Burton's Bytes

AS sure as night follows day, a game follows the release of a new Harry Potter movie. The first two Potter games were surprisingly good but can the third - with the change of mood in both the book and the film - maintain the series' record?

After an interminable summer with the Dursleys, Harry Potter just can't wait to start his third year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Events take a sinister turn, however, when Harry discovers that Sirius Black, the man believed to have betrayed Harry's parents and who is thus responsible for their murder, has escaped from the wizard prison Azkaban.

Black appears to be seeking revenge on Harry for thwarting Valdemort.

Worse is to come when Harry finds himself affected by the Dementors, Azkaban prison guards sent to protect Hogwarts and recapture Black.

With the help of his best pals, the annoying Ron and the too-good-to-be-true Hermione, the boy wizard sets out to solve the mystery himself.

And that's where you come in, playing as Harry, Ron Weasley and Hermione Grainger. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses. Potter is the main character and his athleticism comes in handy when there's a wall to climb or a chasm to jump. Weasley has a nice line in stink bombs and his nose for trouble allows him to find passageways that would otherwise pass the others by. Grainger is the spell-caster of the trio - she will come in handy later in your adventure.

You can switch between the characters mid-game - and if you have selected the wrong one, the game drops heavy hints when you should consider a change.

Similarly, moving close to an item you can interact with results in an on-screen prompt to press the X button. As with Tomb Raider, heavy objects can be pushed or pulled to help climb up to higher levels. Jumping climbing and hanging are simple to accomplish. Usually it's just a matter of pressing the X button again.

Spells have to be assigned to a control button. The characters have a small inventory at the start of the game but gain more variety as the quest progresses. The ice charm is particularly useful for defending the pals against an evil protagonist.

As a nice touch, EA has utilised the PlayStation 2 Eye Toy USB camera for some mini games. They may be simple but it's nice to see EA thinking out of the box and great to have another use for the terrific PS2 camera.

As is usual with this sort of game, the 3-D camera can be a hideous problem, making it difficult, if not impossible, to see your enemies before they attack. A button press is all it takes to centre the camera behind your character's head most of the time, though. So far so good.

And now for the bad news. EA has completely ditched the sinister overtones that give the book - and now the film - such a change of pace compared with the earlier Potter adventures.

There's none of the angst Potter experiences as he enters his teenage years and none of the dark tone as the boy wizard is forced to confront his own inner fears and the murder of his parents.

This is a kid's game aimed fairly and squarely at pre-teens. That's not to say older fans won't find lots to enjoy, just that seasoned gamers will find the Prisoner of Azkaban something of a pushover challenge only partially rescued by the Eye Toy mini games.

Of course, none of this really matters. The strength of the franchise and the hype surrounding the film will ensure this game is the most successful yet. I'm not asking for Resident Evil with wands but I do hope the next one takes a more scary turn.

UNREAL TOURNAMENT 2004. Publisher: Atari. Format: PC. Price: £29.99. Out now

ANOTHER gigantic franchise making a welcome - if not exactly unexpected - return this year, and fans of Unreal Tournament will know what to expect from this annual up-date.

It's an online shoot 'em up with a token nod to the single player experience (although many of this year's changes are aimed at making the game more relevant to players who don't have a broadband connection).

The game looks terrific, the action never stops and, provided you have a pretty decent PC, things don't slow down too badly when there are loads of bad guys on screen at the same time.

Assault mode is fun (and a welcome returnee) and there are a few extras, the best being the co-operative mode where you hunt the monsters. The game code has been tweaked to offer more of a challenge in single player mode as well. Now playing alone doesn't feel quite so second best as your computer-controlled opponents tend to react in a more realistic manner.

As with Harry Potter, Atari will have no trouble shifting this game based on the strength of its reputation alone.

It's good to know, then, that Unreal Tournament 2004 more than lives up to that reputation and even enhances it in certain critical areas.

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