As good as Hogwarts Legacy was, the omission of Quidditch was a big deal. But fans only need to look back to Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup on the original Xbox to be careful about what they wished for.
I, however, was in the minority of players that really enjoyed the first Quidditch game, so was quietly confident about this spiritual successor; much to the amusement of my fellow Hubbers. Well, I am happy to announce I can have the last laugh: Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is really rather good.
Based on the famous sport on a broomstick introduced in the Harry Potter books, Quidditch is easy enough to understand. A team is comprised of Chasers, Beaters, one Seeker and a Keeper. The chasers will try and get the Quaffle ball into one of their opponents’ three hoops to score. A Keeper tries to stop them and defends the hoops. A Seeker is searching for another type of ball, the Golden Snitch, to score big. And Beaters use a third type of ball, known as Bludgers, at opposing players to knock them off their broom.
There is a lot going on, and Quidditch Champions acknowledges this, fleshing out the roles fully. In a way, it’s a little bit like a hero shooter; each role has unique abilities and functions. Even playing as the Keeper isn’t a case of waiting for the action to come your way. You can lay rings out for your team to fly through and get a boost of speed. There are a lot of moving parts, but they come together very well.
Beaters can target anyone on the pitch with their Bludger, but this takes time to recharge in between shots. A handy tackle is always available just in case though. Likewise, too for Chasers, likely to be targeted whether they have the Quaffle in hand or are acting as support on a breakaway attack, they also have access to a tackle.
And then we get to the Seeker. At the start of the game, they are unavailable, but that is down to the Snitch not appearing straight away. When it appears though, you have to race through rings generated by the Snitch to keep your speed up and fill up a progress bar. Once full, make one final charge for it and grab it.
Poor Seekers aren’t exactly known for their brute strength (and are quite often targeted by Beaters when playing online), so don’t have access to a typical tackle move. Instead, if they are side-on with another Seeker, they can ‘bump’ them out of the way. Bump is just a cute way of saying shoulder barge, but pushing them away from the rings even just for a few seconds can be crucial.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions changes up the rules of traditional Quidditch, but in doing so makes the game much fairer and exciting. A team is now made up of six instead of seven, as an additional Beater is removed. Catching the Golden Snitch is now worth 30 points instead of the ridiculous 150 from the books. Crucially too, catching it doesn’t end the game. This is now on a timer, or first to 100 points. At first, I was a bit sceptical about the points changes, but the reality is that catching the Snitch 99% of the time made the scoring of the Chasers redundant in the original rules. Here, it is really a team effort.
To get to grips with the various roles, there is a lengthy but fun tutorial set in the Weasley’s back garden. You will learn the ins and outs of each position thanks to the Weasley siblings, whilst also assembling your team in the character creator.
After a final match, it is on to the Hogwarts House Quidditch Cup. Here you will choose a house to represent and hopefully lead to glory. Then it is the Triwizard Schools Quidditch Cup and finally, the Quidditch World Cup.
Each cup brings its own stadia, commentary and more. However, at launch, there are only six unique arenas, with additional ones being existing stadia just with a different weather palette applied to them.
And therein lies the biggest problem with Harry Potter Quidditch Champions; the limited content. It does almost everything it can to avoid this issue: cheaper price point, seasonal rewards but no microtransactions, online play and plenty to unlock through challenges and career progression. But still, in just a few short hours you have seen everything there is to see and do. Hopefully new content is added with each new season.
Currently planned content includes a 6v6 online mode. At the moment, it is just 3v3, but this is handy for those wanting to jump straight in and aren’t too fussy about which position they play. In 3v3, you have the option of swapping between two: A Chaser and then either Keeper, Seeker or Beater.
Online mode follows the same newly established rules, but the action is usually much more frenetic than against the CPU. It works perfectly though and I haven’t encountered a single issue when playing online. And, more importantly, win or lose, it’s a lot of fun.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is the kind of game that will probably be uninstalled off by Christmas time, to make way for something bigger and bulkier. But you’ll hesitate about doing so beforehand, remembering the fond times you shared together for a few short weeks before the typically busy period for game releases put a premature end to your time with it.
However, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a lot of fun, with a really good amount of thought put into each playing position to ensure they all feel worthwhile. And the small changes to the rules make the game more exhilarating. It’s just missing something to keep things fresh. I’m not sure if a Quidditch Ultimate Team is viable, but a different mode or two rather than just a few cups against the CPU would really help things out.
Beyond Hogwarts: Fly into Quidditch Glory with Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions – https://www.thexboxhub.com/beyond-hogwarts-fly-into-quidditch-glory-with-harry-potter-quidditch-champions/
Buy Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/harry-potter-quidditch-champions/9P1GN7LSJZXQ/0010
