Review of Lego Harry Potter Years 1 - 4

Its easy to dismiss a Harry Potter game but in the case of Lego Harry Potter, that would be a mistake - the game is worth playing. Lego Harry Potter Years 1 - 4 is considerably more fun than watching the movies and is easily one of the best co-op games I've played since the old-days (when almost every game was co-op).

Gamers new to the Lego franchise will also be in for a pleasant surprise. As a hardcore gamer, I put off Lego XYZ for a long time. However, once I finally caved and got Lego Star Wars, I was hooked. The series is clever, funny and relatively original. Its a real blast seeing how effective the Lego universe can be at representing things never intended to be put in blocks and studs.

At first blush I might wish for the game to be more difficult - even by today's standards its definitely on the easy side. But being easy and being boring are two completely different things - and this game is not boring. Being easy lets this game be extremely accessible - young and casual gamers will have a blast. More sophisticated gamers should be able to appreciate the game's other values.

Despite what I've heard, the split-screen feature is well implemented and the few viewing problems you might run into are more than worth it for great 2-player gaming. Our game did hang 3 or 4 times, but whether thats because of a software bug or faulty hardware, I can't say. The only real problem I had with the game was the relatively short length. Compared to Lego Star Wars The Complete Saga, Harry Potter Years 1 - 4 felt much shorter. The repetitive back and forth through Hogwarts was also a little annoying - but its hard to tell a Harry Potter story without spending a lot of time at Hogwarts.