I Believe I Can Fly: Part 2

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hippogriff

Dedicated to the upcoming Russian holiday – Cosmonautics Day!

And so we continue to soar through the air with Harry and his friends in the next part of our cycle!

See also: I Believe I Can Fly: Part 1


Prisoner of Azkaban

In the third game Harry will only fly on his broom in a small cutscene during the Quidditch match with the Dementors attack. All we can do is watch as Harry falls to the ground. But we do get to soar through the air ourselves, this time on a hippogriff.


During Hagrid’s Care for Magical Creatures class Harry will have to ride Buckbeak, and we will get a wonderful experience riding this magical animal. We will fly through the forest around pine trees and ravines, across mountains, waterfalls and foggy lakes. And during the entire flight we can listen to calm, relaxing music. There are no Bludgers or broom-riders in sight, just the fresh forest air and the chirping of bats. It’s a nice way to relax after the fights with monstrous books and pesky imps.


After flying through the maximum amount of rings (taking note of the counter at the top of the screen) and getting to the finish line, Hagrid will award us with a Wizard Card. If you wish, you could fly through the level 4 more times and collect a full set of famous Quidditch players cards.

Controlling Buckbeak is pretty simple, and best done with a mouse. Pressing the right mouse button will make Buckbeak flap his wings and go higher. It’s best to do this right before a ring, otherwise it’s easy to miss it.


Final stage of the Hippogriff Flying minigame


There’s another way to fly in Prisoner of Azkaban – by using a small transfigured dragon, controlled by Hermione. The flying mechanics are the same as flying Buckbeak, although the dragon flies more slowly. He can also walk on the ground and breathe fire. And if you leave the dragon standing on the ground, he’ll start dancing. He’s such a funny and cute creature. 🙂 Good job, game developers!

You can read more about dragons here (in Russian)


Goblet of Fire


The broom makes a return in the fourth game. In the “Dragon” level we will be flying away from a huge beast of a really fast broom, passing all of the Hogwarts grounds along the way: through the forest, over the lake and between the castle towers. There’s an extra challenge to this level, as we have to constantly dodge the dragon’s fire breath and falling trees. In one part of the level we can see black horse-less carriages that the students ride.


The broom controls didn’t change that much: we still fly forward automatically on a predetermined path, only able to move a little bit to the side. The flight speed, however, has increased dramatically (don’t forget to hold the “C” button!), which makes the level much more dynamic. You can gain even more speed by going through special rings, making your broom go at hyper speed, kind of like using Nitro in racing simulators 😉


Gold medal on the “Dragon” level!

However, you don’t have to fly at maximum speed to get a gold medal. The main factors are the number of beans you collect (as the beans seem to show the main path of the course, so it’s best to stay on course), and the health you have – try to avoid hitting obstacles, such as trees and mountains, and dodge the dragon’s flames.


Order of the Phoenix

There are no Quidditch matches, dragons or hippogriffs in the Order of the Phoenix game. But there is a little section where will get to fly on a broom. And we don’t have to go outside the castle, we’re going to fly indoors! Playing as the Weasley twins, we will be flying across the moving stairs on the Grand Staircase, as well as messing around in the Grand Hall. Just like in all the previous games, we can’t fully control the flight. The only controls available are moving a little bit to the side and waving the wand to launch fireworks.


Half-Blood Prince


We had 3 games in a row without any Quidditch matches. What would you expect from the 6th game in the series? Good news: Quidditch is back! But… It’s not as spectacular as the actors and game developers make it out to be in the video below.

It all starts with the practice at the Burrow. We have to fly across a pretty large territory and catch the Snitch. Well, we say “catch the Snitch”, but unlike the first and second game, there’s no longer a button you need to press, Harry will simply grab the Snitch himself when he reaches it.

Remember the flying rings from the first game? They’re back, this time in the form of stars, and our goal is to fly through them, preferably right in the centre – that awards us with more points. If we miss a few rings in a row, we’ll get an unpleasant pulsing tune. As previous games, we can’t turn in any direction we want; we can just fly a small distance to the side. We can still push other players, but the opponents don’t really bother us and just fly away on their own after a while. The Quidditch itself is just uninteresting and boring. There are barely any players around. We can hear the cheering of the crowd on the stands, but it’s best to not look at them, the textures are awful!

On the positive side, the environments are really well made: the trees, the waterfalls and the lake, the sky… they’re all pretty decent. Especially the practice session at the beginning of the game – the sunset is so magical! 🙂

If you want, you can take additional matches, but there aren’t any differences between them, they’re all played the same. The only changes are the flying trajectory and the color of the cloaks the few players you see will wear. One match is played as Ginny, but, once again, it doesn’t change the gameplay in any way.

There are extra bonuses for completionists in the form of Badges you can earn for doing various tasks, such as losing a few matches or hitting a bunch of walls. Good motivation, eh?


Videoclip about the development of Quidditch in “Half-Blood Prince”


Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 and 2

7th game

There’s nothing to say about these games. There aren’t any flying levels at all. Which is real shame, as our friends have been in the air several times: flying away from Gringotts Bank on a dragon; running away from the burning Room of Requirment. There’s a little section at the beginning of “DH: Part 1” where Harry and Hagrid are flying across the night sky on a motorcycle, but we have absolutely no control on the flight at all. Not even the “move a bit to the side” control we had for the past 5 games. All we have to do is shoot the Death Eaters, and that’s it.

8th game

In the third and final part of “I Believe I Can Fly” we’ll take a look at the H. Potter LEGO games and see what kind of flying artifacts they have, find out who should stay away from the broom, find the bonus level with Quidditch and figure out how to control Thestrals. And in the end we’ll rate the most beautiful moments from flying levels in all the games!


See also: I Believe I Can Fly: Part 1

To be continued…


Author: Setebos

Translation into English: Andrew


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