Narrative And Audiovisual Style Of Harry Potter

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Since J.K. Rowling, who is the author of the Harry Potter series met a little boy wore glasses in the subway, our childhood became different. In 1997, the first novel of series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published. Children were crazy about the characters and magic world in the book. Such magic has lasted for almost two decades. After the fourth novel, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, films and games were released. These adaptations, especially the films, make Harry Potter famous in worldwide. Talking about video games, players focus on two features, namely the narrative story as well as the visual design and interaction.

Narrative and Audiovisual Style of EA Series
Video games made by gaming company Electronic Arts …show more content…

The first video game was released with film in 2001. Harry Potter is seven-year-old in Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and therefore players could only play as a young wizard who needs to practice spell and graduate from his first year at Hogwarts. There are several criticisms of the Harry Potter game series produced by EA. A slightly ropy control system, and disappointing length let us down on what is otherwise a truly enjoyable experience. In the early games, the player could only choose one protagonist. If the player read the novels or watched the movies, there would be no surprises for them. Even for new players who know nothing about the story of Harry Potter, the narrative is tedious and boring. Scene design and unsmooth lens movement are worse than the later games. According to Metacritic, a video games review website, however, the score of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part1 and Part 2 is lower than the first video game. “One of the worst Tie-Ins in videogame history. There 's simply no reason in the world to buy this game. Poor graphics and frustrating gameplay mean only failure.” Players and critics are tired of third-person perspective and one direction linear narrative style. The player controls the character Harry Potter from a behind-the-character …show more content…

It is clear that advanced technology is resulting in better quality games.

Narrative and Audiovisual Style of LEGO Harry Potter
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 and Years 5-7 are spin-offs of the games of the Harry Potter series. It was developed by Traveller’s Tales, a gaming company and published by Warner Bros Pty Ltd in 2010. The narrative stories in these games also follow the plot of the original text. The game designers “did their homework by sticking with the plot line of the books and borrowing visuals from the movies.” In most of the scenes, the composition and tone are totally same as the original movies.

Even though players know a lot of the story, however, different visual design appeals more loyal fans of both the Harry Potter Series and of LEGO. First of all, the characters design based on LEGO toys, colorful and widely known. The movement of characters is clumsy but funny. Secondly, LEGO games use the split screen, which “allowing two players to roam independently” . Thirdly, there are more protagonists the player can choose. The players could “play as Harry and other characters -- there are 170, including Harry 's best friends, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger” . Lastly, the audio and facial expression of characters is impressive. There is no conversation between characters in LEGO games. Thus facial expression of

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