Harry Potter and the Philosopher's / Sorcerer's Stone PC Game - Nostalgia Review

[Music] leaves you'll be banished for this some baby game Titans can leave a lot to be desired whereas some are actually half decent and can leave a lasting impression one such example for me are the early Harry Potter games which I still play every now and then I need a good hit of nostalgia now I see the PlayStation 1 games got talks about a fair amount on YouTube due to their questionable graphics whereas the PC games don't seem to get talked about as much so I thought it was only right that they get a proper overlooked gun reviewed and where better to start than with Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone on PC no I don't I don't have the actual box anymore but it's not my computer so this is Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was developed by no wonder and published by EA in 2001 to tie in with the release of the first film getting it to work in 2020 with Windows 10 involved a bit of a workaround due to this CD check anti-piracy feature no longer being supported but after getting through that it actually runs pretty well the game begins with a story book explaining the plot up until the point where Harry reaches Hogwarts it would have been nice to see some of this in the in-game graphics instead but it does a good job the game then starts with Dumbledore welcoming Harry to Hogwarts telling him to explore every nook and cranny that Hogwarts has to offer without going into the dangerous third-floor corridor before apparently starting to lose his voice near the end of the conversation no boosters and off do lessons when you finally get control of Harry the first thing you notice is the slightly odd controls with Harry controlling sort of like a tank similar to the controls and Resident Evil although with slightly more freedom no there's no strafing in this first Harry Potter go spell casting is done by holding the left mouse button which causes Harry to stop moving so you can aim the stop start nature of these controls can be a bit annoying at first but you end up getting used to it pretty quickly Ron's brothers Fred and George then take you through a tutorial level where they teach you how to jump and instruct you to collect as many Bertie Botts every flavor beans as you can throughout Hogwarts for an experiment they are these beans are stuffed into every caldron bazan chests listed around the castle so you're more than likely to collect hundreds of them in return they'll give you a collectible wizard card these wizard cards are hidden all throughout Hogwarts and provide the perfect reward for thorough exploration the twins will also come to hurry throughout the game when they need more beans in exchange for wizard cards appearing from secret passages in the walls the floor behind paintings and even a fireplace so cool as well as beans another sugary snack is the chocolate frog which replenishes some of harry stamina indicated by the lightning bolt meter on the screen you were also introduced to peeves an annoying poltergeist that appears in the books but not in the films he appears every now and then throughout the game to cause chaos and pester you eventually you get to your first lesson where Professor Quirrell teaches you the most basic of all the spells in the game series flip n dough and knock back jinx that pushes back all manner of blocks switches trees and boulders as well as damaging some enemies take that thieves to learn spells you have to trace the spell symbol in the air with your wand which for us means drawing the symbol with your mouse within a time limit now I know that seems like a cool idea but a mouse is really hard to draw with and when I was younger I could never oh wait that was totally fine after doing this a few times and winning some house points you then entered the flippin dough talent an assault course where you can test out your newly learned spell there are also challenge stars along the way which will earn you house points at the end of the challenge in the middle of the challenge you meet nearly headless Nick who shows you how to save the game using the floating save game books around hot Wars you restart from these books if and when you faint which in my case means falling to your death eaten alive by flesh-eating plants and being murdered by Professor Quirrell over and over again you also come across gnomes potato looking creatures that will stop at nothing to steal all your beans unless you knock them over with flippin dough causing them to sigh endlessly with exhaustion the flippin dough challenge isn't really that hard but it does a reasonable job at teaching you the spell and practicing more platforming after the challenge is over you were then sent to flying lessons with madam huge I have to say they've done a pretty good job by making some of these characters look very similar to their film counterparts flying is not too difficult to control where your direction is controlled by the movement keys although turning tight corners accurately can be challenging the lesson sees you flying through hoops of varying size and height and is good practice for Quidditch