I’m a bit of in a time crunch, so no time to waste with an intro. Let’s go!
The sorcerer’s philosopher’s stone: The Classes
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"TROLL! IN THE DUNGEON!
...thought you ought to know." |
We all know what happens on Halloween in the first film, but here’s a refresher: After being bullied by Malfoy, Hermione runs to the girls’ bathrooms. Professor Quirrel busts into the dining hall, yelling about a troll in the dungeons, and Harry and Ron end up having to rescue their friend. The troll, already? It’s only the second level! Goes to show just how quickly the Bricks’ Notes version speeds through the events of the story.
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Pictured: Me being stupid, using the wrong
controls, while playing a game for kids. |
Harry and Ron first need to find a way to sneak into the girls’ bathrooms, which they do by getting a disguise. Then, it’s a boss fight against the troll, setting up one of the main defensive tactics in the game. See, you can grab a projectile by using Wingardium Leviosa (WL), and then toss it back at sender. Many boss fights in the game work exactly that way. And because I was still figuring out the controls at the time (+ dealing with the accidental activation of 2-Player Mode), I couldn’t for the life of me understand how to fight the troll. I kept pressing H, which takes a moment to detect a target for levitation, whereas using WL with the J key instantly targets an object within range. And that’s what I had to do in order to grab the debris the troll was throwing at me, so that I could throw it back at his face. Then finish him off by levitating his own club and dropping it on his head, just like in the film.
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| Shouldn't plants like the light though? |
Before the next level, we learn the Lumos spell, which is useful to light places, but is mostly used to get rid of light-hating vines blocking the way; we even upgrade it to Lumos Solem later to defeat the Devil’s Snare. The game is built in such a way that each spell is necessary to deal with a particular type of enemy or blockade, railroading the player and providing puzzles. And of course, it means that once you learn how to take care of an obstacle, suddenly that obstacle is everywhere. Examples: The goddamn screaming mandrakes pop up all over the place after the Herbology class with Mrs. Pomona Sprout, and after you learn to cast Riddikulus, you can’t walk five steps without finding a chest containing a Boggart. Geez, I hope you’re not a first-year student, or you’re kinda screwed.
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Somehow, the LEGO game portrays perfectly
the unpleasantness of Severus Snape. |
Next up is Snape’s potions class. Due to the voice-less nature of this LEGO game we miss out on a lot of the depth JK Rowling had given to Snape in the novel and movie; as an example, the question about potions that he directs at Harry is secretly a statement that he regrets the death of Harry’s mother Lily. Instead, we see the mechanic in dealing with potions around Hogwarts: If you see a boiling cauldron nearby, you’ll have to solve mini-puzzles to gather three items to put in the cauldron, in order to make the potion and progress. The first mixture in the game is basically the magic potion from the Asterix series, granting the drinker a temporary strength boost allowing them to activate levers they couldn’t otherwise.
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The devs had fun with this one, featuring some
quick shots of Quidditch players, just short
enough that they don't bother the player. |
Next, in the broom-riding class, we learn that Harry is the only student of the trio to be any good on a broom, meaning that he’ll be required in puzzles involving brooms. His skills are noticed and he joins the Quidditch team on their next match. This is our third level, in which we play as… not Harry, but Ron and Hermione who believe Snape is casting a spell on Harry’s broom to make him lose control and fall. They try to reach the teachers’ stands to disrupt the caster. And props to the game, it also shows Quirrell’s minifigurine mouth casting a spell, thus being faithful to the movie. It’s actually something that I noticed with this game: It takes into account that the player has read the books or seen the films, and makes sure to set the same beats, visuals and even the foreshadowing, albeit in LEGO form. That’s interesting. Ron and Hermione, using all their skills learned so far, create a fire underneath Snape, also stopping Quirrell’s enchantment and saving Harry, who wins the game by catching the Golden Snitch… inside his head.
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| See? Quirrell is chanting an incantating too! |
Harry probably could have died seven times over with how long it took them, but he’s fine.
The sorcerer’s philosopher’s stone: The mirror of Erised
It’s now Christmas in Hogwarts, and Harry gets his invisibility cape. This becomes his second unique trait; he can use the cape to sneak around areas. Mind you, he’s still being followed around by at least one other character, so that stealth is dubious at best. The in-game effect makes most of Harry transparent. Harry and Ron use this new ability to sneak behind Dumbledore into the Forbidden section of the school’s library, where they find the mirror of Erised for the first time.
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Why did this level have a "Hurry, Harry is in
danger!" meter? It doesn't matter how long it
takes to get there, we arrive right on time! |
Past that, the trio goes to see Hagrid, who’s taking care of a unicorn… the same way one treats a sick kid; with soup and a thermometer in the mouth. Just outside, Draco was spying in and makes some noise, causing the unicorn to flee in the woods. Hagrid hires Harry, Ron, Hermione and Draco to look for the unicorn. Harry and Draco do find it, but they also see what looks like Voldemort. Much of the level follows Hermione, Ron, Hagrid and Fang, Hagrid’s dog, through the woods looking for Harry and Draco after they cast their warning light. Once again, the ones in danger would have had time to die twenty times before we arrive to rescue them. Notably, Fang and other pets can be used to dig marked spots on the ground. The group eventually reaches the two, but everyone (including the unicorn, not killed in this version) is saved by the arrival of a centaur. Good, the game didn’t forget about those!
