Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 – review

The much-touted darker tone of JK Rowling's last Harry Potter book at least has one welcome effect: the obligatory licensed game supporting the book and film can at least claim to be something resembling a game, rather than a meticulous reconstruction of Hogwarts with a few vaguely game-like elements tacked on.

Deathly Hallows Part 1 is a third-person action-adventure effort in which you play the eponymous, now-teenaged, wizard as he re-enacts (generally in tandem with Ron and Hermione) various iconic encounters from the book. This time around, the gameplay mechanic involves taking on hordes of enemies by firing spells at them, chucking potions and, in the case of Death Eaters, unleashing an Expectum Patronus. There are also periods of sneaking around underneath the Invisibility Cloak.

While this should please gamers more than previous Harry Potter instalments, that doesn't mean it's particularly good. The control system (which has a handy target lock-on) is perfectly serviceable, and the game's structure – with long storyline passages punctuated by groups of three missions which you can undergo in any order – makes sense. And you do have to think about which spell to assign to your wand. But the actual process of casting spells at enemies is very repetitive and, frankly, a bit dull.

Graphically, it's a tad disappointing, too. The one interesting aspect of the game is confined to the Xbox 360 version: a set of challenges (presented as an annex to the main game) which support Kinect, and in which you aim and pick spells and defend yourself from incoming ones, using different hand gestures. One suspects that legions of long-suffering parents will find a Kinect topping their offspring's Christmas lists as a result.

Harry Potter fanatics might find the mere chance to re-enact their hero's exploits sufficiently exciting to allow them to overlook the game's shortcomings. But the unconverted won't be able to ignore its general overall shoddiness and its one-paced gameplay. The Potter franchise, of course, is so overwhelmingly popular that Deathly Hallows Part 1 is almost guaranteed to take the video game charts by storm. But when you play it, you get the feeling that everyone involved with the franchise will be secretly relieved when the whole juggernaut finally grinds to a permanent halt.