Hermione and Ron are both playable characters, and the three friends will need to work together if they're to overcome the deadly obstacles that stand in their way. The player's health is represented by the lightning bolts in the top left of the screen, and one is taken away for each time the player comes into contact with an enemy. The game can best be described as a puzzle platformer loosely based on the film version of the first Harry Potter book.

Boasting an entirely new engine, this Game Boy Advance game showcases rendered elements from the console titles. In this version of the game, Harry gets caught by Professor Snape instead of Filch, and Harry's detention in the forest isn't the same as the book or movie. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. The animations are decent for the time, but any battles with enemies are too shortlived or frustrating to enjoy when compared to the RPG stylings of the Game Boy Colour release. Simply cast one of your spells with the colour you desire, then switch to the other spell of your choosing by casting it into a wall where its graphics will not occur.Some characters are bugged to the point where they might use certain portraits from other characters instead. You may be looking for the novel, film, soundtrack, the video game soundtrack or object of the same name. The game was released for PC by KnowWonder, whereas home consoles ( PlayStation 2 (PS2), Xbox and GameCube) by Electronic Arts UK (EA), and a handheld version by Griptonite Games for the Game Boy Advance (GBA).

The beginning of the game seems to be packed with subgames and things to interact with, but this really peters out and by halfway through the story, there's very little to do except watch the cut scenes to get to the end. IGN commented on the game not forcing "random battes" from similar RPGs as a positive, but saying that it wasn't "enough to make Prisoner of Azkaban a successful RPG. I've still got to play the PC and Playstation 2 versions of the game, but this is the Game Boy Advance release. At E3 2001, Electronic Arts announced its license to publish video game adaptations of the Harry Potter franchise, with titles for the Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and the PC scheduled for November 2001.Players who've never seen the movies or read the book will find the game to be a boring and confusing experience, and those who are Harry Potter fans will miss their favourite parts of the story, and find the characters to be less than engaging.

And as Harry, you'll experience the daring and fun of life at Hogwarts, as well as the awesome responsibility of finally finding the Philosopher's Stone and challenging He-Who-Cannot-Be-Named. The Game Boy Advance version was released with the other two versions in North America on November 16, 2001, and in Europe on November 23. In some segments, Harry partakes in the game of Quidditch, in which he flies on a broomstick and must locate and catch a Golden Snitch fluttering about the arena.

The game may be short and easy, but it's also thoughtfully designed and genuinely entertaining, and KnowWonder deserves credit for that.