The Harry Potter franchise continues to delight and entertain
millions around the globe. Ever since the first book, there has been
one very interesting side-plot involving the sport of Quidditch.
Quidditch can best be described as some sort of hockey-rugby-soccer
hybrid played on brooms. In the books and in the two films,
Quidditch is depicted as very fast and very entertaining. After
reading through many of the books and watching both movies, I found
myself thinking: “Wow, this would make a good video game.” Well,
apparently enough people thought this at EA, because they’re
delivering Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup to virtually
every system this fall.
Ok, so maybe you haven’t gotten around to reading any of the great
Harry Potter books or watching either one of the films. This would
pretty much leave you wondering exactly what Quidditch is. As I said
earlier, it basically is a hybrid of several different sports and is
played on broomsticks. You have a Keeper (goalie if you will) that
guards three hoops. Each team has three Chasers. The job of a Chaser
is to score a goal with the Quaffle through one of the hoops that the
Keeper guards. A goal gives a team 10 points. Each team also has two
Beaters. These are the defensive players who bat around the Bludgers.
Bludgers are used to take out another team’s player. Finally, each
team has one Seeker. The Seeker has to search and capture the Golden
Snitch (a tiny, golden, fast-moving ball). Capturing the Golden Snitch
gives your team 150 points and ends the match. Got all that? Well, if
you didn’t understand a word I wrote, go pick up a copy of one of the
books (preferably the first one) or rent the two movies. You’ll better
understand the game if you do.
You start off competing for the Hogwarts House Cup with one of the
four house teams. These teams are Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff,
and Ravenclaw. Fans of the series will recognize some of the team
players, like Harry Potter on Gryffindor and Draco Malfoy on Slytherin.
The first mode basically gives you a tutorial, some challenges to
overcome, and then finally compete for the House Cup.
After winning the House Cup, you get to play the International World
Cup Tournament. Think of the World Cup (soccer) and apply it to
Quidditch. If you want to get a better understanding of this
tournament, it occurs in the fourth book Harry Potter and the
Goblet of Fire. Many international teams are present, and players
from these teams that appear in the books (Victor Krum from Bulgaria)
are present. Instead of being just a simple “win-lose” situation in
the tournament, you need to score a certain amount of points in order
to move up in the ladder. This basically forces players to use a
certain strategy when playing matches. It wouldn’t be advantageous to
grab the Golden Snitch right off the bat if you needed 350 points to
move up, so it forces players to actually keep that in mind. Each of
the international teams has unique uniforms and stadiums, as well as
different tactics.
What would any sport game be without a multiplayer mode? Thankfully,
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup possesses a multiplayer mode.
This does insure a direct head-to-head competition between two
players, but it is not clear if this means we can have multiplayer
tournaments as seen in the FIFA games. Also thrown in is a Quidditch
card system. Collecting cards unlocks special moves that can be used
in matches. One would assume you gain these cards similar to every EA
Sport game out there.
Look for Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup on PlayStation 2,
GameCube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance, and PC CD-ROM this Fall.
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