While the bulk of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part One for Xbox 360 is played with a standard controller, it does have some Kinect functionality. Up to now we've only seen the on-rails shooter-esque Kinect stages, but we've finally gotten a chance to try them out for ourselves. The consensus? They may not be for everyone, but Harry Potter fans – who also happen to own a Kinect – will get some giggles out of swinging their arms like mad men in this bonus mode.
The Kinect levels in Harry Potter are a series of challenge stages, where up to two players control the spell casting of the franchise's main characters as they run through levels filled with evil Death Eaters. Movement is completely out of the players' control, allowing them to focus on manipulating their arms to cast spells. Each challenge level takes anywhere between one to five minutes to play, with 10 or so stages making up the entirety of the mode.
Every level follows the same formula – see Death Eater, cast spell, kill Death Eater – but what spells you can cast depends on the stage. Certain stages will allow you to cast a weak, fast spell called Stupify (done by simply flicking your wrist the way you imagine a wizard would), while others will force you to use slower, more powerful spells like Expelliarmus (done by holding your arm up and then swinging it downward once it's charged) or Confringo (a blast spell done by holding your left hand above your head and raising your right hand towards the target). They were entertaining for the few moments I played them with my colleague, but I'll admit it took some time to get the motions down for some of the spells. More frustrating still was the occasional span where it seemed one of us would lose the ability to cast certain spells entirely, resulting in periods where we'd swing our arms violently in the instructed manner.
When it works – which it did the vast majority of the time – Harry Potter's Kinect challenge levels are a surprisingly entertaining distraction for a pair of friends. Even with the brief detection problems, I can't help but feel like a younger audience is going to love this added mode, as it's the most immersive spell casting experience I've played. One suggestion for future versions of this mode, though: please add voice controls; some of us at IGN are dying to scream out the ridiculous spell names like they do in the films.
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