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mrty
I'm a passionate game maker who is always trying to bring his dreams to life, willing to do whatever it takes. If you want to work with me, send me a PM. Be warned though that my internet relationships are mostly professional.

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Retro gaming

Posted by mrty - February 4th, 2010


While the term "retro gaming" usually applies to the 80s games, since the idea is playing old games, it should also apply to the ones developed in the early 2000s.

Today I found Harry Potter: Prisoner of the Azkaban the video game in my shelf. The main reason why I installed it, actually, is because the music was pretty good and I was thinking of using a track or two for my next game (with giving them credit, of course). I thought that while I installed it, I may as well play it a bit. I always liked Harry Potter games amongst the films, sure as hell better than some of the movie based games out there. And so I played it.

As soon as I neared the end of the first stage, I realized something. The game is meant for children. Literally. Not only there are lack of enemies, they are REALLY easy. They die in one spell. One shot, and they drop dead. Just like some of the enemies in Cadillacs and Dinosaurs the game, they run around aimlessly and throw a very inaccurate shot in every 10 seconds. None of the enemies present a challenge, except maybe dementors, which entail good timing. The difficulty cannot be adjusted, you have to stick to the dull, easy style of play. I completed two stages and I swear, I didn't get hit a single time. I collected the chocolate frogs just for the hell of it.

The bosses are easy, too. In the first battle with Peeves, I just casted TWO TIMES until he died. He didn't do anything, he just roamed around. The bosses are nothing special, they are all "hit him until he dies" kind of bosses. They don't require thinking, awareness, or even skill. Cast your spells at him and dodge his rarely fired attacks, until he dies.

The secrets and puzzles don't even require any logic. You just have to cast at the knight armors or paintings. As long as you hold your mouse button on every painting and stuff like that, you should be able to find all the secrets.

The amount of different spells and collecting wizard cards and all that, the game is quite fun. The easy gameplay however, kills it. I guess I don't even have to talk about the 2004s graphics. The music is pretty good though, as mentioned earlier.

I'll keep playing it but something tells me that I'll get bored VERY soon. Retro gaming never really was my style, and I guess it will never be. Maybe I'll just get what I want from the sound files and just delete the game. Kinda sad that I used to be a big fan of this game at the time.


Comments

Of course it's a children's game...

And "Retro" cannot possibly refer to early 2000s games. "Retro" does, and always will, refer to games made in the '80s or '90s. Each "era" has its own name. "Classic", "Retro", etc. This decade of gaming will be called by something along the lines of "Revolutionary" or "Mainstream".

Why "of course"? It's not like the Harry Potter films are for children. In fact, Harry Potter 3 (can't bother to type the full name) was rated PG (Parental Guidance).

I got it for original Xbox like 3-4 years ago and I have still not finished it...

You mean you are still playing? :P

You have to understand that parents are very overly protective here. "PG" does not mean "Unsuitable for Children". It means "We're giving it this rating so we don't get sued". There are almost no "G" rated movies. The majority of children's films are PG. Even "PG-13" is considered a kids' movie. The ratings are only in place to please overprotective parents.

The Harry Potter series is a kids' series--both the books and the films--and has always been so.

Harry Potter series got more serious as it progressed. The little kids we knew from the first film grew up, and the story kept getting darker. I can't say anything about it being for children, but I can very well say that the first two films were for kids. The others are more serious if you ask me, although I didn't watch them much because the series started to get boring.