A Repetitive Adventure That Fails to Create a Cooperative Environment
As someone who regularly looks for couch co-op games, I was rather excited to hear about the release of a remastered Harry Potter experience for the Playstation 4. Knowing my girlfriend is a big Harry Potter fan, I was looking forward to sharing a lighthearted adventure with her concurrently. Unfortunately, the gimmicks held within this LEGO franchise dissolve into a bland concoction of lackluster gameplay and an infuriating split screen feature.
The LEGO Harry Potter Collection features the graphically enhanced versions of LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, as well as two DLC packs that were offered on previous consoles. Since the collection features two separate games, starting up the game immediately requires you to choose between Years 1-4 or 5-7. Beyond different stories and levels, both games are relatively similar in structure and style. Players are taken through a series of cut scenes and story missions; neither including any dialogue from the movies. Gameplay revolves around completing the highlight moments of the franchise while collecting LEGO studs. Studs, which can be found throughout the destructible LEGO environments, can be traded in for extra spells, playable characters, and bonus levels.
While collecting studs feels oddly satisfying, the joy of destroying everything in sight runs out quickly when you realize how bland the level designs are. Each level is essentially the same, just with a different backdrop and a shuffling of playable characters. The game tries as hard as it can to recycle previous locations by adding “new” content, such as Ron Weasley wearing a sweater instead of pajamas.
The story mode fails to provide one obvious feature from the series: Quidditch. The Playstation 1 had a terrible Sorcerer’s Stone game that included Quidditch. The Game Boy Advance had a version of “Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup”. College fraternities have developed a form of Quidditch. It’s the one thing that everybody who’s seen the Harry Potter movies wants to try for themselves. The game teases you into thinking you’ll try the sport by showing you a cutscene of Harry preparing for a match. Right when you are ready to man a broomstick, it drops you into a level that has you running around the grandstands as a match takes place.
Albeit, the controls of flying a broom within the game are not great as is. But still… let us play a game of Quidditch….
Like most LEGO stud-collectors, offline co-op is available. A second player can drop in/out of the gameplay seamlessly throughout the game. This makes for an extremely convenient multiplayer experience. However, the untamable beast of the split screen mechanic creates more friction than cooperation. As both players move around the level, the game attempts something I can only define as "fluid split screen".
Think of the split screen as if it were on a 360 degree axis. As you and your partner move around the level, the angle of the split will adjust based on your location. This system, designed to provide independent gameplay within a cooperative setting, tends to be more distracting than helpful.
For example, if you are at the top of the level while your partner is at the bottom, the split will run horizontal. You then move to the top-left corner while your partner moves to the bottom-right; creating a diagonal split across your TV screen. If you and your partner join back together in the middle of the level, the split will disappear and the screen will display in full.
The fluidity of the split makes it incredibly difficult to track your character's location within the level. The constant flipping between full screen and angled split screens is so disorienting, you wish the developers would scrap the entire system for a normal split screen mechanic as part of the remastered package.
The mix of confusing multiplayer with bland single player gameplay leaves much to be desired from this collection. Whether a result from the game not aging well, or from the game design itself, the Lego Harry Potter Collection is a game left to those seemingly desperate to capture the magic of the Harry Potter Universe on the PS4.
Just don't be upset if you find yourself bored as you trudge around the grounds of Hogwarts.