Half Blood Prince Hits Stores This Week

As a fan of the books and the movies, I've never been too excited about Harry Potter video games. But I have to admit The Half Blood Prince game seems to have improved since the days of the Gamecube's Sorcerer's Stone.

While the game still has all the familiar robot-esk characters and sub-par voice overs, the game developers seem to actually be learning from past mistakes and successes to give 360, PS3, Wii and others a game actually enjoyable.

It's important to realize that the majority of people that will be buying this game are already Harry Potter fans. They've read the books, watched the movies, and played every game previous. So an important buyer fact is that they already know the story. They know the dialog, they know the ending. They even know what will happen in the next book. (I know I do!) So making a game that simply follows the story is to some, repetitive. Half Blood Prince acknowledges that. HBP, while still highlighting on the story to give the game some stucture, focuses more on a free-roaming experience of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Which, in the words of Ron, is "brilliant."

When movie based games stop using the film as a crutch and more as inspiration - movie titled games will start to be more enjoyable and overall better games. Now I'm not saying the Harry Potter franchise is out of the dark woods yet, but they are definitely heading in the right direction. Making Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince a game you won't regret.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince comes out in theaters July 15th.