Monday, July 25, 2016

Harry Potter Month: Back to School at Lego Hogwarts!

Harry Potter Month is hosted by Faith at Geeky Zoo Girl and Micheline at Lunar Rainbows Reviews. This awesome event runs all through July, and you can find more information about it here.

When I found out that playing the Lego Harry Potter video games would count towards House Cup points, my reaction was, "YASSSS!!!" Not that I need any motivation to play them because I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!

I've been playing the Lego games since Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga and have played a number of other Lego titles, including three Batman games, Pirates of the Caribbean, and two Marvel games. They're all an incredible amount of fun, which is why I keep playing them despite being way, way past the target age group, LOL. Lego HP, however, reigns supreme as my favorite. It is a completely immersive experience as you reenact key moments from the books/films—all in Lego form, of course!

It's been quite some time since I last visited Lego Hogwarts, which has only made my current playthrough of the first game, which covers Sorcerer's Stone to Goblet of Fire, all the more awesome. I'd forgotten how wonderfully detailed the game is and how much there is to discover. I'm not a hardcore gamer by any means, but as an HP fan, I'm still completely blown away by everything about this game. I'd love to talk about every single thing I love about it, but you could do a complete reread of all the books before I was even close to finished with the gushing, LOL. So here are a few of the highlights:

You're a Lego Wizard/Witch!

You get to experience Harry, Ron, and Hermione's adventures from the beginning! Not only do you play through major events from each book/film, but you also get to explore Hogwarts and attend lessons! Some places are even inaccessible until you learn the necessary spell or skill. For example, in year one you learn Wingardium Leviosa with Professor Flitwick, and in year two, Professor Sprout teaches you how to handle mandrakes properly. There are wardrobes all over the castle so your character can grab a pair of earmuffs for auditory protection. The fate of the wizarding world is literally in your hands as you mash those controller buttons!

Details, Details, Details!

I'll never stop being in awe over the level of detail in the game, from the eagle door knocker on the entrance to Ravenclaw Tower to Colin Creevey following you around and snapping your photo in year two to Beauxbatons and Durmstrang students walking the halls of Hogwarts in year four. You'll also recognize quite a bit of the music from the movies. In between the gameplay, there are cut scenes that are just as fun to watch. The characters in both Lego HP games don't actually talk, which has changed in the more recent Lego titles, but I've always liked how the characters convey everything with their facial expressions and the occasional laugh, sigh, or grunt.

Pick a Character. Any of the Over 150 Characters!

Although you have to play through each level once in Story mode with set characters, you can replay every level in Free Play mode with any character of your choosing. Helloooo, Sirius Black! No, really, he's my favorite character to play as. ♥ I can't think of an HP character who doesn't appear in the games, and there are also some generic ones like "Ravenclaw Prefect" and "Gryffindor Girl." My favorite non-specific character, though, has to be "Shifty Wizard," LOL.

You Get to Break Stuff—with Magic!

Sometimes you come home from a tough day at work/school and need to de-stress for a while. What better way than to bash virtual Lego bricks—no clean up! Breaking everything is essential in these games and how you rack up coins, plus . . . smashy, smashy! I feel an extra sense of gratification when I go ballistic on the giant spiders in the Chamber of Secrets level. Those things are scary, even as Legos!

Extremely High Replay Value

There are some video games, like books, that you never pick up again once you're done. Not the Lego HP games, though. I'm always ready to return to Lego Hogwarts and relive the magic all over again! I'm not sure if I'll have time to start years 5-7 before Harry Potter Month 2016 concludes, but if not, I know what I'll be doing during next year's HP Month! XD

Have you ever played the Lego HP games?

8 comments:

  1. I want to play ALL the Lego games but (obviously) ESPECIALLY the HP ones! I wish I owned them because I would have played throughout this month to be sure. The fun, attention to detail and smashing all sound brilliant but I'll be honest: I just want to play through ALL the things in Hogwarts with my favorite character, HARRY! After that, I'll play as Sirius, Dumbledore, Ginny, Hermione, Ron, the Twins, McGonagall, Luna, EVERYONE!! OMG! LOL! I'm not much of a gamer either but these are exactly the kind of games I'd play again and again. Must.Acquire.Them.

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    1. The awesome thing about the games is, you can play as all of those characters! :D And you can swap out the character you're playing as for another by drinking Polyjuice Potion! How clever is that?! That's what I mean about all of the clever touches both games feature; the designers truly put a lot of effort into making the games an HP fan's delight. Oh, I so hope you play these one day; you would LOVE them, I'm sure! :D

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  2. I just love it!! I have finished Goblet of Fire and am about to start 5 - 7 for the first time :D I can't wait to see all the new goodies in store for me. I have a blast smashing all those blocks, and you're right, it's such a great way to unwind. I love all the details. The common rooms are a favorite of mine. When HP month is over, I'm going to Free Play a while so I can pick some other characters to play with :D I love that Hermione is the 'book' one and you can use Scabbers/Crookshanks to access certain places. This is a brilliant game.

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    1. OMG, I'm so excited for you and Zane to play years 5-7! You guys are going to have SO MUCH FUN!! I also love how you get to explore the common rooms, and how you can only enter if your character belongs to the appropriate house. I think I'm going to continue with Free Play, too; I just can't leave the game half finished, LOL.

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  3. I've played the Star Wars Lego games but, unfortunately, I only have the old Xbox and I think it was discontinued before the HP Lego game came out. They sound really fun though!

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    1. I have both HP games (and the first Lego Star Wars, lol) for the PS3, and I don't want to upgrade because I don't think the HP games are available for the PS4. Maybe one day they'll be released as downloads for all the gaming systems so that more people will be able to play them—because everyone should! :D

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  4. This is great! I've played a bit of the HP Lego Sorcerer's Stone through Goblet of Fire. Unfortunately, it's my brother's counsel and game so I don't have access to it all that often. It is really fun though and reading all about it here makes me think I need to talk to my brother real soon. Maybe I can bribe him into loaning it to me for a couple of weeks. ;)

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    1. Getting to play Lego HP is absolutely worth any bribe, lol! I hope it works and your brother says yes! :D

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