IIWYM Reviews!

IS IT WORTH YOUR MONEY?

J.K. Rowling’s BOOK OF SPELLS

Well, this is my first review, and I’m going to start my review by asking you to do something. Now, if you own a playstation Move, but have heard nothing about this game, slowly raise your left hand. Now pull it back towards your face slowly until it contacts with your nose. That’s the penance for not giving an exceptional experience the recognition it deserves, for it is the single best experience I have ever had with motion controls, and had me giggling like a schoolgirl when I started learning about it, and I’m NOT a harry potter fan, let me say that right off the bat. But this? This is a definitive motion control experience and should not be missed.

To start off with, I’ll give a basic summary of the game. You use the Move as a wand, and the included techno-wizardry book as your spellbook as you listen to interesting stories and learn to cast spells to become a real wizard. It tears me to bits it doesn’t go much farther than that, but I suppose that’s what sequels are for, no?

The game starts off with you using the Move camera to take a Wizard’s picture of yourself. Now, this is ridiculously cool, to start off with, ESPECIALLY for Harry Potter fans. You then go on to learn several spells and learn stories from the spellbook, using the move to practice each motion and then using the spell in a limited situation, usually a magic space where some simple problem will be happening. The graphics are great to look at, and the motion experience is excellent, if, like most new technology, it occasionally goes extremely wonky, but none of this detracts from the overall experience. This experience is EXCELLENT, and really imparts the feel that you’re actually a powerful wizard with the ability to change the world with the flick of your wand. Also notable is the book itself, which has some really cool effects, like lifting the book up to look through 3d holes in the book. It builds itself nicely as well, to a test at the end of each chapter that puts every spell you learned in that chapter to work.

And now, here’s where things hit a small snag. During the game, it’s clearly built up that the final test will take ALL the twentysomething spells you learn to pass, some massive test, some big adventure that will challenge you on everything you learned.

THIS IS NOT THE CASE!

*LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD*

The final test is just like the ones before it, even though you have to unlock the last chapter by beating the other ones. Sure, you use one or two of the spells you learned in the earlier chapters, but not during the test and not in any significant way. You DO learn some of the signature spells from the movies and books in the last chapter, and you do some interesting stuff with it, but it in no way compares to what the experience might have been to have your brain, your wits, and your aim challenged with ALL the spells you learned, especially since one or two of these spells only get used once, like the Cleaning spell.

*SPOILERS OVER*

And in conclusion, I walk away from Book of Spells with the sheer experience engraved on my heart, very happy, but a tiny bit disappointed. But I implore all of you who read this, give this game the sequel it deserves. Because if this experience was expanded and made into some sort of more interactive adventure, it may be one of the coolest things ever created.

IS IT WORTH YOUR MONEY FINAL VERDICT!!!!

This is the place where I rate the game based on my personal review criteria, and the thing you, as a potential game buyer, want to know the most. “Is this game worth the 20/40/60/80 dollars that I’m about to pay for it?”

In short, my reviews follow this final score criteria.

BUY ANY PRICE-

This means the game is an excellent value to buy at any asking price, and indicates an experience that I’m willing to venture will be worth whatever you pay for it (Within reason, don’t use this as an excuse to buy some game for $200)

BUY IT CHEAP/RENT IT-

This means that the game is good and a solid experience, but may have some faults that detract from the experience or some other issues, and is also not a must-own game. That doesn’t mean it is bad in any way, it just means that it might be worth waiting until the price is good, or comes down a bit for triple-A games (Standard $60 titles)

Rent it is about the same quality level, but indicates a polarizing experience that may not be quite for you, so I’d suggest renting it to see if you like it before committing to a buy, if any.

BUY IT BARGAIN

This means the game is ultimately flawed, but there is still some definite fun to be had here. Games with this rating should be bought for very cheap, like a big Steam sale or so on.

DON’T BUY IT!

This should be pretty self-explanatory. This game is very flawed, and overall is NOT worth your money. This score is only reserved for the very worst games, or experiences that are extremely repetitive or in some other way nothing you haven’t seen before.

But now, back to The Book of Spells.

This game earns a…

BUY IT ANY PRICE!

The experience alone is so worth the price of admission, just the sheer feeling of being a powerful wizard with a magic wand is enough alone to justify a purchase. It’s done extremely well, even if it can be a one-trick pony. But then, One-trick ponies usually do their one trick EXTREMELY well, and this trick is an amazing one.

Thanks for tuning in to IS IT WORTH YOUR MONEEEEEEEEEEEH! Reviews.