Now on the DS you can relive your favorite moments of the new Harry Potter film. Be thrilled as you "dance" (rhythm game style) through the Yule Ball. Gasp as Hermione constantly runs face-first into red hot water pipes. Moan as you wrangle a frozen bee onto a steam vent for the 473rd time.

Don’t remember those scenes from the movie? That’s funny, neither do I.

The first thing you may notice in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire for the DS is the seemingly high production values. There are no actual videos used from the movie, but the cut-scenes are pretty well done. The music (though not from the film soundtrack) is loud and bright, and there are voice samples used in the game. I don’t have enough good things to say about this game. I mean that literally; I only have a few.

The game puts you right in the thick of things as it starts with the Death Eaters attacking the campgrounds of the Quidditch World Cup. In most levels, you can choose from Harry, Ron, or Hermione—each having different attack, defense, and speed statistics—from the onset of each level and for most of the game, the other two will follow you. However, you probably won’t feel so much like a wizard as you will a cowboy, using your wand to lasso enemies and surrounding objects.

There is some variety to the gameplay, as firing at certain enemies will trigger a 3D fighting sequence. This portion utilizes the DS touch screen function and is really rather awkward as it requires you to constantly keep your stylus at standby despite the fact that the vast majority of the game requires the D-Pad and the A and B buttons. These 3D battles are little mini-games in which you either fire attacks or shield yourself.

The character designs aren’t bad, and the 3D sequences really do look stunning, but the gameplay just isn’t there. The controls are completely context sensitive so you’ll never have to worry about casting the wrong spell since you only have two buttons to choose from and each does essentially the same thing. For instance, if you want to move an item, press and hold B; if you want to shoot something, press A. This makes solving what few puzzles there are incredibly easy and battles with enemies brain-damaging in redundancy.

There are bits and pieces in the game in which you meet up with a Weasley, (one of Ron’s siblings) and you do some kind of sorting minigame using the stylus. Once you complete it successfully, you may play it later on its own. Possibly the most absurd mini-game is an actual level. During the Yule Ball you play a rhythm game in order to impress everyone. This is about the time that you’ll notice that, while the sound quality is quite high, the music is extremely annoying.

There’s more to the game than simply beating the story mode, as that holds little interest to fans of the series anyway. There are mini-games, bonus unlockables that you gain from collecting shields throughout the game, and the ability to have wizard duels. Yes, this game allows for multiplayer, but there’s a catch; you can only play with someone who has another cartridge. It’s not as if you’re dealing with large level designs, these are essentially more minigames, only you can compete with a friend. So, unless you know another person willing to shell out for this game, you’re not going to be playing multiplayer with this.

Despite the shiny veneer, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on DS is simply not worth the money. The Harry Potter video game series has had quite a few bright spots, but this is certainly not one of them. It’s simply too easy and skews to an incredibly young audience. I can only recommend it to anyone who has never been able to beat a game and would like to know how it feels.

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