- "The Dementors Are Coming..."
- — Official tagline
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a computer and video game that was released concurrently with the film release of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in 2004. It is the third game release in the Harry Potter series and was based on J. K. Rowling's novel, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Versions[]
Three different versions of this game were released for different gaming platforms:
- Computer version (PC) by KnowWonder
- 6th gen home console version (PS2, Xbox, GameCube) by EA UK
- 6th gen portable console version (GBA) by Griptonite Games
Game plot[]
Harry Potter learns that a dangerous man, Sirius Black, has escaped from Azkaban and is allegedly after him. With his best friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, Harry learns and masters the spells and skills needed to confront Black. However, the reality of the crime that Black was accused of, the murder of thirteen people twelve years prior, becomes clear as the real murderer, Peter Pettigrew, is discovered to be in hiding at Hogwarts, disguised as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. Together with Professor Remus Lupin and Black, Harry, Ron, and Hermione unmask Pettigrew, only to have him escape. Using Hermione's Time-Turner, Harry and Hermione go back in time and rescue the Hippogriff Buckbeak and use him to rescue Sirius Black and from the terrible fate of a Dementor's Kiss. As in the first fight, A Dementor grabs Harry and raises his face to the Dementor's hood, but as it was attempting to perform a kiss, the future version of Harry conjures a Patronus and starts a second fight.
Game features[]
The game includes a Trailer from the Film, Wizard duels, a Gallery and more. Also, on the PS2 version, the player can use an Eyetoy toy camera that allows the player to play mini games by moving the character's arms and body. Such games include catching a snitch or catching wizard cards. The PC version allows access to the Bean Bonus Room for collecting more sweets.
Characters[]
Playable[]
A novelty for the Harry Potter game series is the fact that Ron and Hermione are fully playable as well. You cannot play one character through the whole game. Instead, you switch at different parts to another character. In the console versions, you can switch at will, but some characters will be unavailable at times. In the PC version of the game, switching occurs automatically.
In the PC version, every character has access to the spells Lumos, Alohomora, Rictusempra, Spongify, and Depulso, while in the console versions, the only two universal spells are Flipendo and Expelliarmus.
- Harry Potter: The only game character who can jump across chasms. He's the fastest runner and he alone has access to the Marauder's Map. Harry has Carpe Retractum as an exclusive spell in the console versions, Glacius in the PC version, and Expecto Patronum in both. Harry is one of the two playable characters that can ride Hippogriffs, the other being Hermione. Completing the Famous Wizard Card sets Wizards and Quidditch will boost Harry's health permanently.
- Voice: Tom Attenborough (English), Nick Seidensticker (German), Jonasz Tołopiło (Polish) Max Di Benedetto (Italian), Niels Petterson (Swedish)
- Ron Weasley: The sneaker of the gang - he can open secret passages and search bookshelves for items, as well as using Stink Bombs and Stink Pellets, but he has the smallest spell arsenal. In the PC version, his only exclusive spell is Carpe Retractum, while in the console version, he only has Lumos Duo. Ron is the only playable character that cannot ride a Hippogriff. Completing the Famous Wizard Card sets Dragons and Classical Beasts will boost Ron's health permanently.
- Voice: Gregg Chillin (English), Jesse Grimm (German), Allan Hyde (Danish), Marcin Łabno (Polish), Claudio Ridolfo (Italian), Jesper Adefelt (Swedish)
- Hermione Granger: The last character to join. She has the highest base power of her spells and has the greatest spell arsenal, as well as the ability to crawl into tight spaces, but she is the slowest runner. In console and PC versions alike, she has Draconifors as an exclusive spell. In the PC version, her exclusive spells list also includes Lapifors, while the console version list includes Glacius, Reparo and Snufflifors instead. Hermione is also one of two playable characters that can ride Hippogriffs, the other being Harry. Completing the Famous Wizard Card sets Witches and Hags will boost Hermione's health permanently.
- Voice: Harper Marshall (English), Tosawi Piovani (Italian), Jasmine Heikura (Swedish)
- Buckbeak: Buckbeak is Hagrid's pet Hippogriff. Only playable when Harry or Hermione is flying him.
- Hedwig: Hedwig is Harry's pet snowy owl. She can be used when Harry gives her a Owl Treat, but this is exclusive to console versions.
Non-playable[]
- Draco Malfoy (voice: Lewis MacLeod): Injured during Care of Magical Creatures class early in the game, he is instrumental in having the Hippogriff Buckbeak put on trial as a "dangerous animal". In the console version he drinks Polyjuice Potion to turn into Ron and trick Harry to go into the dungeon and pushes Harry into a hole. The real Ron comes and knocks Malfoy out.
- Albus Dumbledore (voice: Benjamin Stone): The Headmaster's only role in the game is to tally and reveal House Point totals.
- Minerva McGonagall (voice: Eve Karpf): She functions as the Transfiguration instructor.
- Remus Lupin (voice: Jamie Glover): He functions as Defence Against the Dark Arts instructor.
- Rubeus Hagrid: Teaches Care of Magical Creatures. He helps the playable characters in the game to find out how to get ingredients for potions.
