Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions Review
thesixthaxis.comHow, in the name of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, do you turn the delightfully inconsistent nature of Quidditch into a coherent sport for online multiplayer? Well, after many hours with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions, I’m still not entirely sure of the answer. I don’t think developer Unbroken Studios knows either, though they’ve had a ruddy good go of it.
Quidditch is a fantastic sport for scripted storytelling, be it in a novel or a film. Big, bombastic, dramatic, spectacular and a bit weird, those broomstick riding daredevils have been thrilling fans of the Wizarding World for years now. When it comes to a video game though, the narrative-led nature of Quidditch prove to be a bit messy. Unbroken Studios have attempted to bring order to the chaos with some clearer and more consistent rules.
Each team consists of six team members: three Chasers, one Beater, one Seeker, and one Keeper. As a solo player you can switch between the four roles at will, swapping to each character with the stab of a button, but in the 3v3 online, all players are assigned a Chaser and one of the other three classes. It’s a smart mechanic adapted other sports games, because when it comes to Quidditch, some positions are far more fun and meaningful to play in than others.
Being a Beater is terrific fun. Your job is to beat up opposing players and eliminate them from the match for a brief, but vital, period. You do this by summoning a Bludgeon – thankfully you don’t have to go find the Bludgeon, and instead you bring into existence with magic – and then launching it with wanton abandon at a teenager’s delicate and still developing skull.
Everyone wants to be a Beater, so chances are you’ll get to do this the least. Instead, judging by my experience, you are more likely to end up being the mostly pants Keeper and Seeker.
Being a Keeper is rubbish. Hanging out around the three hoop like goal posts, you can attempt to tackle player’s heading your way or intercept the ball – sorry, Quaffle. Controls are
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