There's a more nuanced approach to family inclusiveness here than in most games aimed at this age group, and - perhaps helped by the confidence in the power of words that bleeds through the whole Potter universe - a touching emphasis throughout on the importance of becoming wise.
Even with all of its problems, I genuinely love the technology. It feels like a strangely inventive step forward for Sony. And, if developers can get behind the tech, we might see a string of educational and entertainment titles hit the market soon. That'll just depend on the bugs getting worked out of the system.
The technology is fantastic and presentation is impeccable – although the low-res EyeToy visuals really do show their age alongside the slick gloss of the game itself – but as a whole Book of Spells is not the charming experience it promised to be.
Book of Spells is a decent proof of concept for the Wonderbook's augmented reality technology, but the rest of the experience fails to deliver anything memorable or worthwhile, quickly collapsing into an endless parade of gimmicks and dull, overly simplistic minigames.