LEGO Harry Potter for the iPhone and iPad is a surprisingly deep, surprisingly detailed experience, one that strives to deliver the same level of fun found on the fantastic console versions of the game, it seems.
I've just spent a few hours with the game, which hit iTunes early this morning, but I'm impressed with how much Traveller's Tales seems to have been able to pack into the $5 game.
As with the console versions of the game, the iPhone game has you playing through the first four Harry Potter books as controllable LEGO minifigs based on the story's main characters. The game uses touch controls to play. For instance, you can double tap or hold your finger on the screen to move your minifig around. You also will need to use the screen to solve puzzles and cast spells. While I'm still on the first book of the game, I've already learned that swiping my finger from minifig to target shoots out a blast from my wand, drawing a circle around a clutter of broken LEGO pieces repairs an item, and drawing a circle around myself stuns anyone near me. But I'm sure there are other spells to learn.
The game also has many of the other hallmarks of a Traveller's Tales LEGO title like the ability to customize your minifig and collect and build models from pieces hidden throughout the game. The game's many levels also can each be unlocked for free play.
We'll be reviewing the game as soon as we finish playing through it, but early impressions seem to indicate that this could be one of the best games currently on the platform.
The game is due out for the iPad once Apple releases a new firmware update for that device. I suspect that it will be infinitely more playable on the larger screen.