One thing I did like about the Harry Potter series was that if you had prior knowledge of many mythologies, you had a leg ahead of other readers. In that same scene, Firenze the Centaur (a species said to be into astrology) says that Mars (the planet, but also the Roman god of war) is bright as of late. This was meant to foreshadow the wizarding war six years later.
Dammit, I remember now why I liked that series. Everything is so well thought-out. Well… there are blind spots but they're rare.
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I'm not worried about the kids getting hurt in the
chess game, I worry more that the game will
crash again this far into the damn level! |
Harry, Ron and Hermione spot Quirrell going towards the forbidden hall, so they follow him in there, starting the final level. First they must put Fluffy to sleep by rebuilding a harp with Wingardium Leviosa, then fend off the Devil’s Snare with Lumos Solem, then catch a key using Harry’s skills on a broom, and then win the sorta-chess game. (For the record, the game crashed repeatedly at the chess sequence, forcing me to start the whole level over every time. That was great! /s)
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| Okay, that does look pretty awesome. |
Then, Harry walks into the final room, where he gets the titular Stone from the mirror of Erised, and fights Quirrel. You know the drill; he was hiding the last remnant of Voldemort’s being under his turban. To beat them, it’s a tennis match again, just like for the troll; toss back the poisoned heads they throw. But there’s a catch; every time he’s stunned, you have to jump across gaps to reach him and touch him, causing damage. It gets harder after each successful hit.
Once this climactic boss is beaten, Harry destroys Quirrell’s body just by touching it but then faints; and Voldemort, now incorporeal, is unable to grab the Stone so he leaves. Harry awakens in the hospital wing, with Dumbledore nearby (who was waiting at the wrong bed, no less!), who secures the Stone before offering the team some of the Every Flavour Beans. The headmaster tries one himself and burps out a soap bubble; an ingenuous way to do the “alas, earwax” gag from the original stories. End of the first Year! ...That took forever!
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"Something good, I hope? Nope; dish soap."
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The Chamber of Secrets: Meet the Narcissist
Not that I intend to speed through everything, but now that the bases have been set, I can actually focus on the story.
We know how this one starts: Harry isn’t allowed to use magic outside of Hogwarts, and the Dursleys know it. However, just as the nasty family is having guests over, Harry is visited by a house elf who tries to convince him not to return to the Wizarding School this year, having even intercepted his friends’ letters and trying to throw away Harry’s wizardry stuff. The house elf, Dobby, further puts Harry into trouble by throwing a cake in a guest’s face downstairs before disappearing. Now locked in his room by the Dursleys as punishment, Harry is freed by the Weasleys, who show up in a flying car to take him to their place.
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He's 12. And a wizard. I'd say it's a safe bet
that he doesn't have a license. |
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It's a miracle that this house is still standing,
but it already feels more like a home than
living at the Dursleys'. |
At the Burrow, Harry meets the rest of the Weasley family, including Ginny, Ron’s younger sister who starts her first year at Hogwarts. We start by taking care of the garden. Hey, I just said that young wizards weren’t allowed to use magic, but apparently that’s not stopping them from casting WL and Lumos and whatever else! They get the house ready, then the Weasleys share a wizarding tradition of traveling through fireplaces, but Harry mispronounces “Diagon Alley” and ends up in the dark Knockturn Alley instead. Thankfully, Hagrid shows up to take him back to the right place. They leave Knockturn and head to the bookstore, where Gilderoy Lockhart, this year’s Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, is promoting his newest book.
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Well, the voiceless game does capture his damn
annoying "look at me" attitude. |
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Oh hey, another pleasant fellow.
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Again, the series is full of awesome details, not just in continuity but also in character elements. Lockhart is a living textbook on traits pertaining to narcissism, and Kenneth Branagh offered a wonderful performance showcasing all of that in the film. Some of it does show up in the LEGO version, but due to the lack of voice-acting and time in cutscenes, a lot of Lockhart’s subtler narcissistic traits don’t get through. We get the gist of it, but some of the text is lost on the way.
Draco Malfoy steals a book from Ginny and takes it back to his dad, who very obviously hands back two books to the redhead girl, one of which doesn’t even look like the other. At King’s Cross, Harry and Ron fail to get to Platform 9 3/4ths due to Dobby’s tricks, and end up driving the flying car to Hogwarts. They crash-land into the Whomping Willow; the car spits them out and speeds off, and Ron's wand breaks.
