While the majority of you have just finished their school year I'm already starting a new one but not in a normal school, oh no ! I'm going to Hoggarth's school for witchcraft ! This is my story, I'm Harry Potter... the boy that stayed alive !

After having friendly thanked Harry for the intro, I take control again in my own hands. Of course he wouldn't move an inch without me... Actually Harry didn't go to Hogwarth's but to Poudlard, the French version. So beware at purchase of Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban that you don't pick the wrong language as you can't change it in-game. Luckily my decent knowledge of French (*cough*) helped me struggle through the game without any problems.

You'll instantly get into the action when Harry and his friends are on the Express train to Hogwarths. Little after having sat down in the wagon where professor Lupos is sleeping, the train stops and a dementor enters. Harry can't cope with his emotions and faints. When he wakes up he gets told that the dementors are guards from the prison of Azkaban and they're walking around as Sirius Blackness is looking for Harry to kill him. And so a new school year begins...

Hogwarth's looks better than ever. As a Harry Potter fan it's a true pleasure to be able to admire the school from both in- and outside and if you want you can even fly around the towers. Also the character models look awesome and incredibly have a likeness with their counterparts that are made from flesh and blood. Only Harry himself looks a big fat but that could be due to eating a bit too much of the candy that's laying around and which you can use to pay Fred and George when you need something. Next to the candy you'll also need to collect points for your division to win the cup at the end of the year, complete your wizard cards collection, get pages of a book with info on your enemies and of course potions to keep yourself and you friends going.

Hogwarth's is gigantic and in the beginning it can be a real pain to get where you need to be. Once you've arrived in class you'll probably have to go to a dungeon looking for a book with spells and once you've found it you can use the specific spell in the rest of the game. The biggest difference with previous games is that this time you won't be playing only with Harry. Your friends are with you and each of them has his/her specific properties. Ron has a sixth sense to find secret passage ways so if you find a strange spot in the wall, he might be able to open it.
Hermione can use her small butt (thanks to Special K) to crawl through small holes while Harry has the possibility to jump (duh!). Sometimes you'll be wandering around with only one of these three, sometimes with two of them or from time to time with all. You'll need to make use of their properties to procede in the game and each character has its own spells.

Switching between the three is very fluid and makes for some enjoyable moments. Only the switching between spells should have been done a bit more easy. You can assign two of them at the same time to the X or Y-button, a bit like in a Zelda game, but when you need to use three spells quickly in a dungeon it's a bit hard you need to assign a new one each time. Especially since the menu's loading times are all but fast. The game itself has plenty of "loading" aswell but luckily these don't take too long.

EA promised a game that isn't too easy for the best gamers and I must confess they've done a good job in making it harder but for the true gamer it still isn't difficult. Sometimes you'll wonder where you need to go next or what you need to do but you'll never get into real problems. This game is clearly meant for the little gamers but older - more gifted - players (whether or not fan of Harry Potter) may enjoy "racing" through the game. An average playtime is about 8 hours.

The music is fairytale-like, filled with magic. What would you have wanted more for a Harry Potter game ? The sound is done decently aswell but since I'm stuck with this French version, I can't really judge whether the English and/or Dutch voices are done well although they appear to be good from what I hear. On the French voices I can say that even these are doable while I usually hate French movies/games due to bad dubbing.

As with almost every EA game there's connectivity between Gamecube and GBA-version. When you only have it on Gamecube you can download 2 minigames to your Gameboy Advance through the Nintendo Gamecube Game Boy Advance-wire.
In the first of these minigames you'll fly and need to collect as many points by going through troops of bats. Each time you've passed such a troop you'll earn an extra point and some extra time to get passed the next bunch.
The second minigame is some kind of tetris where you need to get as many objects of the same color together to start off a chain reaction.

If you have both versions (GBA and GC) you can take care of your owl, much like with a Tamagotchi, after which you can upload it again to your gamecube and have him participate in owl races. It's not really necessary to get the GBA version for these 2 minigames so if you do buy it, make sure it's because Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban is also a great RPG on Gameboy Advance with some puzzle elements where you need to make good use of the properties of the different characters.

All in all, Harrpy Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban is a very nice game with which the fans especially will enjoy themselves. The sublime graphics, fun gameplay and beautiful sound may well get you to play the game more than once. EA has completed its mission to make the game harder than the previous ones but don't expect a difficult one, only the younger gamers will face some problems. It's also a pitty that it's so short.