‘Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions’ soars with nostalgic gameplay

With cartoonish graphics, comfortable game controls and loads of nostalgia based on J.K. Rowlings’ wizarding universe, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions — Deluxe Edition (Unbroken Studios and published by Warner Bros. Games, rated Teen, $29.99 and $39.99, reviewed on PlayStation 5) delivers a fun, fast-paced challenge that allows players to experience the magic of Hogwarts’ students favorite sport within solo and multiplayer matches.

The action opens with a detailed tutorial covering Quidditch, a game taking place in a large arena with opponents from two teams flying on broomsticks to hit balls through vertical hoops and score points.

Lessons cover the four main positions — Chasers (they shoot a ball called a Quaffle through any of three hoops at either end of the pitch to score a goal); Beaters (tasked with knocking opponents off their broomsticks); Keepers (the goalkeepers stopping the Quaffle); and the Seeker (chasing the Golden Snitch, a winged gold ball worth the most points) — and each feature fan-favorite characters.

First, Ginny Weasley explains the Chaser. In the books, Ginny was a gifted Chaser and even went on to play Quidditch professionally.

Her introduction also serves to teach the game’s central mechanics such as flying, aiming and accelerating. Expect a definite learning curve with the flying mechanics, but the tutorials allow players to repeat the lessons and practice sessions as many times as needed to master them.

Next, Ron Weasley explores the Keeper. Ironically, Ron is canonically a nervous Keeper, but in this game, he’s a pro. In addition to guarding the goals, players are given the ability to place a series of rings as a “Play Caller.” When other teammates fly through the rings, their energy boosts reset, allowing them to fly faster and farther.

Next, Fred and George Weasley offer the finer points of being a Beater.

Unlike the canon, where Bludgers indiscriminately whiz through the air and have no team loyalties, players in this game summon their team’s Bludger and aim them at enemy players to deal damage, with the goal of knocking them off their brooms.

Finally, the Seeker position is taught by Harry Potter, “the youngest seeker in a century.” This position involves a big deviation from the book and movie canon.

In the books, the Seeker is always present on the field, searching out the infamous Golden Snitch. If the Seeker catches the snitch, the game ends with 150 points awarded to the catching team.

In the game, the Seeker position is only available when the snitch is released, a minute or two into the game. Once released, a Snitch indicator appears, and players must fly through a bunch of golden hoops to fill up the Snitch’s meter,

Once the meter is filled, the Snitch can finally be caught.

Catching the Snitch awards the catching player’s team a measly 30 points, and the Seeker is benched, waiting for the Snitch to appear again.

While this is a big change, it means that games can’t be unceremoniously ended by one player and emphasizes the importance of all positions.

Once the tutorial is complete, players dive into the “Weasley Garden Cup” against members of the Weasley family, Hermione Granger, and Harry. Ironically, in the books, Hermione is terrified of flying on a broomstick and would have to be hit with an Imperio spell to play Quidditch.

With each new position learned, players also enter the Character/Team creation mode, where they can customize and build a team. The customization is fairly extensive, with choices of height, face shape, skin tones, eye colors, various hairstyles and pronouns for the commentator to use for that character.

Additionally, the customization includes outfits, wands and brooms. Players can also choose prebuilt characters with “Hero Overrides.” It’s not quite clear as to the purpose of the wands in the game, but it’s possible this will be used in later updates.

In “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” Harry is gifted a Firebolt broom from his godfather, Sirius Black, but only those players who buy the preorder of the game will have the chance to use it initially.

Fortunately, there are several broom options from the base game: Cleansweep, Comet, and Shooting Star.

The game’s Deluxe Edition also includes the Stormrider, and players who have purchased the game “Hogwarts Legacy” get the Legacy broom. Three main stats accompany each broom: speed, durability and agility, with each broom offering a different combination of each. However, the stats seem to be a bit arbitrary.

For example, the Firebolt has very low agility in the game, despite being the same broom Harry used to dodge a dragon around Hogwarts in “The Goblet of Fire.”

Additionally, and oddly, the game does not yet have a Nimbus 2000, the broom given to Harry in his first year at Hogwarts. Fortunately, through collecting Moonstone from challenges and progression, players can level up each broom to level 5, greatly improving the broom’s stats.

Once out of the tutorial, players are introduced to the different modes the game offers: Campaign (solo/co-op vs. bots), cross-platform Multiplayer (with up to three total players for each team), Exhibition, and Open Practice.

The campaign has multiple difficulty settings, starting out with casual and standard being available after completing the tutorial. After progressing, players can level up and complete challenges to unlock harder difficulties.

The Campaign mode includes multiple tournaments, with several being unlocked with progression.

Players begin with the “Hogwarts House Quidditch Cup” and can compete as a chosen house against the others, with several familiar faces popping up in the opposing teams such as Cedric Diggory for Hufflepuff, Cho Chang for Ravenclaw and, of course, Harry, Ginny and Ron for Gryffindor.

As in the books, Lee Jordan is the commentator for all matches, although his lines can become very repetitive. Hopefully, future updates have Luna Lovegood commentating as she did in “The Half-Blood Prince.”

In a later unlock, players can play in the “Triwizard Tournament” against Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, with Fleur Delacour and Viktor Krum making appearances as Seekers.

Overall, the game mechanics are smooth and fairly easy to learn. Even while playing alone, players can assume any position and can switch with handy shortcuts.

In the main game, each player’s specific role is apparent, with Chasers only being able to lock on to the Quaffle, Beaters to the Bludger, and Seekers to the Snitch.

The enemy bots are also fairly intelligent, with even the casual difficulty having competent Keepers and Chasers. Each game lasts seven minutes, with a score cap of 100 points, although the seven minutes feel much shorter with the quick pace of the action.

If players want a less competitive option, Exhibition offers a casual game against artificial intelligence players or favorite teams, and Open Practice allows players to hone skills in a customizable environment.

As far as extra goodies, there are multiple ways to quickly unlock different customization items and accessories.

By connecting to a Warner Bros account, players can unlock a house “fan tee” and a “house insignia” to place on the back of robes or uniforms. The Deluxe Edition unlocks four “House Packs,” each of which with a house-specific Stormrider Firestorm broom skin, a Hogwarts Travel School Uniform, and a House Crest Emblem.

This version also allows the player to start with 2,000 in gold (which, let’s be honest, should be galleons) that allows players to purchase new items from the shop.

For players who have purchased “Hogwarts Legacy,” they can unlock the “Legacy Pack” that includes: a Moontrimmer Broom skin, Sebastian Sallow Hero skin and wand, an Ancient Magic emblem and celebration gestures.

For fans of the books and movies, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a great way to experience the fast-paced thrill of Quidditch, with details that will delight diehard fans (and deviations from canon that might raise some eyebrows).

By the way, for those who remember Electronic Arts’ “Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup” from 2003, this game is a welcome upgrade for the new generation of tech in video games that remains rooted in familiar mechanics for everyone to enjoy.