J.K. Rowling's favourite little boy (and he'd be your favourite too if he earned you more money than winning a lottery jackpot) has made his debut on Xbox in his latest adventure, The Chamber of Secrets.

We don't like talking about games in the past tense, especially when they haven't already been given the Official UK Xbox Magazine once-over. But Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets was subject to a simultaneous release with the film back on November 15th, which means that by the time you read this the game will have been on your local high street shelves for as long as a Hogwarts summer holiday.

Normally, when publishers fail to release games early to the specialist press it means that the title is as suspect as a package going tick-tock. So as we booted up Harry for the first time you can imagine our surprise to find that it doesn't stink like a stale witches' brew and instead it's really quite good. Stop sniggering you hardcore gamers, honestly it is - albeit aimed at a younger audience.

The game is largely of the third-person action/adventure variety and starts with Harry preparing to go back to Hogwarts for his second year. There's a lot to be done before he even gets to the school gates - typically Potteresque stuff like chucking gnomes out of a garden and rescuing Ron from a tree with an attitude problem called the Whomping Willow. Most of the early stages are encased in very linear gameplay, but once you actually get to Hogwarts the game steps up a gear and opens itself up more to fewer straight-line objectives and plenty of exploration possibilities.

Hogwarts itself is huge, with seven floors, a multitude of rooms to roam about in and more secret areas than a wing of the MI5 building. And that's before you consider the surrounding grounds housing the Quidditch arena, Herbology lab and broomstick training ground.

Harry's time in the school is split into individual days and on most of these he is required to attend lessons. The successful accomplishment of these lessons (often adventures in themselves) usually rewards Harry with new spells. And as one would expect, magic is the overriding theme of this game with later stages or areas only being playable through having the right spell to get past whatever obstacle stands in your path.

So what makes one of the most commercial and licence-heavy games of the year worthy of our praise? Well for a start it looks the business - much more than it actually needs to in order to achieve the commercial success it's undoubtedly destined to attain. Harry is animated expertly with detail lavished on the little fella even down to the way his hair moves when he runs.

The environments are also depicted in great detail. Light streaming through stained-glass windows, reflection maps shining from polished floors, detailed textures on interior scenery... the graphics are the chief weapon in charming you into the whole Potter experience. And it works.

When the visuals are combined with reasonably varied gameplay, including elements of stealth, racing, puzzle solving, platform action and head-to-head duelling - and then all wrapped up neatly in a good story - it starts to become pretty entertaining.

But the whole experience can only take a seasoned gamer so far. The Chamber Of Secrets is a game that is aimed squarely at the mainstream, and in particular the younger gamers that are going to go absolutely potty for Potter. As a result, it's an easy game to complete and the controls are of the simple kind with elements like auto-jump in effect.

However, as a whole, the game has successfully accomplished what it set out to do. It's a good-looking, highly playable, authentic slice of Potter pie. But in truth, you're either going to be a hardcore Harry-head or very young at heart to part with 40 quid when there are many more titles out there that can offer greater levels of sophistication.

1. Great looking
2. Easy to play
3. Authentic licence conversion
4. Good story

1. Too short with little incentive to play through again
2. Too simple

Power
Smooth framerate with little slowdown, let down by intrusive and regular loading screens.

Style
Great looking, stylish visuals good audio = an authentic Harry Potter tale.

Immersion
Well-paced narrative that slowly unravels, sucking you deeper into the game.

Lifespan
Shorter than Potter's wand and there isn't much to persuade you to make a return trip.

Summary
If you're one of the millions who are wild about Harry then you'll probably love this - at least for a while.