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LEGO games still have some magic.

I'll preface this review by saying I'm usually a pretty big fan of the LEGO games that Traveller's Tales puts out, even if I'll agree that they usually end up a little far on the repetitious and same-y side more often than not. I really, really liked LEGO Batman, but found myself feeling kind of lukewarm on LEGO Indy 2, so I wasn't sure what to expect out of LEGO Harry Potter Years 1-4. I'm happy to say that this is the best LEGO based title to date from TT, and probably one of the best kid's focused titles I've played in recent years.

On the surface not a whole lot is different, especially if you're just giving a casual glance at the game trailer or demo. Like the previous titles, there's a heavy emphasis on using humor and non-speaking LEGO figures to depict the events of the four films, while you take control of one character (with the ability to switch between multiple), and bash your way through different LEGO themed takes on the different locations from all four films. The goal is pretty much the same too, collect as many LEGO studs as possible, and just re-enact the different events from all of the films collected here. Each film is more or less a self contained game, meaning that when you finish Year 1, the credits will roll and you'll be dumped back into the Leaky Cauldron location, which acts a small starting area every time you boot up the game.

The hub aspect has seen a change in the form of using the entirety of Hogwarts as a centralized location for your characters to explore. While previous games have made use of a small area where you'd launch into the larger, streamlined levels (think of the Batcave in LEGO Batman), Hogwarts is incredibly large and expansive, with new areas constantly being unlocked and explored outside of just being a normal level or something to progress the story with. It's a bit like a Metroid title if you wanted a quick comparison or something easy to relate to. Take, for instance, the various vines that'll block your path early on. You'll get a spell that'll eventually let you light up your wand with a bright light, which will in turn remove the vines that were once blocking your path. Along with that, you'll gain a wand power that'll destroy previously impervious metal locks and other obstacles, and you'll also gain access to additional characters that can get you even further. Some of these paths are completely optional too, not needed to finish the game with, which means once you're done with the storyline you've still got a lot of work to do in Hogwarts if you want to find and explore everything.

The game has incredible value if you want to look at it from that standpoint, and while the LEGO games are generally notorious for having a lot of unlockable content and time consuming achievements, LEGO Harry Potter really takes the cake in that field. There are tons of unlockable characters, and while that gets cheapened a bit by the number that are simple clothing variations (Harry in a blue shirt, Harry in a sweater), there's still some cooler characters to play with if you want to seek them out and obtain the number of LEGO studs needed to unlock them. Besides that, the game really lends itself well to the more obsessive achievement hounds out there, as there are a number of optional objectives in not only Hogwarts but the different levels you can explore.

Finally, the LEGO level creator makes a return here, and it's even more refined and easy to use than ever before. There are a couple hoops to jump through if you want to get to the meat of it, including some small bonus levels that serve as little more than destructible environments to tear apart and collect LEGO studs in, but once you get things unlocked and make your way past the simple tutorials, it's pretty cool to check out. There's a lot you can do with it, and the controls are simple enough that the kids who pick this game up to play will have just as much fun toying around with it as the adults. It's not quite a suitable replacement for real LEGO sets, but it's certainly close.

Overall, even if you've burned out of the LEGO games before now, I think it's worth your time to take a good look at what LEGO Harry Potter has to offer. It's often funny, addictive, and surprisingly good to look at, and the wide appeal that this franchise has tacked on with the already wide appeal that LEGO in general has is sure to make this something that fans of either property won't want to pass up. It definitely helps that it's also fun to play, which is certainly the most important thing, and I highly suggest that people of all ages give this one a go.