storyLines

…what happens next?


Harry Potter and The Half-Blood Prince : The Videogame

I bought this game from GameTraders at Castle Towers. The Price was excellent, $69.95 when EB Games cost $79.95.

Quite an average game, a nice big place to venture through and explore, but it seriously lacks story content. This Harry Potter game brings back the flying minigame and introduces the first ever potions mini-game.

Catching the Snitch

Potions is probably the most worthwile part of the game, as flying is quite boring, flying continuously in a path through rings, with no variation. The story is terrible, made up of mostly cinematics, with all major plot points being unplayable.

Making a Potion

Another big part of the Harry Potter franchise which has returned is duelling. You get to use many of the spells you read about in the books or have seen in the movies…IT IS FUN! You have the opportunity to become champion dueller of Hogwarts, and it truly is the funnest part of the game. Some parts are quite pathetic though, such as killing an opponent with a stunning spell or being continually bombarded by a glitch so that you are killed.

Quite a reasonable game, but with more content, I would feel better about how I spent my Money. Something that I can’t get over is the untapped potential. They made a large area to play in, but an ill-defined storyboard destroyed the game’s greatness. Everything was in a smaller area than it should have been, meaning a player only had to go into the far-off corners of the map to get Xbox 360 Achievements.

The story was short; I finished the game in less than a day, which is quite sad when you have played all it’s predecessors. I would not recommend this game, unless you were borrowing it from a friend.

Brisingr – a review

Brisingr
Brisingr is the third exciting instalment in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Cycle (formerly trilogy).

In this new book, Eragon and his dragon, Saphira (the main characters) are thrown into a net of promises he may be able to keep. Promises that will take him all across Alagaisia, through many battles, and confrontations with the most dangerous creatures, each time coming one step closer to the evil King Galbatorix.

This book is perfect for any fantasy lover from 11 and up. Brisingr is rich with both history and mystery, and is complete with everything magical from dragons to dwarves and much more!

It is amazing to see the amount of detail Paolini has put into the races of his fantasy world, creating languages, religions and customs for each one. The reader will be buried in the magical world of Alagaisia and its history and people, and will be reluctant to put it down, even when they have finished!

I recommend the first and second books of the Inheritance Cycle also. They are Eragon and Eldest.

Reviewed by TommyA

Find out more about Brisingr.

Deltora Quest Series

by Daniel

The first novel in this amazing set of 3 series… is “The Forests of Silence.” Emily Rodda is an amazing artist of fictional literature. She has created a whole world in which the reader can immerse his or her self.

I have immersed myself in the Deltoran culture a multitude of times. My favourite part of the series was the Pirran Pipe. Although unrealistic and unearthly in certain contexts, Rodda still manages a great novel. The main character of the book, Lief, heir to the throne, is quite like the little bit of adventure inside all of us, trying anything.

Overall, I rate this series an 9/10. This is because I found out that there was only going to be a third series…

Marc McBride, the illustrator of the novel covers and the illustrator of books such as “The Deltora book of Monsters’, was kind enough to autograph my copy of “The Forests of Silence” when I met him in year 5. A very kind, free-spirited person he was, spraying a great picture in minutes.

Want to find out more?

The Author?

The Illustrator?

General Information?