The previous game for GBA, Sorcerer's Stone, was not very good at what it tried to do, and it ended up being mediocre at best. However, even EA learns from its mistakes on occasion, and the developers of this game were able to correct many of the flaws that made the last game significantly less enjoyable. I'm sure EA's meddling was still present, and I want to blame some of this game's major flaws on EA, but I can't just demonize EA forever, or else people would be bored to tears. Some YouTubers can do it, but I can't pull it off. Anyway, let's just get to the point: how does this game stack up?

I have to say it upfront, I love this game's graphical style, and it honestly does help the game in comparison to the previous game. It does a much better job of creating the illusion of depth than its predecessor because of its isometric camera, and the graphical style is arguably better than the previous game. The cutscene graphics are taken straight from the console versions, which does not look good, and the characters could use a little bit more work on their faces, but those are really my only complaints in this department. There's a very clear improvement from the first game, and that's something I love to see in a series of games. I also like that they added a gamma option, allowing you to make the game brighter so you can actually see it on an original GBA. It may not look good on anything newer than an original GBA, but it's still a nice thing to have for those who need it, especially since the previous game didn't have gamma options and had some extremely dark areas.

The sound, despite using an inferior sound engine designed to make music for GBC games, is also better than the previous game's underwater sound quality and wildly varying music quality. Even though you can tell it's not quite taking advantage of the full power of the GBA's hardware, I still like the music tracks anyway. They're very pleasant to listen to, and they always do a good job of fitting the situation. The sound effects are also improved, and the annoying voice samples from the previous game are also gone, although casting spells repeatedly will make annoying sounds.

The storyline does a better job of following the movie than the previous game did, and its deviations contribute more to the gameplay than those of the previous game. Among other things, this game actually includes gameplay outside of Hogwarts property, which is something the last game was sorely lacking. You get to explore around Diagon Alley and walk through a perilous area below Gringotts to your vault, which gives you a good chance to get used to the game. However, I still have to wonder one thing - why is this place so dangerous? Who would send a young boy down to a dangerous area filled with lava, fireballs, and metal enemy crabs that shoot fire? Why do so many areas of the castle have spiked balls pounding the ground or swinging around on chains? These are questions that I have to ask!

This game is a bit different from the first one - instead of having an overhead perspective, it's played from an isometric viewpoint, and I find it much more pleasant than the top-down view. Among other improvements, there's also a jump button, which was sorely lacking in the last game, especially when you have to navigate moving platforms. Platforming is slightly awkward at times from an isometric perspective, but I'll certainly take that any day over the stuff I was doing in the last game.

This game's level design is much better than the previous game. While the previous game suffered from a lot of monotonous mazes full of random items to collect just because the game said so, this game's environments feel a lot less repetitive and mazelike, not to mention there isn't quite as much pointless item-collecting. Even when you are collecting items, it usually directly advances the plot in some way or isn't quite as tedious as the collecting in the last game. I'm okay with collecting items when it's not shoved in just for the purpose of making me waste my time.

Even the stealth sections, which I hated in the previous game, have been improved quite a lot by one thing that's been added - if you go into sneaking mode, it adjusts the camera so you can see more of what's in front of you. This is an excellent addition, and something that was sorely lacking in the previous game. There are still some oddities, though. A major one that I've noticed is that if you're caught, you're sent back to the last checkpoint...and if you're trying to get out of an area after doing what you needed to do, you'll be scolded before being thrown back into the area they just told you to leave. What kind of sense does that make?

In the last game, spellcasting had almost a full second of delay between the button being pushed and the spell actually being cast, which was one of my big complaints. The developers apparently did notice that this delay was horrible, and it's been totally eliminated, making spellcasting much less of a chore. This improvement also makes the combat much more fun, and things have been made a little bit more complicated in terms of combat than "use Flipendo and hope that it hits your target." You have multiple spells that deal damage, a charge meter that lets you charge a spell for extra damage, and some enemies are immune to certain spells while being effected by others. This is a very welcome change, especially since combat felt so clunky and un-fun in the last game.

Secrets are something that I like to see in a game, and this game has a lot more optional stuff to do than the previous game. There are multiple optional areas that are never necessary to enter, but allow you to collect more items and get a little bit more content out of your cartridge, as well as more things to be collected. The Wizard Cards actually provide a reason for you to collect them, since they actually give you some kind of bonus for collecting an entire set of them, and you also have 100 red tomato-flavored beans to collect. If you want to hunt them down, they'll easily add a decent amount of time to your game.

Speaking of time, that's this game's biggest weakness. I didn't like how some storyline events were just glossed right over and not shown properly, and the game ended so abruptly that I didn't even realize I was at the end until I entered the Chamber of Secrets in a cutscene. It also won't pose too much challenge to most players, since enemies aren't too strong, health is easy to restore, and the puzzles aren't exactly brain-busters. If you're looking for a major challenge, this really isn't the game for you.

Overall, this game is a massive improvement over the previous game, and I'd actually recommend it if you're a fan of Harry Potter. The graphics and sound have been significantly improved, most of the issues with the last game have been fixed, and it's much more fun to play than its predecessor. Although the game is far from flawless, it's still something that I consider worth having in my library.

Final Rating: 6.5 Wizard Cards out of 10