Unlike earlier games based on the famous license, Quidditch World Cup (on PC, PS2, Xbox and Gamecube) is not an adventure game - it is, in fact, a sports title. Made by the kings of sports titles, Electronic Arts. Simply slapping EA and Harry together and playing what spits out the end does not necessarily automatically make for a successful game, however, so let's take a look and see what they came up with.

The general gist of the game is far from straight forward - this is not a variation on any ball sport you have seen before. First up, all the players are flying around, above the ground, on broom sticks. There are three balls and three goals - yet you can only score a goal with one of the balls (the quaffle). Another of the balls (the bludger) exists purely to reek havoc and try and knock the players off their brooms - the players can defend themselves (or indeed antagonise the other team) by hitting the bludger with a stick - which only the beaters (two of the players on each team) carry. The final ball, the golden snitch, is the most important ball of all; once it's caught, that's the end of the game. In fact, that's the only way to end the game, which will otherwise continue for ever (even if it takes months).

It's not simple, not at first, to grasp the mechanics - but any Harry Potter fan will be instantly at home and will need no explanation. Fortunately, the game's introduction (at Hogwarts - you're not ready for the World Cup quite yet!) gradually introduces the various moves and buttons you need to know, ensuring that even quite complex moves can be rapidly learned by even the most casual gamer.

When you start the game, the first thing you must do is select the house which you wish to play as. All of the houses from the books are here; most gamers will likely want to choose Gryffindor (Harry Potter's house) or the evil Slytherin (Draco Malfoy slithers around in this house) but Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw are also available - all of which are complete with characters from the books.

Once you have chosen your house, you need to complete what is essentially the tutorial section of the game; the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup. Alternating between a training level (where you learn a specific skill, like shooting for goal or passing) and a match against one of the other houses, you continue through until you win the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup - complete with tickets to the World Cup!

The World Cup is the main part of the game - but it is a game for adults to play, not children, so Harry Potter (or the representative from the house you chose at the beginning of the game, if that's not Gryffindor) is just a spectator. The first thing you need to do once you arrive at the World Cup is to choose which team you will be supporting, from one of the many countries available. Not all of the countries are available first up, however - you will need to have earned a certain number of "Quidditch Cards" (which you can unlock by doing special moves in the game) to play some of the more advanced countries.

As you move around inside a Quidditch stadium, you control your players forward / backwards and side to side motion - you don't, however, control the up and down; your vertical orientation is determined by the game - to minimise control complexity. Whilst it initially feels like you are robbed of a vital dimension (and valuable means of escape), it works remarkably well and feels "right".

The controls are simple enough, with just a few keys (in addition to arrows, for movement) doing double duty, depending on whether you currently have the Quaffle or are attempting to reclaim it. You can boost, tackle the quaffle holder, dodge a bludger, shoot for goal or perform combos with just 4 keys, which are customisable from the main menu. The default keys are a little on the "why on earth??" side and seem to have been designed for rather flexible left handers; fortunately, changing them is no big deal so you can quickly set them to something that more suits your tastes. You can also use any number of PC controllers and the game even supports force feedback - something of a rarity in PC games these days!

Once you get the hang of the basic moves, it's time to start employing some of the combos and special moves. Using either the "left" or "right" combo buttons, you can chain together a series of devastating passes, dodges and ultimately shots at goal which are very difficult to defend against. Make sure you learn them whilst you can, because if you get into the later stages of the world cup (even on an early difficulty level), you are going to need them! Special moves, earned during gameplay, make for a number of both offensive and defensive opportunities. Whilst on attack, you can use a special move to make a super shot at goal; in addition to looking cool (the game cuts to an in-game cutscene), you almost always score. Whilst on defence, you might use the special to steal the ball from your opponent - if you are good enough to land the attack, that is. You can also unlock team special moves, which, whilst on attack, will make for a team shot at goal which is completely unstoppable. These are hard to earn and occur only very rarely, so they don't unbalance the game as much as it sounds like they might!

Another item which is collected as you play the general "score goals with the quaffle" gameplay is a "bludger" powerup. This gives you the opportunity, whilst on defence, to initiate a bludger (remember, that's the second kind of ball) which your team's beaters will whack at the opposition player who currently has the quaffle. Once this has occurred, you will now be in control of the bludger and you must attempt to ram the opposition player and force him to lose the ball. If you succeed, a player on your team will automatically scoop up the quaffle and you will be placed in immediate control of them.

What about the golden snitch? Unlike in the movies and books, your seeker is not in constant search of the fast moving little ball. It would be a tough game to play if you had to alternate between seeking, beating and scoring with the quaffle and still remain competitive! Instead, the golden snitch doesn't come in to play until the two halves of the snitch icon (at the top of the screen) meet up. Each team has a half of the icon (next to their score) which will extend towards the other half, depending on special moves, combos and passing maneouvers executed by each team. Once the icon meets, the view changes to that of the seeker and you can see the snitch moving at high speed away from your player, leaving a wide golden trail as it attempts to flee your attentions. If you stay in the middle of this trail, you can earn boost power which you can then use in an attempt to catch up to the sneaky little thing. Once you do, you have to time your grab at it to perfection or else you'll miss and have to go through the whole thing again. It's well implemented and requires skill, without being insanely tough.

Graphically it's mostly excellent, with only a few poorly mapped textures on some of the earlier stadiums (Hogwarts being a prime example) letting it down. Most of the stadiums are brilliant, with fantastic and rich detail with loads of vibrant colour. The animation of the players is also right up there, although a few more celebration animations would have been good as you will have seen the complete range available very early on. The sound is also top notch, with excellent commentary and appropriate crowd chanting (Do your stuff, hufflepuff!) rounding out a solid aural package. The commentary lacks the amusing quips that fans of the books will be familiar with, but the variety and stitching together of the various samples cannot be scoffed at. Two thumbs up here, an excellent job.