Every now and then you come across a game that - despite not having particularly high hopes for - actually turns out to be a pretty decent affair. Lego Harry Potter - Years 1-4 is one such game?

If you have played some of the previous Lego games before (Star Wars, Batman, Indiana Jones), the premise is basically the same: Different characters are unlocked (of which there are more than 160!) as you complete puzzles, collect studs and explore Hogwarts University during Harry and co's first four years of wizard's school.

What sets LHP1-4 apart from the rest of the Lego franchise is the lovely-looking environments, clever use of different spells (what sort of wizard would you be otherwise?) and the making of potions (another nifty ability of wizards and witches alike) that shows just how tuned in to the whole Harry Potter theme developers Traveller's Tales are.

The unpredictability of Hogwarts is portrayed well, while the humour often synonymous with the Harry Potter series is present too, despite the characters never uttering a word.

The co-op drop-in drop-out mode is another facet where LHP is a marked improvement on the other Lego games, bar Indiana Jones 2. In most two-player or co-op games the horizontal/vertical line that splits the screen into two is more of a hindrance than anything else, but in LHP it actually works quite well.

Although I was quite impressed with LHP, there are places Traveller's Tales can improve.

Despite the excellence of the co-op function, it has no online capabilities, which I find quite baffling. Likewise, Traveller's Tales built in a 'create a level' mode, but since it is impossible to post your creations online, the feature is rather pointless. Surely if you had spent hours creating the perfect playing environment, you would want other players to be able to explore it?

That being said, the fact that there is no mid-level saving system is even more annoying and if development of LHP 5-7 is not already complete, that would be a welcome addition.

The vast majority of the puzzles Harry and his friends have to solve are quite easy, but every now and then I got stuck on a level where the actual object simply wasn't clearly illustrated enough.

Nothing is as frustrating as walking from corner to corner blasting everything in sight and still having no clue as to what to do?

In spite of these criticisms, LHP 1-4 still has a lot to offer even the hardened gamer and is well worth a look.

8.2/10

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