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Call me cynical but I tend to find myself rather dubious whenever a new console peripheral is launched. I can still remember going out and buying a Wii not long after its launch and the excitement from managing to find a rare balance board during those first weeks; however the Wii now sits under our TV cabinet, barely used since the novelty of playing tennis indoors wore off and the balance board was sold off long ago. Since then I’ve tended to avoid extra peripherals for the most part, as they have a habit of taking up space in my house as they gather dust.
So is the new Wonderbook for Playstation fated to end up the same way? Firstly, a pro: the book itself is just that, a book, and as such it is far easier to store than many other peripherals (who else has a drum kit wedged in a cupboard somewhere?) It works in conjunction with the Playstation Move which will be a bonus to some, but for those of us who never invested in that system you’ll need a more expensive kit and you’ll have not one but three new parts cluttering up your house.
One of my biggest concerns was how well the system would work in my house. Every promotional picture or trailer has shown a child on the floor with the book in front of them. This works fine if you have traditional TV set up with the screen on a low stand. However, my TV is practically wall-mounted; it stands on a four-foot-high sideboard, and the room isn’t wide enough for me to sit on the floor far enough back from it. If I tried sitting on the floor I’d have a crick in my neck from looking up before the credits had rolled. This meant I had to sit on the sofa with the book on my lap and mount the camera on top of the TV to get an accurate picture. The book worked very well like this, providing you kept still and didn’t allow it to jiggle around too much, which would cause the camera to lose focus and the book to blur. How well such a system would work with naturally fidgety children is another matter entirely. You really need to think about the arrangement of your gaming environment if you’re considering a Wonderbook.
So onto the game itself. Book of Spells is set in Hogwarts, 200 years before the events of the Harry Potter series. You have discovered the book in the restricted section of the library and gradually read through the book, learning spells. These are the spells you will know from the books and films: Lumos, Incendio and Wingardium Leviosa are among the first you will come across. A narrator (with a voice disarmingly similar to a certain Mr. Tennant) helps guide you through the book, explaining what to do on each page, although this does get faintly irritating after a while if you’re an experienced gamer.
Each spell is learned over a few pages, beginning with some background on the spell which is often in the form of a short story. You then learn the pronunciation (yes, you will have to speak it out loud) and the wand gesture. Once you’ve mastered these, you’ll have the opportunity to practice the spell and you might find a note from one of the book’s previous readers that will allow access to an extra task. At the end of each chapter, you’ll be transported away from the library to complete a final challenge that will test your knowledge of that chapter’s spells.
The game is clearly aimed at a fairly young age bracket. My 10-year-old niece attended the press launch with me and loved the game, her favorite part being the spell casting. This differs from my favorite aspect, which is all the backstory and extra details about the Wizarding World. (The story of how Wingardium Leviosa was discovered was particularly amusing.)
It's good to see a game which can be enjoyed in different ways by different family members. Despite the suggested age on the game being seven plus, my niece found the game quite tricky to master with the wand often not doing what she wanted; this was her first time using a Move so perhaps it will get easier with practice, but she suggested that the game would be best for children of her age and above.
I got to play the game at home after the launch party, and after going through a clearly explained setup process complicated only by my PS3 not being up-to-date I started playing. An hour later, I had to force myself to switch it off. Although the gameplay is hardly as complex and layered as the games I usually play, the Book of Spells experience is completely absorbing. I found myself forgetting that the book on my lap wasn't actually what I could see on the screen and that I was holding a Move controller, not a wand. I wanted to do well and get the most house points I could.
Incidentally, one thing I loved about the setup was the ability to link the game to my existing Pottermore account. This imported not only my house but the wand that chose me as I worked through the first book on Pottermore, and that is the wand I see myself holding on screen. Sadly the points I accumulate in the Book of Spells are not appearing in my Pottermore account, which would have been fantastic to see. Hopefully the developers will consider making that change in a later update. I’m not sure just how long the game will hold my interest and I’m not sure it will have a huge amount of replay value either, but I certainly feel that even once through is worth the money -- especially with all the interesting backstory and information included by Rowling herself.
This first Wonderbook release is definitely good enough to get the latest peripheral into many homes this Christmas, and I hope the forthcoming releases live up to the same level of quality. I am particularly keen to see next year’s Walking with Dinosaurs game, and will be keeping a keen ear out for news from Disney on what their plans are, as the format seems perfectly designed for an interactive fairytale storybook. The longevity of Wonderbook can only be tested by time, but considering its low price point it’s certainly worth the investment.
The Book of Spells will be released along with the Wonderbook on November 16 costing $34.99/£22.99. A copy of the game and access to the official launch were provided free of charge for this review.
