When JK Rowling puts her pen to paper, you know that at least three things will inevitably happen. Firstly, the resulting script will magic up a ton of cash. Secondly, there’ll be a film starring actors who are far too old to be playing the roles. Finally, we’ll get a videogame based on said film. So with Harry and his magicsavvy mates leaping from book to big screen, we now have the obligatory game to review.

On picking up our PSP, it was pleasing to see that this is a much darker and sinister adventure than previous visits to Hogwarts – much of the puzzle solving has been dropped in favour of a more action-orientated experience as the three friends chase around casting spells, jinxing enemies and collecting energy-rich beans. There’s even a chance to level-up each character by way of Collector Cards earned as you progress. Despite the action being engaging, it does get slightly jarred by the disjointed nature of the levels, which are set up more like separate chapters than a cohesive story. And though Harry and companions should be proficient in the mystical arts by now, they’re still a little slow in performing commands. Slow reactiontime is compensated (or complicated, depending on how you look at it) by the fact that it’s almost impossible to die – this is fine for mini muggles, but provides little challenge for the more experienced of gamers.

Despite a few niggling faults, this is certainly an improvement over previous Potter games, as the three-player action and nice visual effects combine to produce a game that lives up to the licence.