shiny plastic cheeks.  Interchanging between Harry, Ron and Hermione and others, you play out the events of each book, collecting studs and gold bricks as you go. With studs you can buy a multitude of things from Diagon Alley, such as characters and spells and you can even customise your own character from Madam Malkins.

The combat engine has also been improved. With Star Wars, you had blasters, the force and light sabres. With Indiana Jones, you had his trusty whip. With Harry Potter, you get the most complex and interesting system of the lot – a huge range of spells in your arsenal, which you learn as you progress through the years. There is a spell for every job so a lot of the game is about problem solving or coming back to a puzzle after you learn the appropriate spell.

The cutscenes also have the same adorable humour one comes to expect from these games, being both true to the stories and adding their own cute little take on them.

The thing that impresses me the most with this game is the attention to detail. The makers truly did absorb themselves in this world and recreate it from the inside out. Even a die-hard fan like me can appreciate how much depth they went into, especially with Hogwarts. The occasional cut scene deviates from the original plot but with Lego, you can forgive them for this.

All in all, the game takes about ten hours to finish but the huge amount of achievements could keep you playing this far, far longer.

My score – 8.5/10