David’s Retro Rewind – Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup

Something dawned on me a few days ago, folks. Aside from my piece on Midway Games’ 1995 title WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, every game I’ve covered for a Retro Rewind has belonged to either the Guitar Hero or Mortal Kombat franchises. Obviously, I played more games than just those two series when I was a lad, so I’d like to start branching this column out a bit. My first effort toward that is today’s stop on the nostalgia train through my personal gaming history.

This time around, we’ll be having a look at the PlayStation 2 version of EA’s Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup. This game was originally released for Windows, PS2, GameCube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance on October 28th, 2003 in North America. Quidditch World Cup was developed by the team of Magic Pockets and Electronic Arts’ U.K. division. I remember playing the absolute heck out of this game when I had my original copy of it all those years ago.

Before we get to the main event, there’s something I want to acknowledge. I am aware of the controversy surrounding J.K. Rowling, as well as certain inflammatory statements she has made and attempted to justify in the past. However, I concede that I don’t know as much about this entire situation as I probably should. Let it be known that I personally condemn the statements in question and disapprove of Rowling’s attitude toward the communities her words and actions have so strongly negatively affected.

Furthermore, the fact that I have chosen to cover a game based on the Harry Potter franchise here on Phenixx Gaming does not absolve Rowling of any blame or guilt. I am a firm believer in the idea that one can enjoy a creator’s works based on their sentimental value and general quality while separating toxic creators from the joy their creations may have given to society as a whole. As an example to help clarify that, I still play and enjoy World of Warcraft. However, that absolutely doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven or should even consider forgiving Activision-Blizzard for that company’s alleged deeds and general workplace culture.

I hate to say anything along the lines of, “Alright, now that the heavy stuff is out of the way, let’s discuss some Quidditch,” but that’s essentially what I feel I have to do at this point. I suppose I should start by explaining the basics of how the game is played for folks who may be unfamiliar with its rules, or for those who just need a refresher.

A Quidditch match is played between two teams composed of seven players each. Three of those seven players are known as Chasers, whose job is to maintain control of a red ball called a Quaffle and attempt to throw it through one of the enemy team’s three goalposts. Doing so constitutes a score, which awards the corresponding team ten points. The fourth member of each team, the Keeper, stays around their team’s goalposts and attempts to prevent the opposing team’s Chasers from scoring.

In addition to the three Chasers and the Keeper, each team also features two so-called Beaters. Their duty is to protect their team’s Chasers from what are called Bludgers, magical bowling ball-like objects that fly around the area and try to knock Chasers off of their flying broomsticks. Beaters are encouraged to try and knock Bludgers toward the enemy team’s Chasers while simultaneously protecting their own.

The final (and arguably most important) member of a Quidditch team is called the Seeker. After a certain point in a game of Quidditch, either once a certain amount of time has elapsed since the game started or when one team reaches a specific number of points, a crucial part of the game known as the Golden Snitch is released onto the field. It is the Seeker’s job to catch this small, incredibly elusive object. Thus, the Seeker is not responsible for scoring via the Quaffle or any of the other duties of their teammates. Though they do still have to watch out for incoming Bludgers.

The rules of Quidditch state that the game cannot end until the Snitch is caught, regardless of the score or how long the game has gone on. In fact, I distinctly recall one of the books mentioning the story of a professional Quidditch match that lasted for several weeks because neither team’s Seeker could catch the Snitch. In addition to ending the game, the retrieval of the Snitch awards the team who caught it an extra 150 points.

Those bonus points are the reason why the team who ends up catching the Snitch usually wins the game, although this isn’t necessarily always the case. Once the Snitch has been caught, the team with the higher score is declared the victor. Due to this, teams usually focus on scoring via the Quaffle as frequently as they can before the Snitch is released.

I believe that’s all the rules out of the way, so now we can turn our attention to the gameplay. Before you can try your hand at the Quidditch World Cup, you’ll first have to choose one of the four houses of Hogwarts. For this article’s screenshots, I chose to play as Gryffindor. I did so primarily because I despise Slytherin’s Draco Malfoy, as well as because I honestly don’t care all that much about the remaining two houses.

You’ll have to adequately complete a short series of so-called “House Challenges” before you can participate in your first Quidditch match between any combination of the four Hogwarts houses. These challenges primarily serve as tutorials to help you get acclimated to how Quidditch is played. For example, since you’ll spend the majority of each game controlling all three of your team’s Chasers, the first challenge will teach you how to properly pass the Quaffle between them.

The issue I encountered with this is that I never felt like I needed to pass the Quaffle between my team’s Chasers. In fact, the only times I passed the Quaffle, I did so because I momentarily mixed up the Pass button with the button that shoots it toward the enemy goalposts. The reason I never found passing to be was because the AI of every opposing team I faced was so docile, for lack of a better word. Your Chasers all have the ability to tackle the enemy Chaser that is currently in possession of the Quaffle in order to steal it from them. However, no team I played against ever actually attempted this.

In fact, I played against all three non-Gryffindor houses in an effort to win the Hogwarts House Cup. First up was Ravenclaw, then Hufflepuff, then finally Slytherin. Because of that exceptionally passive enemy AI, Slytherin was the only team I faced that actually put up any sort of a fight. To my surprise, they were the only team that ever managed to score any goals against me. Even then, they were only able to do so because they employed a team-wide special move on two separate occasions that automatically granted them twenty points each time they used it.

Because their tactic was designated a special move, I had no chance to counter it as far as I could tell. Granted, I also had access to special moves, but I never felt the need or desire to put them to use. Of course, in typical Slytherin fashion, this special move of theirs was rather violent and downright underhanded, but I digress. I ultimately had no trouble winning the Hogwarts House Cup for Gryffindor, though I don’t really feel like I earned it because I basically obliterated any team that stood in my way.

One last thing I should mention about Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup is that it features collectible items known as Quidditch Cards. You can unlock them for various things, such as doing well in those House Challenges I discussed earlier. They don’t seem to serve much of a purpose as far as I can tell, except giving the completionists out there something to strive toward. That is, aside from the fact that you need to earn 65 of these Quidditch Cards to unlock the Bulgarian Quidditch team in the non-Hogwarts World Cup.

Bulgaria’s team is the only team participating in the World Cup that has to be unlocked. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that is because this particular team features the star player Viktor Krum, whom you might remember from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Heck, even the back of the game box makes a big deal about the fact that Mr. Krum is playable, which I consider to be equally strange. I suppose the developers really didn’t have much to advertise as a way of getting you to buy the game when it was new.

All-in-all, I’m not sure I’d say I’m glad I revisited Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup for this article, but I also don’t necessarily feel like I’ve wasted my time with it. I know I said earlier that I played quite a bit of this, but now that I think about it, I don’t really know why. I stated in my last Retro Rewind that you should always be willing to give games from your past a second chance; that’s still largely true in my mind, though I honestly think I’ll pass on this one.