The great thing about LEGO games is that the future of the series is predictable. Barring a last-minute surprise, you don't need to have studied marketing to know that a sequel is already in the works. With such a title, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 to 4, we suspect that Traveller's Tales keeps under the elbow the last years of Harry Potter's apprenticeship in witchcraft to close the saga in style. In the meantime, we will therefore relive the early youth of the favorite wizard of the schoolyards. The title focuses above all on the cinematographic versions of Rowling's novels. Harry Potter at the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and finally Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire are therefore on the program. Thus, we are invited to discover or rather rediscover the apprenticeship of the wizard of Hogwarts, because it must be admitted, the title is aimed more at fans of the series than at the uninitiated. If the terms Muggles, Death Eaters, Squibs or even Patronus are not part of your vocabulary, perhaps it is better to move on, unless you have fallen in love with LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Batman . Indeed, it will not be necessary to look for any originality in the software published by Warner Bros. Interactive, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 to 4 takes up in detail the same ingredients that made the success of the previous installments and offers us almost the same gaming experience.
One Potter can hide another
It is therefore always a question of revisiting films with LEGO sauce, since the developers have allowed themselves some liberties, in particular with regard to humor, omnipresent during the cutscenes which make the link between each chapter. Most of the adventure takes place at Hogwarts. From the great dining hall to Hagrid's house, through the various classrooms and corridors of the castle, you will learn new spells and physical techniques. Because at first, Harry – accompanied by the indispensable Ron and Hermione – will have almost no power. The spells, whether called Experlliamus, Wingardium Leviosa, Incendio, Stupefix, Petrificus or Rictussempra, will reveal many secret passages and hidden bonuses in the levels. If at first, it is impossible to dig deep into a chapter, you will have to come back to it via the "Free Game" mode to unlock all the secrets. Basically, the game is divided into two parts. The first, "History", features predefined characters that match the screenplay of the films. The second, "Free Game" therefore, offers you the opportunity to redo the same level with characters of your choice. Each character has a particular ability that unlocks certain accesses. Thus, Agrid can pull heavy objects, while his faithful dog Crocdur can dig the ground. Hermione knows how to decipher coded messages and Harry speaks Parseltongue to communicate with snakes. All these beautiful people, well combined, ensure that we finish the game at 100%. And when you know that there are 112 characters to buy, it promises us long hours of play. Because obviously, it is not enough to have enough money in your pocket to complete your collection of heroes. It will first be necessary to render a service to a student in danger, for example, in order to ensure the availability of a character in the shop.
But in the same way as other LEGO games, the title suffers from a certain repetitiveness that can tire more than one. Doing and redoing the same actions in order to obtain 100% in a level, even if it means chaining it three times in a row, quickly becomes redundant."
In the same way, it will be necessary to carry out certain constructions or combinations to unlock the extra bonuses (score x2, ghost parts, increased speed of actions, etc.). Thanks to its 24 levels, to which are added Hogwarts, the Leaky Cauldron, Diagon Alley, Gringotts Bank and the few LEGO challenges, we have time before seeing the end of it. But in the same way as other LEGO games, the title suffers from a certain repetitiveness that can tire more than one. Doing and redoing the same actions in order to obtain 100% in a level, even if it means chaining it three times in a row, quickly becomes redundant. Basically, the majority of players will tend to simply finish the Story mode, which represents about ten hours of play. For diehards, double this total time and you will have an idea of the lifespan from LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1 to 4. On the production side, not much to say or complain about, Traveller's Tales uses the same graphics engine. This has the merit of caricaturing the protagonists of the saga and perfectly recreating the universe of the films, without trying to push the technical possibilities of the consoles to the limits. No visual change, but nothing on the handling side either. It happens again and again that we slip stupidly into the void because of a camera that is not sufficiently adjusted. And as for the control of vehicles and other Nimbus 2000, precision is not its strong point as usual. It will even happen, for the less lucky among you, to witness freezes or a bug, which allows you to control two characters at the same time without being able to use their powers, or connect a second controller to try to correct this bug. . Even by reloading his save several times, the bug is resisting.
