Harry Potter Quidditch World Cup (PC)

The games based on J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter franchise have always been great commercial successes, riding the coattails of the wildly popular books. The games' publisher, Electronic Arts, has boldly attempted to branch out from the action adventure games by creating a "sports" game based on the fictional sport of quidditch, which is described in the various Harry Potter books and depicted in the films. While Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is a decent first effort at simulating the chosen sport of wizards, it falls short of its promise primarily because of sluggish controls and shallow gameplay.

Quidditch is analogous to soccer.

For those who aren't familiar with the Harry Potter books or films, quidditch is roughly analogous to airborne soccer. Seven players on each team ride broomsticks around a huge arena while chasing and interacting with four balls that are in play simultaneously. Three vertical hoops of varying height stand on each end of the oval field, or "pitch," as it's called. These hoops represent the goal-scoring area for each team.

Three players on a team take the "chaser" position; their role is similar to that of a forward on a soccer or hockey squad. Their primary responsibility is to score goals through the hoops using the quaffle, which is one of the balls in play. Each goal is worth 10 points. Two other players on each team are the "beaters," and their role has no equivalent in any other sport. The beaters are armed with small bats, which they use to swat at two magically propelled balls, called bludgers. The bludgers will randomly attack the players on the pitch--the beaters' duty is to protect their own players from the bludgers while using their bats to try to encourage the bludgers to go after the other team. One player is the "keeper," and as the name suggests, the keeper's job is to play goalie near the vertical hoops and prevent any goals. Finally, the seventh player on each team plays as the "seeker." The seeker's job is to keep an eye out for a tiny and elusive ball called the golden snitch. Like the bludgers, the snitch is magically self-propelled. A match of quidditch continues until the golden snitch is caught; the seeker who snatches it earns 150 points for his or her team.

The books and films have always portrayed quidditch as a chaotic spectacle. With 14 players zipping around on lightning-fast broomsticks while chasing and dodging four balls in play, quidditch is obviously a very complex sport. In an attempt by the developers to simplify the game for the younger audience, who will likely be the primary players of Quidditch World Cup, you'll directly control the chasers and the seeker only. You don't seem to get any control over the keeper, and your interaction with the beaters is limited to pressing the bludger button, which will cause one of your beaters to launch a bludger at the opposing chasers. From there you control only the bludger as you try to collide with the enemy quaffle-carrier.

The game does a good job of easing you into the game of quidditch and teaching you the fundamentals. The four-team tournament at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry serves as an extended tutorial. First, you practice simple concepts like passing, shooting, and tackling, and then you are allowed to play a game against one of the other houses at Hogwarts. After that, bludgers and special moves are introduced, and another game in the house tournament is played, until finally you are indoctrinated with the concept of combo passes, and the final tutorial game is played with all features enabled. If you should win the round-robin tournament at Hogwarts against the other houses, the World Cup will be unlocked, and you'll be able to choose from nine different world teams including the US, England, Australia, and Germany and play in that round-robin tournament for the World Cup.

You'll meet many recognizable characters along the way.

Quidditch World Cup also does a good job of including recognizable characters from the books and movies. Potter serves as the seeker for Gryffindor, with the Weasley twins at the beater positions. Malfoy is the recognizable jerk playing seeker for Slytherin, while Harry's love interest, Cho, is the seeker for Ravenclaw. As you advance into the World Cup, Ludo Bagman, the international head of wizard sports, handles the play-by-play announcing.

Quidditch World Cup's primary flaw lies in its control, which often feels sluggish. The game doesn't seem to do a very good job of capturing the speed of the game as it was portrayed in the films. Instead of feeling the freedom of flight, your players often feel more like they're slogging through a thick soup. No turbo button exists to speed up your players. While you won't always want to fly at the same speed, it seems as if the computer decides arbitrarily how fast you can fly or how sharply you'll be allowed to turn. Passing is also imprecise. You have control over the direction of your pass using the directional stick, but oftentimes your teammates will inexplicably leave their passing lanes just as you throw the quaffle. Expect to turn the ball over frequently and not always know why. The console versions all control similarly, but PC players who lack a gamepad may find the keyboard and mouse control a bit tricky, though not unlearnable.

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