Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix only had to get one thing right: Hogwarts. The wizard politics and teen growing pains that dominate the book were too subtle for the game's designers, so they opted instead for a scavenger hunt: You have to scour the school grounds, tracking down classmates and doing their homework for them. Had EA captured any of the magic of a virtual Hogwarts—where centuries of wizarding history and intrigue lie behind secret passages and fiendish puzzles—it could have made an engrossing adventure.
But no magic went into this cash-in. Hogwarts is as grey and empty as a church basement or a bankrupt gymnasium. The only things you'll uncover are busted statues and cheap wall hangings, and the designers made every mistake in the book: incessant hints and back-seat driving, hanging plot points, pointless errands, chaotic fight scenes, and character faces that look like they were carved out of wax by crazy people. Whole scenes barge in with no explanation—the "Christmas at Grimmauld Place" interlude is Pinter-esque—and the only time you'll likely feel challenged is when you run into a bug.