There are certain moments in popular media, which just scream for simulation in video games, Who wouldn’t want to Fly an X-wing fighter, or Take command of the USS Enterprise, or even Face a Horde of Zentraedi battle pods Bent on taking back the SDF-1. One such Fictional Endeavor is Quiddich, the fantasy sport made popular in J.K. Rowling’s Fantastic Harry Potter novels. However how does one turn a sport that simply does not exist and make it playable let alone make it excellent? Simple you call in the best in the Biz. EA Sports has always received accolades for it’s stunning achievements in creating the best in sports in the computer/video game format, and this game proves to be no exception. From the moment you boot up the game there is a touch of electricity in the air, as a beautiful CG opening shows you just what you are in store for.
Harry Potter: Quiddich World Cup Is more than a simple chance to play a make believe game at Hogwarts, QWC goes beyond that and shows you the sport of Wizards from a global perspective with 9 full nations competing in a massive 18 match competition to determine who is the best team in the world. For those of you who know how the game is played in the books, I’m sure you could see how simulating this sport would be a daunting task. From controlling Bludgers and Chasers while simultaneously looking for that illusive golden Snitch. However EA did two things to help with the translation of this sport to videogame format. First is the training mode entered immediately in to playing, it teaches you the basics of passing throwing and chasing, before you ever step foot onto a playing field. This series of timed challenges does a great job of enforcing the fundamentals while still being challenging and fun to play. Secondly many positions are handled by the game’s AI, or by triggered power ups. For example bludgers pretty well stay in the background until you or your opponent get the power up to use them then you simply hit the appropriate button and get a free shot at your opponent while controlling the medicine ball sized guided missiles. And the Snitch is based on power ups (caused by combos) giving you boost to the chaser, as your meter grows it invariably connects with your opponents and at this moment the snitch is spotted forcing both players to chase after it, and while the additional boost may help the winning team, it’s no guarantee that they will catch the wily snitch!
From a control standpoint the game is exceptionally logical (placing most commands on the most commonly used controller buttons) All additional moves for the most part are assigned a button and flash on to your stat area of the screen when you have access to them. Normally special moves offer an easy score with cute animations of some incredible play by your team.
Graphically the game is crisp and gorgeous, offering well defined animations of unique players on each of the 4 house teams and the 9 world teams. While some animations are repetitive they are at least easy to buzz through. The level of continuity is also amazing, such elements as color commentary from Ludo Baggman (of Goblet of Fire fame) or Vicktor Krumm playing a pivitol roll on the Bulgarian team.
From Control to Gameplay this game does an excelent job of being exactly what it claimes to be, my only real complaints (which are very small). Firstly the ease of defeat of the game which is somewhat balanced by the sheer size of the game (to get all of the cards and effectively beat the game is to play 16 hogwarts matches, and some 162 world matches Your hands will hurt long before you plow through this title! Also as stated before the animations are sometimes a bit too repdeditive, however these complaints hardly take away from the many shining features of this fine title. While there is room for an improved next edition, however, I for one would gladly look forward to a simple roster update and a few graphical tweaks. All in all a fine addition to any gamers sports game libraries!
