The Harry Potter books and movies have played an important role in developing the worldview of many readers and viewers across the globe. Until now, when young fans have grown into adults, the story created by J.K. Rowling remains a great influence on them. But fans just can’t get enough of the characters and the world introduced by Rowling.
They can get their fix in various ways, including the books and films. Gamers can also get their hands on more related content through games. For those who like sports, Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup will definitely be a great experience. You can do various plays just like your favorite in-book players! Read on to learn more about this game.
Gameplay
The game has three main modes of gameplay, namely World Cup, Hogwarts, Exhibition. The latter lets you pick between two teams that you have unlocked to play a one-off game with each other. The Hogwarts mode is the first mode that you are required to complete and involves a battle between the various Hogwarts houses that we all know and love.
You don’t have to use the team that Harry plays for, which is a nice feature, and you get two tickets to the World Cup of Quidditch for winning the tournaments. It goes without saying that doing so also unlocked the World Cup game mode.
The World Cup game mode involves a league between nations like England, Australia, Spain, the USA, France, and others. Essentially, this game mode is the same as the Hogwarts cup, though there are far more teams, and the games do tend to take a little longer than the other modes.
The Weasley Wangler
Based on the name, you probably know which Hogwarts team specializes in this play.
In the game, the Gryffindor team led by Captain Oliver Wood uses this play to score some hoops and earn points. This play is done by Chaser Alicia Spinnet with the Weasley Twins.
When you perform this set, you will see Alicia with the Quaffle flanked by Beaters, Fred, and George. The twins hit a Bludger back and forth to protect the Chaser, who then scores after the twins hit the opponent’s Keeper with the Bludger.
The Burdish of Raven
For the Ravenclaw team led by Roger Davies, the Burdish of Raven is also a scoring set play.
However, this is considered the best among the Houses and even the national teams as it helps the team score three times. To do this, all three Chasers move to score.
As they rush, Davies will punch an opposing chaser while Chaser Randolph Burrow kicks another. With this, Davies, Burrow, and Jeremy Stretton can freely score.
The Cedric Swoop’n Swagger
The Hufflepuff team led by Cedric Diggory performs the Cedric Swoop’n Swagger. It is considered a long and fairly complicated move as it passes the Quaffle back and forth among the three Chasers.
First, Malcolm Preece passes the Quaffle to the MacAvoy, who then passes it to Applebee.
The Quaffle is then transferred to MacAvoy and Preece, who tosses it to the ground so that it bounces into a hoop. Macavoy gets the Quaffle and passes it to Applebee to score again.
The Zeeburger Slither
The Zeeburger Slither has three Chasers and two Beaters flying toward the opposing goal posts in formation, then splitting apart to hit any defending players out of the way.
Once the Chasers have reached the post, the Quaffle is passed to a Chaser, who then punches it through the goal farthest to the right, into the hands of a waiting player.
It’s then passed to another Chaser who hits it into the center goal.
The Rowntree Counter
Now, whichever Hogwarts team you choose will support one national team for the World Cup.
If you play using the England team, you will be able to do the Rowntree Counter.
With this move, the three Chasers knock out two opponents and distract the Beaters. The Quaffle is passed back and forth among the three Chasers until they score.
The Wronski Feint
This is a move that many hardcore fans are familiar with.
When performing the Wronski Feint, a Seeker pretends to spot the Golden Snitch far below the playing height, then races to ‘catch’ it, hoping the opposing seeker does the same.
Just before they reach the ground, the feinting seeker pulls out of their dive, usually causing the opposing seeker to crash.
The World Cup Teams
Each of the World Cup teams that compete in Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup are based around a general stereotype from the country they come from. For instance, the Australian team’s stadium is in the outback, and they often talk with slang - generally exaggerated for comedic effect.
The English play in a far more traditional stadium and speak with the common English accent. The stereotypes work well to add character to the teams, and the World Cup is a league format, though we think that this was decided upon to extend the longevity of the game.
Anyone who plays games regularly would probably be able to complete the entire game in a few hours, provided that you have the patience to play through the longer matches. This is definitely a game that you can take your time with, and we think that it works better that way.
The Game of Quidditch
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is based on the sport that is prevalent in J.K. Rowling’s world that she created when she was writing the Harry Potter books. In Quidditch, teams of young wizards fly around the field on flying broomsticks in a competition to score the most points.
For a comparison to the real world, quidditch is best described as a mix of Australian Football and European Handball. Each end has three goals, and placing the quaffle through the goal will score your team ten points. Each team has a goalkeeper, and this player is responsible for preventing the opposing team from scoring goals.
The goalkeeper can’t be tackled, and each team is made up of beaters, chasers, keepers, and a seeker. The chasers are those who score the goals and attempt to get the ball from one side of the field to the other, while the beaters stop bludgers from hitting chasers during the game.
The Details
The character animations in Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup are pretty good, with one exception. When performing moves like passes, dodges, or shots, the move is performed during the game in real-time. However, when a special move or a team special move is performed, the game cuts to a movie that is rendered in CGI.
We think that there could have been a little more depth into the game if you were able to perform these moves during actual gameplay and also maybe even be able to defend against these moves sometimes. This isn’t a major issue, but worth mentioning anyway.
When it comes to graphics, this game is quite impressive and holds up quite well. Featuring a good frame rate, unique stadiums, and great animations, the game really looks great on the Xbox console. After points are scored during matches, players can be shown celebrating, or the crowd can be seen cheering.
World Cup
The World Cup stage is quite similar to the Hogwarts mode when it comes to the gameplay, though there are no challenges for you to complete, and the teams are national teams based on real countries like we said earlier. There are lots of teams to choose from, and there’s even the star seeker Victor Krum in the Bulgarian team.
Other than the selection of teams, the main difference between the Hogwarts and World Cup game modes is that you have to pick which model of broom to use. This is essentially a difficulty selection screen, and only the first two difficulties are available to you at first.
You’ll play against each team in the World Cup mode twice, once at your home ground and once on the home ground of the opposing team. The Cup is awarded in the same way that the Hogwarts cup is - the team with the highest total when the season is over is the winner of the World Cup.
Hogwarts
In the Hogwarts stage, you will compete for the Inter-House Quidditch Cup for one of the house teams at Hogwarts. Each house is represented by its Seeker, and each is a specific character from the books. When you choose a team, the Seeker of the house will fly off on their broomsticks.
This game mode also has six House challenges, namely Tackle and Shoot, Passing, Beaters and Bludgers, Special Moves, and Combos. Each challenge is led by a relevant player, and only the first three challenges are available to the player at first, with the others being unlocked after you complete your first match.
The Hogwarts game mode is likely where you’ll spend most of your time since it has the most to do. It’s a lot of fun, and we recommend that you do your best to complete all of the challenges and unlock all of the achievements. Like we said earlier, you can probably do this in a few hours.
Summary
Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is a unique and exciting game for fans of the Wizarding World.
With this game, you can play like a pro in a sport that your beloved characters enjoyed and played in the books and films.
