If you’ve seen our reviews for the home console versions of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, you know it’s a pretty solid game. Unfortunately for DS owners, EA tried to translate that great gaming experience to the handheld, and it didn’t work out too well.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is based on the fifth movie in the blockbuster Harry Potter series, due to open any day now. Harry returns for his fifth year of study at Hogwarts, but only after a dangerous encounter with the Dementors of Azkaban occurs over the summer. Right from the beginning it’s obvious that this won’t be a quiet year at Hogwarts, and Harry is in for another grand adventure. Stuck with a Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who refuses to train the students properly, Harry and his friends begin to secretly recruit and train students for “Dumbledore’s Army” so that they may be prepared for whatever the evil Lord Voldemort will throw at them. Unfortunately the DS version sort of glosses over the storyline, and you definitely won’t get the entire experience without first having seen the movie.

The most impressive aspect of Order of the Phoenix is its amazing representation of Harry’s school, Hogwarts. Instead of a strictly linear experience, players are free to roam around the entire grounds of Hogwarts searching for secret passageway and fulfilling side quests. Unlike the console versions however, the school is practically deserted, and usually the only time you’ll come across an NPC is when it’s a mission critical character. What makes it impressive though is not only the care that EA has taken to represent the entire school, but the sheer scale of the environment that is compressed into a DS game. Unfortunately the backgrounds are prerendered, and important items or objectives can sometimes be lost on the small DS screen.

As you wander around Hogwarts, you’ll be given tasks to complete in order to progress the story. Most of these missions are simple fetch quests that end in a stylus controlled minigame. The minigames are usually pretty fun, and do a good job of representing their real world activity. For example, in potions class you can expect to mix, boil, and stir ingredients to create your concoction, not unlike playing Cooking Mama. The real issue comes from finding your way around Hogwarts. The Marauder’s Map is gone in the DS version of the game, leaving a hand in the bottom left corner pointing you in the direction you’re supposed to go. Unfortunately the juxtaposition of 2.5D backgrounds with a 3D indicator makes navigating Hogwarts difficult at times.

Graphically, Order of the Phoenix is no powerhouse. It’s certainly not a bad looking game, but even without cutting edge effects EA has done a masterful job portraying the world of Harry Potter. The game is a visual overload for series fans, and it’s obvious the team at EA took their time adding plenty of little details to the world for players to discover. For the most part the character models are well done, and the animation is quite good also. The game’s audio isn’t as exciting, and the DS struggles to match the music performances on the other consoles. You won’t find any voice acting on the DS version either, meaning you’re probably best off just leaving this game muted most of the time.

Controlling Harry feels clunky, which is no doubt because of the static camera. Casting spells is a bit more complicated than on the home consoles, and it’s managed completely with stylus actions. Whenever you cast a spell, a small minigame will begin, and only after successfully completing it will the spell be cast. This translates into the new dueling system on the DS as well, which is more tactical, turn-based affair for this version of the game. The new dueling system adds a layer of strategy not present in the other versions, and it’s interesting to see EA hold a few surprises for the DS version.

It’s good that EA understands not only the limitations but also the unique capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Instead of trying to shoehorn the home console game into a portable package, the DS version makes some departures from its counterparts and manages to emerge a decent game. The minigames aren’t anything you haven’t seen before on the DS, but they do a good job of breaking up the tedium of travelling Hogwarts. The best versions of Order of the Phoenix are still found on the home consoles, but if you’ve got to get your Potter fix on the go, be sure to make it the DS version.