Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix follow Harry in his fifth year at Hogwarts. Harry discovers that much of the wizarding community has been denied the truth about his encounter wimth Lord Voldemort. Fearing that Hogwart’s venerable Headmaster, Dumbledore is lying about Voldemort’s return, the council appoints a new Defense against the Dark Arts teacher, Delores Umbridge. She ends up leaving the young ones woefully unprepared to defend themselves against the dark forces, so Harry takes it upon himself to teach them. Along with the help of Ron and Hermione, they form with the young wizards a group called “Dumbledore’s Army.”

As visuals go, the game looks vaguely similar on all platforms, with each system of course highlighting any strengths they may have, like HD and higher textures on the PS3 and Xbox 360 for instance. Everything from the movies and books come to life and are now interactive making this the most engaging Harry Potter game to date. You will see the painting as stairways move in the Grand Staircase. You will go from classroom to classroom and mingle with the students who move about in droves with no load times too boot. If there is a glaring flaw in the game’s design is that the game allows you to play the movie which makes the game very linear. That being said it is nice that EA incorporated the parchment map that has inky footprints showing you where you are going and where you’ve been.

Audio is a mixed bag. You do have a riveting original score written for the game, but the doubles for the characters that do the dialog are a bit off. What’s worse is when there is an upbeat score that is loud and boisterous; it is hard to make out what the characters are saying, so it is in your best interest to turn subtitles on for this one so you don’t miss out on what spell to conjure or a key plot point of where to go next.

Game play for each version is similar, but systems such as the Wii and PS3 utilize their motion controls to imitate wand movements which will allow gamers to immerse themselves in the experience a bit deeper. The DS version uses its touch screen capabilities in the same manner as well as feeding and petting Hippogriffs and Thestrals. The game is a great mixture of adventure, action, and mini games that keep the game from growing stale along its 10-20 hour campaign. While you already know you’ll be playing key moments from the movie, it was great to see that you can play as supporting characters such as Sirius Black, Fly Fred, George, and even Dumbledore. The mini games consist of competing in Exploding Snap, Gobstones and Wizard Chess games, each having their own unique feel and charm about them. Even the PSP itself allows for multiplayer action with Ad Hoc support for up to six players.

Fans of the Harry Potter books and films will be happy to know that this is the definitive Harry Potter game. It really shows that EA not only took notes from the films and books, but listened to the fans to give them what they want. As far as which version to buy, the Wii is the easy choice as you can whip the Wii remote around like a wand. If you are worried about a visual punch, the 360 and PS3 versions look better than the current gen consoles, but not enough to pay the difference unless you want Sixaxis controls or achievement points. In any sense, if you are a HP fan, you can’t go wrong with any version you play. Unfortunately, if you are out of touch with the films and books, this is not a good starting point as you will be lost on who the characters are and why you should care. In the end, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will cast the spell of happiness on its fans as it is the best the series has to offer.