Metascore
65 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 11
  2. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. What I liked best about the game was the ease of play. You didn’t have to fumble through spells to see what works. If a spell could be cast, the appropriate spell would be used automatically.
  2. The PC game does little to replicate the depth of the rich, magical yarn that is woven throughout the Harry Potter series.
  3. The video game falls short of the quality Potter fans expect, and provides nothing more than a simple platform/adventure game that young fans will adore, but older fans will feel disappointed with.
  4. A slightly ropy control system, and disappointing length let us down on what is otherwise a truly enjoyable experience. Flipendo!
  5. If you’re a Harry Potter fan, this is a surprisingly fun title. The 7-year-old gives [it] four stars. [Mar 2002, p.88]
  6. Even if you have no knowledge of things Potterish, detail abounds in the 3D animations, and poking about a school for witches and wizards full of ghosts and secret passages can be enthralling.
  7. 68
    The game runs poorly on just about any machine.
  8. 64
    It also seems to me that most of the budget for the game went into licensing. I can't see that a lot of effort was actually spent on the production of the game side of things.
  9. 60
    This game is about jumping puzzles, timing puzzles, and exploration -- all very simple and not at all challenging.
  10. I’m confident that young kids will get a kick out of HP:SC, but everyone else is better off doing their adventuring elsewhere. [Feb 2002, p.68]
  11. Underwhelms with an extremely brief story, overly simplistic platform jumping sequences, and repetitive gameplay...Suitable only for children.
User Score

Mixed or average reviews- based on 36 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 19
  2. Negative: 2 out of 19
  1. I don't know what's up with the low ratings- this game is a good game. Obviously it's a Harry Potter game and you know what you're getting: it's not going to be especially difficult or challenging, but this one is challenging enough (mostly the last level vs. Voldemort, which is ridiculously tough to beat). Great mood, soundtrack, passable voice acting, and levels that are a lot of fun = 10/10. Full Review »
  2. HarryPotter
    10
    This game rocks and if anyone wishes to know I can do real magic.
  3. Harry Potter has arrived at Hogwarts. This first game in the Harry Potter video game series is a fun game. It isn't amazing, but it is fun. It primarily follows the story of the game and is a fairly challenging game. I recommend checking it out. My only minor discrepancy is the fact that the characters mouths don't move during talking. After that, I don't have many complaints. Full Review »