- Voice: Jonathan Kydd (English), Tessho Genda (Japanese), Pietro Ubaldi (Italian), Allan Svensson (Swedish)
- Filius Flitwick (voice: Allan Corduner): Functions as Charms instructor.
- Severus Snape: The Potions master.
- Voice: Allan Corduner (English), Takeshi Aono (Japanese), Claudio Moneta (Italian), Adam Fietz (Swedish)
Sirius Black on the Daily Prophet headline in 1993
- Sirius Black: Functions as his role as "The Prisoner of Azkaban," wrongly convicted of the murder of thirteen people and sent to Azkaban; Harry Potter's godfather.
- Voice: David Robb (English), Shinpachi Tsuji (Japanese)
- Peeves (voice: Chris Crosby): His role is the same as it was in previous games, though he has different colouring (blue skin turns pale yellow, red suit turns blue, and hair becomes grey and has a colonial tassel) and becomes smaller.
- Peter Pettigrew: He has the same role as in the book.
- Voice: Tom Goodman-Hill (English), Chafurin (Japanese)
- Fred Weasley/George Weasley (voice: Lewis MacLeod): They own a shop when you buy items, Chocolate Frog Cards, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes and Passwords.
- Andrew Cleveley: A boy who appears near the Great Hall on the last day of term.
Spells[]
Ron Weasley about to cast Carpe Retractum
- Alohomora: Used to unlock locked chests and doors.
- Flipendo: Used to knock back opponents, trigger switches and stun magical creatures.
- Depulso: Upgrade of Flipendo.
- Expelliarmus: Repels offensive spells.
- Glacius: Freezes water and salamanders and extinguishes fires.
- Draconifors: Transforms things into dragons. Only usable by Hermione Granger.
- Lapifors: Transforms things into rabbits. Usable only by Hermione Granger.
- Lumos: Emits light from the wand, will reveal hidden entrances.
- Lumos Duo: Upgrade of Lumos, can turn hinkypunks solid and force ghouls to retreat. Usable only by Ron Weasley.
- Reparo: Fixes broken objects. Usable only by Hermione Granger.
- Snufflifors: Transforms things into mice. Must be bought from Fred and George Weasley's Shop.
- Rictusempra: Stuns or destroys certain enemies.
- Carpe Retractum: Pulls objects toward the caster or vice versa.
- Expecto Patronum: Dispels Dementors. Usable only by Harry Potter.
- Riddikulus: Used to fight boggarts, in mini-game only.
- Diffindo: Cuts ropes and tapestries.
- Spongify: Turns tiles into trampolines.
- Wingardium Leviosa: Levitates objects. Revised in charms class.
- Sternius: Makes the victim sneeze (used by NPC characters only).
- Melofors: Encases victim's head in a pumpkin and gags them to prevent accurate speech (used by NPC characters only).
Potions[]
Console version[]
- Wiggenweld Potion: Retrieves lost stamina. Ingredients: Dittany, Flobberworm Mucus, Wiggentree Bark and Moly.
- Antidote to Uncommon Poisons: Cures the effects of doxy venom. Ingredients: Fire Seeds, Powdered Graphorn Horn, Billywig Stings and Chizpurfle Carapaces.
- Girding Potion: Gives player extra endurance, but each character can only use two. Ingredients: Dragonfly thoraxes, Fairy wings, Flying Seahorses and Doxy eggs.
GBA version[]
- Shrinking Solution: Shrinks whatever it touches. Not usable during gameplay. Ingredients: Leech Juice, Shrivelfig, Dead Caterpillar, Rat Spleen and Daisy Roots.
- Anti-Paralysis Potion: Cures paralysis caused by suits of armour or other creatures.
- Pepperup Potion: Retrieves lost Magic Power
- Wiggenweld Potion: Retrieves lost stamina.
- Antidote to Common Poisons: Cures a poisoned drinker.
Creatures[]
Harry Potter riding a Hippogriff for his flying challenge/lesson
The Pixies
- Bundimun: Shoots green "acid" which hurts a player if stepped on. Jumping on them will give a player Pumpkin Pasties.
- Dementors
- Doxies: Blue flying creatures that attempt to bite and poison the player. Their eggs are used in certain potions.
- Fairies: Wings are used in certain potions. To get the wings, first knock down the fairies with Flipendo, then freeze them with Glacius.
- Fire Salamanders: They breathe fire unless they are frozen. They can be defeated by putting out the fire they came from and putting out the fire from the salamanders themself.
- Flying books: They bite, but they can be destroyed through casting spells, or turned into mice for bonus points, Bertie Bott's Beans, or Famous Wizards Cards.
- Ghouls: Generally harmless, but will attack if the player casts a spell or gets too close to them. Can be repelled with light of the Lumos Duo charm.
- Hinkypunks: Creatures that stand on one leg, look as if made of smoke and carry a lantern. They may shoot at a player.
- Hippogriff: Generally harmless unless a character does not bow to it. (Home console versions)
- The Monster Book of Monsters: Larger than flying books, they bite and shoot pages. They are immune to Snufflifors and are only hurt when hit in the mouth. Pages must be targeted with Rictusempra in the PC version. In console versions, it can be knocked down with Flipendo or the pages can be fired back at the book with Expelliarmus.
