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(More customer reviews)I'm trying to divide my review into two parts: 1) The game. 2) The bugs.
1) The game. The game is an innovative take on the standard Lego game engine (which I have been used to from the Star Wars versions), with a much more fluid game interface and transition giving it a stronger feel of a cohesive world. I'm not that familiar with the Harry Potter story, but my son (the game player) finds that it fits right in with the story line. I did notice that the Lego tradition of no dialog (only grunting) in the video transitions completely breaks down. If you don't know the movies (or at least the book) they make no sense. It took my son over 8 hours to play the game through to the end (just to get to the levels, not to do the free play). Overall it is a fun game for those who like Harry Potter and the general Lego take on these things in its games. Just on that basis I would give it a 4 star rating.
2) The bugs. Their technical support tells me that Windows 7 is not supported. I have a laptop with Windows 7 and better graphics which would crash. There were two types of crashes. Random crashes that just didn't repeat if you replayed the level, and then there were two specific points in the game which crashed 100% of the time. I was able to get around those crashes by lowering the graphics setting in one place, and raising it back up in the other. I moved it to an older Vista machine, and it works (it crashes on exit, but who cares?). That older Vista machine has a lousy graphics card and to the credit of the game makers, they adjust the graphics down to compensate, so the game works fine. I have to say that first of all Amazon is incorrectly listing this game as compatible with Windows 7, so beware, and second of all it is not acceptable to release a game incompatible with Windows 7 8 months after it is released to the general public. Who do they think are buying these games with sophisticated graphics? Exclusively people with year-old machines? Unacceptable.
I have asked Amazon for what their resolution to this matter will be. I expect them to refund customers even with open boxes. Although I got the game to work because I happen to have an older Vista machine, most won't, and the game simply doesn't work as advertised.
EDIT: Just heard back from Amazon customer service - they are indeed refunding it even if the product was opened. Since I found a way to get the game to work, I probably will not be returning it, but good for Amazon for making it right.
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LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
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