matches you can also practice flying from the main menu if you need to brush up Hey look there's a secret wizard card behind the Hogwarts logo afterwards you were then whisked away to charms class whisked away seems to be the motto of the game so far as you haven't really had much time to explore Hogwarts properly yet before the lesson hermione teaches you the spell Alohomora an unlocking charm and takes it upon herself to award Harry house points um the Alohomora spell is extremely useful unlocking doors chests and many other hidden secrets it's these secrets which really add to the magical charm of the game finally you get to class and learn Wingardium Leviosa a levitating spell which is used to move large stone blocks to solve puzzles the challenges okay moving the blocks is cool at first especially with the camera changes and glowing effects but it can get a bit tedious don't think I don't see you there a little after enjoying some views of the exterior of Hogwarts and completing the challenge hermione sends you a note by owl telling you to hurry up to your homology lesson you get to explore a little bit of Hogwarts here but not too much before draco comes along to stop you leaving the castle by throwing Christmas crackers at you it doesn't take too long to defeat the little pushover and leave the castle to reach the grounds Hermione meets you at the entrance to Professor sprouts garden through which the green house is located the so called garden is actually a gauntlet full of snails that leave behind trails of fire and flesh-eating venomous tentacles plants that for some reason are allowed in a school after battling through professor sprout teaches you in sin do a fire spell that is used to welt or destroy plants you were then sent into the incendio challenge throughout which sprout observes you from her balcony like a military leader or a dictator you come across spiky bushes that fire you with needles when destroyed and doc sees blue flying creatures won't stop biting you until you die there are some cool puzzles here including this snazzy watering puzzle where once you levitate three blocks into position there is enough water pressure for the plants in the next room to be watered and rotated this plant challenge is quite cool with a good variety of enemies and tasks to complete after the challenge is over you are invited to tea a Hagrid's hut but not before you have to rescue nevels remember all stolen by scumbag Malfoy after which Professor McGonagall reward to you by placing you in the Quidditch team after finally being allowed to go to Hagrid's hut for tea he ends up sending you off anyway to go and collect fire seeds to help hatch a Dragon's egg that he has these fire seed plants are located throughout a series of caves and waterfalls and at this point I should bring up the graphics and art style as some of these scenes are simply gorgeous the use of colour is mostly fantastic the oranges of fire contrasting well with the green grey of moss-covered cave walls and dripping blue pools of water and gushing waterfalls in outdoor locations the blockiness of the surroundings unfortunately does stick out like a sore thumb and can be quite ugly at times but inside the castle the limitations of the blockiness doesn't really get noticed Hogwarts is really stunning at times with glowing stained glass windows luscious red wood paneling and cool stone with blue light doubled on the walls and floors particle and lighting effects are impressive especially for a game of this age casting spells feels magical thanks to the sparkles that are produced candle flames have blown by ghosts as they drift past and the lighting at times can be very effective especially during darker scenes sound design is brilliant with chests that burst open spells that drip with magic and man-eating plants that almost bark with ferocity environmental sounds are evocative birds are heard chirping outside of the castle waterfalls are deafening and ghosts can be heard wailing in the distance throughout the interior of the castle the highlight of the game however is the music reflecting the soundtrack of the films but without leaning on it too much Jeremy Souls compositions range from the creepy to the majestic to the playful the voice-acting overall is good nothing exceptional but nothing super awful hairy at times can sometimes sound a bit smug that can come in handy if I have to distract filter along the way and some of the other NPCs can sound a bit flat and some of the dialogue choices just fantastic hi my name is Mario our lovely collection of basil pincers don't mind Maryland she's a bit off hello Harry I wonder if there's a spout to may need more beautiful please stop that some of the characters however do have amazing voices especially Phil chin peeves and apparent venerated that I always thought was John Hurt but apparently it isn't and nine he's suspecting that the package Hagrid had taken from Green guards contained the Sorcerer's Stone anyway back to the main story after collecting enough fire seeds noir but the dragon hatches and Harry is off to compete in his first Quidditch match against Slytherin Quidditch can be a bit stressful