With the Fantastic Beasts movies bringing the Harry Potter franchise back into the limelight it is a good time to revisit the stories that got it all started. With that in mind Traveller’s Tales released The Lego Harry Potter Collection to the Xbox One and Nintendo Switch (it was released on the PlayStation 4 in 2016). The update does not seem to have brought anything more to the table over the PlayStation 4 release, however, the portability of the Switch is perfect for a game like this. Still, there is a noticeable improvement to the graphics over the original releases, and things are as polished as they can be given the original releases. The first half of the collection, Lego Harry Potter Years 1-4, looks fine, but you can see its age in the lack of texture detail and backgrounds. The second half of the collection, Lego Harry Potter Years 5-7, is definitely a step up from its predecessor (despite originally being released only a year apart) and shows much more attention to detail. Neither holds up to the graphical quality of newer Lego games like Lego Incredibles or Lego DC Super Villains, but they look fine for games released in the early 2010s.
If there is one thing you can say about the Lego games it is that they have been consistent over the years. Whether you haven’t played one since the original Lego Star Wars or you’re just coming off of Lego DC Super Villains you will have no trouble jumping into this. The puzzles are largely the same, and while the pool of abilities is smaller than newer titles there’s enough to keep it varied. One sticking point for fans will be the reminder that these were some of the last Lego games to not have proper voice work, and everything is mimed on-screen instead of narrated. It would have been nice to add in some lines from the movie, but I assume that was far beyond the scope of this remaster.
For $49.99 you get a lot of content right up front. The two games combined will probably run you around thirty hours or so if you don’t bother hunting down every collectible. On the other hand, the collection has been out on PlayStation 4 for two years already, and both titles in the collection can be bought cheap fairly easily if you still have a previous generation console or a PC (even a mediocre one). Still, there’s good value in this package and it is pretty much your only way to experience Harry Potter on modern consoles at the moment. Unlike Star Wars or the superhero franchises, we haven’t seen a new Lego Harry Potter title since these originally released, and they only appeared in a small portion of Lego Dimensions. If you are looking for an easy way to relive the original series then there is virtually no better way to do it, although the price can be hard to justify given the age of the titles.