Common Sense Media Review
By Christopher Healy
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Darker story is lightened by humor and fun exploration.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 10+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 3 parent reviews
Based on 15 kid reviews
Kids say this game is a fun and challenging experience, perfect for both younger and older fans of the Harry Potter series, although some puzzles can be confusing for younger players. The humor and engaging story make it enjoyable for siblings to play together, while die-hard fans appreciate the tie-in with the original material, despite the minor differences from the movies.
- fun gameplay
- challenging puzzles
- suitable for ages 6+
- humorous elements
- team play
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's It About?
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 covers the plot territory of the final four Harry Potter films: Order of the Phoenix, Half-Blood Prince, and Deathly Hallows Parts I & II. Colorful LEGO mini-figures act out retellings of the evil Lord Voldemort's return to power and the resistance movement against him by heroic students of Hogwarts.
The game is linear, where you start in Harry Potter's fifth year and you can't access the next year until you've completed the one before it. Players will attend classes at Hogwarts to learn magic, practice dueling, and solve hundreds of environmental puzzles. There are also many things to collect, including LEGO studs, students in peril, crests, items to help others, and more. Each movie is represented in 6 levels, and when you've completed a level, it becomes available for replay in an open play mode.
Is It Any Good?
All the LEGO video games have been graced by great humor, creative level design, and the sheer joy that comes from collecting tons of unlockable characters. But what makes LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5–7 a real standout is the parts of the Harry Potter story that the developers decided to dramatize. They could have gone for a blast-heavy shoot-em-up (like LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars), but opted to put the focus on exploration and puzzle solving. In a game that depicts the final four Harry Potter films, you might not have expected levels where the goal is to explore Professor Snape's childhood memories or convince Horace Slughorn to come out of retirement and become a teacher again. But those levels are incredibly fun and fresh-feeling -- perhaps even more so than the (admittedly also great) levels devoted to the Battle of Hogwarts. There's so much to experience here, that the only real complaint is that you can't save your game mid-level -- so before you start a new play session, make sure you've got the time to work your way through to the next autosave spot.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in the game. Does the fighting and death in the game have less of an impact because it is depicted with LEGO toys?
Does the humor help to alleviate some of the darker and more frightening aspects of the story?
Parents can also talk to kids about marketing synergy and product placement. Does playing this game make you want to buy LEGO Harry Potter toys?
Game Details
- Platforms : Nintendo DS , Nintendo Wii , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360
- Skills : Self-Direction : achieving goals , work to achieve goals , Collaboration : group projects , meeting challenges together , teamwork , Thinking & Reasoning : logic , problem solving , solving puzzles
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : Warner Bros. Games
- Release date : November 11, 2011
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- Topics : Fantasy ( Magic )
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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