LEGO Harry Potter to Be Released in 2010

Mclatchy -Tribune News Service

"LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4"

Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, PC

Style: 1 or 2-Player Action (2-Players Online)

Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive

Developer: Traveller's Tales

Release: 2010

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The "LEGO" franchise is known for turning epic blockbusters into addictive collect-a-thons that appeal to children and adults alike. So it came as no surprise when Traveller's Tales announced that its next "LEGO"-infused adventure would tap the rich lore of "Harry Potter." Besides an E3 trailer and some early screens that reveal the franchise's charming humor is still intact, little is known about the project. We interviewed Loz Doyle, producer of "LEGO Harry Potter," to fix that.

Q: How closely will the game follow J.K. Rowling's original fiction? Are you taking any liberties?

A: With such an incredible story to play with, and as big fans of the books, we very naturally follow the fiction very closely. We do it in a "LEGO" way, of course! So while we're faithful to the core story elements and scenes, we do like to make the player laugh ? and add in some new twists suited to the "LEGO" world.

Q: Are you separating the years into individual story arcs? Will there be new content for "Harry Potter" fans as well?

A: Yes, each year will be treated separately, so you will be able to play through the individual stories of years 1, 2, 3 and 4. As always, there are many different characters for players to unlock, which means that you'll also be able to play as characters that you normally would not expect to be in a particular story year. For example, you can take Professor Quirrell into Year 4. While we're not introducing new story content...there will be many areas within Hogwarts that weren't necessarily featured heavily in the films and you'll have a chance to play around and explore those areas as well.

Q: Will "LEGO Harry Potter" feature a hub world similar to the one introduced in "Indiana Jones 2"?

A: Once you're at Hogwarts in a specific year, you're essentially living out that year, as in the films. Hogwarts is a rich environment, with all of the rooms and areas that you would expect to find there: The Great Hall, The Forbidden Forest, Gryffindor common room and so on. The lessons and levels are all triggered from within Hogwarts. There's no going to menus or to different hubs from within that story ? it's all there. Diagon Alley is where we have all of the shops, so you can buy characters, access the customizer, and select which year you want to play in from there.

Q: How is magic being handled in the game? Will your magic affect building blocks?

A: "Harry Potter" is all about magic and spells, so that's the primary focus of the gameplay. We have a large variety of spells and potions that you learn over the course of the four years you spend at Hogwarts. Some spells are locked to specific characters, as are some special magical abilities. But we have a powerful new in-game LEGO building system using the Wingardium Leviosa spell, which you learn very early in the story, and which almost all characters use. The spell enables you to lift individual LEGO blocks and stack them up in any way you wish. This gives us a powerful tool for creating new kinds of puzzles with more depth than you've seen before in a "LEGO" game.

As well as the Wingardium Leviosa building system, we have a new LEGO building spell, enabling you to use your wand to combine and build LEGO pieces into new objects. You may have to find and collect all of the pieces first, at which point they are all magically summoned over to the place that you need them, and built into a new form.

Q: What are the character archetypes for the game? Will you be controlling different versions of "Harry Potter" with different magic abilities, similar to "LEGO Batman"? Or will different students use different spells?

A: As you go through each year, you'll learn more and more spells and potions, so your main characters will become more powerful over time, just as they do in the fiction. Some characters will be better at some spells than others; some spells will be locked to specific characters, and some will have special abilities that are suited to their character. Harry, for example is excellent at flying broomsticks, but when Hermione learns to fly, she spends half her time hanging underneath the broom! However, Hermione is an expert at spells and she can often carry them out faster and more accurately than other students.

Q: You mentioned potions ? is potion crafting merely a minigame, or will the potions you create affect gameplay as well?

A: Yes, potions are an integral part of the gameplay, and we've got a really fun new system in place for them. They are not minigames and are instead another part of the main gameplay. You have to find the ingredients in the environment, which often involves its own set of puzzles, and then you mix the ingredients together. You might sometimes mix the wrong potion though, which can have all kinds of different results ? the cauldron might blow up in your face or you might drink your concoction and manage to turn yourself into a frog!

Q: What kind of collectibles will players be looking for in the worlds? Are you bringing back mini kits?

A: As anyone who's played our games will know, we do love collecting things. So in addition to the classic LEGO studs, we will have red bricks and other collectibles throughout Hogwarts in each year. There are also over 100 characters to collect, and lots of spells and potions to learn, so by the end of the game you'll have a huge collection of things to play with.

Q: Sounds like a lot of fun. Any secrets you want to tease our readers with?

A: Look out for LEGO Fang as a playable character!

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