Harry Potter seems to be loved by everyone and it’s easy to see why. The story of a young wizard in training who takes on enemies well above his status, only to get in trouble over and over again is something kids can relate to and parents can read/sit through without too much pain. You’d think video games of Harry would be a no brainer then. Boy with magic takes on evil doers with the help of his friends - sounds simple enough.

The problem with the Potter games is that they come paired with the movies, with this year’s game based on the forthcoming Order of the Phoenix. Movies pack everything into a few hours, whereas games need to last a lot longer. This means that all the boring stuff that didn’t make it into the movie is what you’ll be doing in the game. So, in Harry’s latest you spend most of your time at Hogwarts, recruiting school mates for Dumbledore’s army (D.A. Members).

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Michael Bay’s upcoming Transformers movie is earning rave early reviews and looks set to be one of the year’s biggest movies, but what of the video game? Due out on just about every format going, the Traveller’s Tales developed action title is expected to do big business. Activision stopped by to demo the Xbox 360 version and it looks like fans of the movie aren’t going to be disappointed.

Being a movie licensed title the game follows the story of the film, but also adds plenty of new content to flesh out the story. Each level is based in a free-roaming area, with the players free to go where they like, but an entire free-roaming world simply wasn’t possible due to the worldwide spread of locations in which the film is set. Although I was only able to play an early level with Bumblebee, set in a typical US town, later levels vary substantially.

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TMNT, the game based on the recently released Ninja Turtles movie, falls strictly under the ‘made for under 10s’ heading. While some of us twenty-somethings have fond memories of the Turtles, the new movie wasn’t made for us and neither was the game. Judged alongside great action platformers like Prince of Persia, TMNT comes up short, but as a game made strictly for kids, it’s not a bad effort.

The game follows the four shelled ninjas as they battle through various locations, with the actual story being told as a recap, with each turtle taking a turn to tell his own story. It’s all rather confusing, especially considering Raphael has become some kind of disguised solo superhero and the turtles rarely seem to fight together - they’re never all together on screen at once.

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