2002 might have been a good year for gaming for some especially when the 6th Generation was expanding its library of games on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Nintendo GameCube. Many people have considered that the 6th Generation was the best when it comes to games like Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Halo, Final Fantasy X, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Shadow of the Colossus being instant classics; you forget that the year 2002 was the decent year for the PS1 as well. I had this topic and conversation with a friend the other day while waiting in line to meet the Youtuber Ashens at Forbidden Planet, talking about the Harry Potter franchise and I mentioned about how good both Philosopher's Stone and Chamber of Secrets were on the PS1.

Released in the same month as the movie was released in November, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released on platforms on November 5th, 2002 in North America and November 15th for UK/Europe. Argonaut Games were once again behind development on the game, some of you may know that this is the same studio that made games like Croc and of course a few Disney video games as well.

I've mentioned in past blogs that I've talked about the franchise on how much I liked the books more than the movies, I loved the Philosopher's Stone or the Sorcerer's Stone in the US for what it was for a film, it felt it had the right actors for most of the characters and fitted really well in the Harry Potter franchise. For a film that lasted two and a half hours I was blown away how good it was and how easily it draws you in the wizarding world; I'm aware that the film didn't add everything that was in the book but some scenes that were mentioned were added in the DVD when it was released a few months later I did try and guess how much content they'll take out from the Chamber of Secrets when comparing both the book and movie.

Gameplay controls were the same as the last game using the left analog stick or the directional pad to move, Square button to open doors and secret entrances and using the X button to use spells you can use the R1 button to target lock. For a simple adventure-platformer it's easy to get use to the controls, you also get to fly around on a broom for certain challenges to earn house points and also play Quidditch, the more house points you earn the more points Gryffindor. There was one scene I enjoyed in the game was when Nearly Headless Nick invites Harry, Ron and Hermione to the Deathday Party and of course Peeves tries to wreck havoc on the party and you had to stop him from causing trouble. And of course the other fun challenge that was added in Chamber of Secrets was becoming the Champion for Wizard Duels and collecting all Famous Witches and Wizard Cards.

The graphics and visuals looked identical to its predecessor from the Philosopher's Stone there wasn't else much to say about it, the setting for Hogwarts is a little more different but offered the same gameplay mechanics, sessions for learning new spells, finding out more about the mysterious attacks and the truth behind the Chamber of Secrets. I was quite hyped about the game before it was released after reading more and more information about the game from the Official UK PlayStation Magazine and at that time there wasn't anything much else to read when the magazines got smaller and smaller for pages, reviews came in for bad PS1 game titles, including games made by Phoenix games or anything made by the BBC would get bad reviews. The magazine had a section of scores and how easy it is to find this PS1 game either in stores or online, other articles they had were included were fan letters and art on the Final Fantasy series, games that got a 10/10 from the magazine and tips.

It did get favourable reviews from a 7 and an 8/10 from magazines at the time, but if you lived in the UK like myself, 2002 felt like the last good year for PS1 games with games like Tony Hawk Pro Skater 4, Final Fantasy Origins, Metal Slug X and Fire Bugs. Soon after going through 2003 you still had Sports games released by EA and games being bundled in a twin pack where you'll get two games in one box, but it was in 2004 when the last game to be ever released was FIFA 2005 and the console was discontinued on March 31st, 2005 worldwide and its lifespan lasted ten years for the PS1 in general and having 2513 games in its own library. Looking back fifteen years since when Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets was released this did feel like this was the last good PS1 game to be released for the system, it was also the same with the Game Boy Colour version as well, I am still a little annoyed that we never got a PS1 version of Prisoner of Azkaban back in 2004, I am aware that most people at the time were now already on board with the 6th Generation of gaming so I don't blame anyone there but if Argonaut Games had the spare time on them between 2003 - 2004 there could have been a PS1 version of Prisoner of Azkaban and I would have gladly bought it on release on the PS1 if it was released.

Did you play Chamber of Secrets on the PS1?

Which year did you think was the last good year for the PS1?

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