The Chamber of Secrets: Menagerie of Monsters
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I hope you like the deafening screech of the
mandrakes, because you'll be hearing it a lot. |
The students’ first class in second year is Herbology, where Pomona Sprout shows how to deal with mandrakes: First, find a cupboard and put on earmuffs, then grab the mandrake and shove it in a pot of soil. The damn things will keep appearing in your way from now on. And in their vicinity, you can do nothing while they scream – can’t cast spells, can’t even run until you find earmuffs. Can’t I just Avada Kedavra them from a distance? On the plus side, these things’ screams are powerful enough to shatter glass, so they do have SOME friggin’ use. Next up is Lockhart’s lesson involving little blue imps. Much like in the original novel, things get out of control and you’re left on your own to learn the imp-destroying spell Immobilus.
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Gee, I wonder if the game is trying to egg me
into using a character who has spells that
Ron and Hermione don't know yet. |
Speaking of immobility, this is where the first victim of petrification is found: Filch’s cat, hanging over a puddle of water. Oh, and rows of spiders are fleeing from the castle, as well. Nothing to help Ron’s arachnophobia. Anyhow, now is time for Harry’s big Quidditch match of the year, going up against Slytherin’s team and, of course, Draco Malfoy. However, Harry gets targeted by a Bludger during the match, and we control Ron, Hermione and Hagrid chasing down the source. It’s Dobby, whom they must strike 5 times to stop him from controlling the Bludger. We know the rest of the story: Harry falls, breaks his arm, and Lockhart spectacularly fails at curing him, so we move to the hospital wing where Ron and Hermione help Pomfrey in making a potion to cure Harry. Of note, Pomfrey has access to stuff we haven’t learned yet, so we get a taste of what it’s like to have a full inventory of magic spells.
With the looming threat of a petrification monster in the walls of the castle, Gilderoy Lockhart teaches the wand-disarming Expelliarmus, then has Harry duel Draco to learn to use it in a battle. Lockhart may be a pathetic person, but he still taught Harry one of his most important spells, so hey, he wasn’t entirely useless. However, this is where Harry reveals that he can speak Parseltongue, causing people to think that he may be the “heir of Slytherin” who opened the Chamber of Secrets. From now on, Harry can talk to snakes in the Hogwarts hub to unlock new areas.
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| Just the hair? They messed up the potion! |
Following this, the trio realizes they need to get more information from Draco and the Slytherins, so they hide in the bathrooms to make Polyjuice potion, the body transformation mixture that will also allow the players to control any character while visiting the hub world. Harry and Ron use it to turn into Crabbe and Goyle (though, as per the silliness of LEGO, they achieve that just by putting on the two brutes’ hair pieces above their own), with Hermione staying behind due to accidentally using cat hair and turning into a cat. At the end of this level, Harry and Ron unfortunately don’t get to learn much about the situation.
The Chamber of Secrets: Into the Chamber
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See Aragog in the back there?
Side note: The car controls like complete garbage. |
One of my favorite tropes in fiction is when the most competent member of a team is taken out in some way, forcing the others to up their game against the current threat. Hermione gets petrified by the monster, leaving Harry and Ron to investigate on their own. At first, Harry finds Tom Riddle’s diary, and while reading it is sent into another level: A sepia flashback showing Riddle blaming Hagrid for the monster in the castle, which he claims to be a spider that lives in the Forbidden Forest. In the next level, Harry and Ron meet with Hagrid, who tells them to follow the spiders, before being taken away alongside Dumbledore to the Ministry of Magic. The two kids go into the Forest and encounter (and fight) Aragog the giant spider, and then have to flee from it using the flying car… and a motorbike, since you still have to be able to control Harry and Ron separately.
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| Bad idea, Gilderoy! |
Under Hermione, they find her notes: The monster in the Chamber is a basilisk. They report to the adults, who ask Lockhart to deal with it. The coward tries to flee instead, but is forced by Harry and Ron to accompany them down there. He tries to outsmart them with a memory spell, but uses Ron’s broken wand, causing the spell to backfire on him. Harry has to move on alone and finds Ginny Weasley in the next room. She awakens on seeing him, but Tom Riddle shows up, revealing himself to be a memory of Voldemort when he was young. He sends the Basilisk at them. Boss time!
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| To its credit, the Basilisk still looks really cool in LEGO. |
I didn’t like this boss, because it took me a while to figure out what to do. I had to goad the snake into attacking piles of boulders; but trash cans around the area had the blue arrow that meant “use me!” and I thought there was something in them. (There wasn’t.) From the broken walls, you get items for the strength potion, necessary to unlock the second half. Fawkes the Phoenix arrives with the Sorting Hat and the Sword of Griffindor, dealing another point of damage to the basilisk. Then, a bit of platforming is required to deal the final blow with the sword. Here's the cool thing: Unlike the book and movie, Ginny is awake, so you can have her get revenge on Tom Riddle for controlling her for so long!
After the basilisk is defeated, the two destroy the book with the snake’s venomous fang, killing the memory. They are then rescued by Fawkes. The story ends, as we know, with the reveal that Lucius Malfoy was the one who gave Ginny the book, and Harry retaliates by tricking him into freeing Dobby, who was the Malfoys’ house elf. All the victims of petrification have been cured, including Hermione! And so this Year abruptly ends on a happy reunion.
Great! Phew, this was lengthy – how about we move on to Years 3 and 4 in the next part?
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