Set in the world of the movie of the same name, Azkaban sees the player take control of Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley via a third person perspective for an action-adventure romp throughout Hogwarts. Not familiar with any of those characters or locations? Welcome to the first real drawback of the game. At no point are any of these terms, people or places introduced - even key elements like "who is Sirius Black?" or "why is he trying to kill Harry?" are never introduced - they just are. It's hardly a major issue, as most people that are going to play this game will know the story backwards, but it still stands out as a rather odd omission as the game is completely unable to stand alone. It needs the book / movie; without them it makes no sense.

Movement is handled via the customary left thumbstick, with the controller's face buttons split into spell commands (X & Y), change character commands (you can switch between available characters at any time by pressing B) and jump (A), whilst the right trigger locks on to the nearest target. For the bulk of the time these controls work perfectly adequately and will present no obstacle. However, occasionally (particularly when trying to perform precision movement - as when trying to move a block around on ice for example) their overly sensitive nature will create a frustrating barrier between you and enjoyment. Fortunately these situations aren't common, so if you just grit your teeth and take your time, you'll get through them with your hair (and your controller) intact.

Gameplay is mostly of the "figure out what you need to do to advance to the next segment" type nature, with several tasks required to be completed each "day" of game time. Once you have completed all the tasks required of you that day, you have the option of ending the day (and thereby beginning the next, at which point you will get new objectives to complete) or having a look around the castle. Whilst this ability has a lot of potential (a huge portion of the castle from the movies is available in a contiguous, seamless level for you to explore), the fact that the characters you are not controlling (typically Ron & Hermione) whine at you continuously about going to sleep / to the next objective etc (even when you are on your way there!) will rapidly crush your soul and any exploration ambition you might have.

Graphically there is nothing here to get excited about. There's nothing overtly wrong with it, but it's also plainly apparent that this game was, is and always will be a multi-platform beast. When designers don't have the freedom to develop for the power that the Xbox posesses, bland is typically the result. Low detail character models and textures abound. There's nothing so bad that you'll be blinded by it, but nothing will wow you either. It's a real shame, considering the magical spells and fire breathing bad guys that abound - it could easily have been something special. Maybe next time.

Aurally, there's nothing to get worked up about either. Like the rest of the game, the sound performs as expected. Different actors voice the characters, there are sound effects and music, but nothing really stands out.