- Pixies: They shoot electric blue orbs at the player.
- Red Caps: They throw stink pellets and knock players over.
- Troll: Very strong and guard hallways. They are attracted with dungbombs.
- Charmed skeleton: They throw bones at players. Defeat them with Rictusempra.
- Fire crabs: They Shoot Fire out of their backsides.
Items[]
Example of Famous Wizard Card
- Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans: Found all over Hogwarts and can be used to buy things from Fred and George's shop.
- Chocolate Frogs: They restore a character's health. (Everyone in PC version)
- Cauldron Cakes: Used for trading at Fred and George's shop and are worth the most out of all the tradable items. They also restore health.
- Dungbombs: Ron can use them to distract trolls.
- Folio Bruti Pages: Collect pages to make a book about magical creatures.
- Folio Universitas: Shows the content of a player's Wizard Card collection.
- Owl Treats: Bribe Hedwig with these for favours.
- Pumpkin Pasties: Worth more than beans at Fred and George's shop.
- Stink Pellets: Used in Fred and George's game to get Wizard Cards, and by Red Caps.
- Chocolate Frog Cards: Pentagonal-shaped cards with famous wizards and witches on them. Collect them all for rewards.
- Statues: If Hermione can find all nine statues around Hogwarts, Fred and George will give her three chapters to The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection, getting one chapter for every three statues after talking to Fred and George (note: you have to go back to the shop and take it off the shelf to get each chapter) Each chapter increases your ability to cast spells (Home console versions).
Behind the scenes[]
- The game begins with Harry, Ron and Hermione on the Hogwarts Express, entirely omitting Aunt Marge inflating, the Knight Bus, and the Leaky Cauldron, however in the GBA version the Knight Bus is mentioned and the Leaky Cauldron is the starting point.
- Harry's appearance in the game is vastly different than that in the film. He has longer hair like he did in the previous book and speaks differently too (a lot more slowly).
- The GBA version of the game reprises the same RPG format of the first two Game Boy Colour games.
- Although in the film (at the request of director Alfonso Cuarón) the Hogwarts students are only occasionally seen in their school uniforms, this is the only game adaptation in which the they are shown in a full uniform (in the previous games they wore everyday clothes underneath their wizards' robes, and in the subsequent games they wear their grey jumpers and house-coloured neckties but no robes).
- It is impossible to lose the House Cup in the home console versions (PS2/GameCube/Xbox), likely due to how ironically difficult it would be to lose the cup unlike the prior two games if the stealth sections were played through well enough.
- In the console versions, Harry, Hermione and Ron's wand tips leak out sparkles with colours respectively tied to them (akin to Harry's wand in some versions of the prior two games):
- Harry: Green (likely in reference to his mother's eyes; same as Philosopher's Stone on PS2/Xbox/GameCube whereas Chamber of Secrets on Xbox and GameCube made it blue instead).
- Hermione: Pink
- Ron: Light-brown
- These same colours were reused for the icons on any charm-able target in the controlled-respective-character's proximity in the PC/console-version fourth game.
- Also in the console versions, Ron reuses the same exact full-on running animation as Harry's in the prior two latest-general console version games (as Harry himself and miscellaneous characters get a brand new sprinting animation).
- All characters aside from certain staff reuse the Chamber of Secrets originating run animation in the PC version.
- Also in the console version, there's a photograph of Angelina Johnson playing Quidditch from the first film on the dormitory wall.
Mistakes[]
- On the Marauder's Map level on the PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions, if the player is caught by Snape, the latter will just continuously cough and splutter.
- Throwing Dungbombs at certain characters occasionally causes them to either say dialogue belonging to other characters or that were removed from the game. For example, throwing Dungbombs at Snape causes him to start saying Sir Cadogan's dialogue. Throwing Dungbombs at Parvati Patil causes her to talk about owl racing which she won't say if spoken to via normal means. These are not "Easter Eggs" as it is in fact a glitch in the game.
- Certain non-English languages fix the previously mentioned mistakes, though Snape does have proper English quotes.
- In a few cutscenes, the Fat Lady and Glanmore Peaks in their respective portraits will be closer to their frames.
- Also during the cutscene where the Trio let Neville into the Common Room, the Fat Lady's picture goes out of the frame.
External links[]
| J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Philosopher's Stone | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Chamber of Secrets | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Prisoner of Azkaban | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Goblet of Fire | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Order of the Phoenix | book | film | game | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Half-Blood Prince | book | film | games | film soundtrack | game soundtrack |
| Deathly Hallows | book | film 1 | games 1 | film soundtrack 1 | game soundtrack 1 |
| film 2 | games 2 | film soundtrack 2 | game soundtrack 2 | ||
| Cursed Child | script | play | |||
| Fantastic Beasts film series | |||||
| Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them | book | screenplay | film | game | film soundtrack |
| The Crimes of Grindelwald | screenplay | film | film soundtrack | ||
| The Secrets of Dumbledore | screenplay | film | film soundtrack | ||