Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

Mount your broomsticks for the favourite sport of witches and wizards.

NA release: 28th October 2003
EU release: 7th November 2003
JP release: 13th November 2003
Developer: EA UK
Publisher: EA
NGC Magazine Score: 62%
Mods Used: None

In the world of Harry Potter, Quidditch was a broomstick sport created for a sole purpose: to provide a scenario where the hero’s team could be massively losing but the hero could instantly win the match with a single action. This is done via the golden snitch, a tiny golden ball that only one person on the team (the seeker) can catch, which earns 150 points (equal to fifteen goals). How do you adapt such a broken sport to a video game?

Well, the developers of this game had a splendid idea: break the sport even more. To be fair, scoring is extremely quick in this game that matches can easily negate the golden snitch points, but the process of triggering the snitch chase (and the end of the game, as catching it ends the match) is rather odd: every time you pass, your seeker’s gauge will go up once it reaches your opponents one, they’ll compete in a final race. You can also combo passes to increase this bar at a quicker pace.

This means that the best tactic is to completely ignore scoring goals and just constantly pass between your players to fill your seeker meter as quickly as possible – get the bar full before your opponent can do much and your seeker will pretty much win instantly. What is an annoying time-wasting tactic in other sports is now the most vital mechanic of this game and, once the novelty of controlling Quidditch goes, this massive flaw is immensely glaring.

You first progress through the Hogwarts House Cup before proceeding to the World Cup (although Wales and Ireland get shafted). Which isn’t a knockout tournament like the books, but an excruciating league where you play against eight other teams twice. The game wears thin long before you can get through it.