First-Year Lessons

Harry Potter™ and the Sorcerer’s Stone gives gamers the chance to relive the boy wizard’s first year at Hogwarts-complete with giant groundskeepers, malevolent Slytherin snobs, and three-headed dogs. Every new student can use a few tips about how to get things done, so here are some basic strategies that will make your first year at Hogwarts as productive and rewarding as possible.

Cloak and Dagger
Harry can easily hug the wall and sneak on tiptoe by manipulating the thumbstick. (This is essential for avoiding the watchful eyes of Professor Snape or Prefect Percy.) Often a stealth mission fails as soon as a sentry spots you, so master the art of sneaking as quickly as you can.

Sometimes you can be spotted but still complete the mission. For example, when you first visit the Weasley brothers’ black market, you’ll have to get past Percy the Prefect. The room is small, and you have to pause to pronounce the magic word that opens the treasure trove door. During this time, you’re vulnerable, stationary, and worst of all, in plain sight. Luckily, even if Percy spots you, you can still make it through. Percy will shout and chase you, so be sure to keep a bookcase between you. If he gets you in direct line of sight, he’ll cast a spell to paralyze you, and you’ll have to try again. If you can lure Percy into casting the freeze spell and then duck around a corner, he’ll be momentarily hung up while he finishes waving his wand. During this time, rush to the entrance and pronounce the magic word.

Set ‘Em Up, Flipendo ‘Em Down
When you first get your wand, practice strafing (firing at a single target while moving) for as long as it takes to get it right. Harry can take some damage, but it’s best to avoid being hit in the first place. Use the right trigger to target your spells on specific enemies or objects, and hold the A button to charge up the spell for a bigger blast when you release. You can cast your spells and charge them up as much as you like, but don’t overdo it. Charging too long allows faster enemies to strike first, and too much charge will cause you to get zapped by the overflow.

Keep It Simple
You can customize your controller to a certain degree, by mapping any spell to some of the face button, and you can redefine them as often as you like. Try to keep this shuffling of spells to a minimum, so you don’t confuse yourself and cast the wrong spell in the heat of the moment. If you do make frequent changes, map spells of similar types to the same button—all your offensive spells should go to X, for example. This way, you may not bust out the exact spell you need when you’re in danger, but you’ll have something that will help … rather than something that just looks pretty.

Open Everything
There are trunks scattered around Hogwarts that have wizard cards, beans, and other useful items. All you have to do is open them up and collect the goods. Climb and crouch often to gain access to remote areas, where you’ll often find the goodies. In the Weasley’s black market stash, for example, you can purchase a bag of dungbombs, or you can open the chest near the middle of the room and collect a whole bag without paying a single bean.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone offers a deep look into the comings and goings of a first-year student at Hogwarts. Whether you follow the linear plot laid out by the novel and the movie or prefer to poke around in dark corners of the game to see what’s there, you’ll find plenty adventure and mystery.

By Wendell Scott