especially when the snitch wildly changes directions but by following behind it for long enough you get the opportunity to catch it and win the match finally you get to explore more of Hogwarts although be warned as this is the only opportunity you get to find everything in this section of the castle it's annoying because if you miss any secrets in an area you'd never really get a second chance to find them later this is especially sad as exploring Hogwarts is so fun and the game truly comes into its own when you get to freely discover all the magical secrets hidden around you eventually you find your way back to quirrell's classroom again for a second spell lesson in defense against the dark arts this time for Lumos and illumination spell Lumos can be used on gargoyles to reveal hidden platforms which glow with a mesmerizing yellow light after completing the Lumis challenge you're due for a potions class with Snape but somehow you're already late Snape who I think looks a bit like Jeffrey star here for some reason takes away five points from Gryffindor and sends you down into the dungeons for ingredients but not before a collapsible bridge causes you to fall deep into the dungeons you make your way back up solving puzzles collecting ingredients and picking up challenge stars that are lying around here for some reason before finding your way back and having snooped through the challenge stars in your face and deducting another three points psych Snape lets you go but Ron runs to tell you that Hermione is cornered in the girls bathroom by a troll you had to find her but not before the troll appears and chases you down towards the camera Crash Bandicoot style this part is actually great it's fun is difficult then you make it to the bathroom where you have to knock back away debris the troll hells at you or run attempts to knock the troll out with its own club you then play another Quidditch match which apparently I managed to complete in under 20 seconds this time it's then Christmas where Harry received the invisibility cloak from a strange benefactor and Hagrid is persuaded to give away Norbert naturally therefore you have to help transport Norbert up to the tower to be taken away by Charlie Weasley sneaking past Filch in the library this section of the game is a great little stealth mission where casting spells and unlocking doors can alert filter to your location yeah we're easy for a nice touch they make Harry whisper spells during this part I actually had a mini heart attack a couple of times when I thought filters gonna get me after sending the dragon on its way you then have to make your way back through the library where filter also gets help from mrs. Norris who has the added ability of jumping on bookcases most of the time you stumble upon the mirror of Eris's where you see your dead parents before continuing on and bumping into Fred and George you follow them down a lift where they are collecting thousands of beans for their so-called experiment but what is it you meet up with Ron and Hermoine where the trio work out that Snape is going to steal the philosopher's stone located down the third-floor corridor and so risk their lives to steal it first on your troubles you knock out a three-headed dog torture a plant pinch a flying key play some chess which presents itself here as a puzzle where the pieces stop at nothing to kill you unless you can make them kill each other first of course and you try to remember which bottle of liquid won't kill you making your way further in you find out that it squirrel not Snape what the you push a couple of blocks to climb up to reach him assuming he doesn't murder you first where he then unwraps his turban and twists his head round 180 degrees to reveal who Voldemort to defeat him you have to flip endo unstable pillars to collapse them on him then reflect his death rays using the mirror of era set until he ends up killing himself first in bursts of fire and dust an epic finale the game then concludes somewhat anticlimactically with another storybook we're assuming you received enough house points Gryffindor wins the house Cup Ron also completes your wizard card collection for you if you've ended up being able to collect all 24 cards before the end of the game but wait and after game cutscene [Music] so there it is hi Potter and the Philosopher's Stone PC game a pretty solid movie tie-in game with pretty good visuals great music reasonable but easy gameplay assuming you don't keep falling to your death like I do and a whole lot of fun next time I'm gonna be making video looking into the next game in the series Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets PC game but until next time thanks for watching right the supposed to be a bloody card in there why haven't it buddy open right let's get this bars did someone put this bars on backwards just cool tunes where is that going hello oh hello why is that one also hello oh I see you but he opened sake open oh hello sir oh my god

Channel: Phil Of Glimmer

Views: 77,434

Keywords: Harry Potter, Philosopher's Stone, Sorcerer's Stone, PC game

Id: kJIJH_vkJfg

Length: 15min 29sec (929 seconds)

Published: Mon May 04 2020