I had high hopes for the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" game. When the movie was delayed, so was the game - so more time to make it good, right?

Well …

It's not the worst game ever made, but it could have been so much better.

Surprisingly, my disappointment doesn't hinge on the Wii's motion controls. They actually work well.

"Half-Blood Prince" feels as if the developers put in a precursory effort. While the in-game activities aren't awful, they aren't enough to hold together a game that lacks both narrative and things to do.

Gameplay consists of three activities: making potions, Quidditch and dueling.

Potions are the most enjoyable. You use motion controls to lift ingredients and mix them together in a cauldron (kind of like "Cooking Mama").

Quidditch puts you on rails to race through goals by pointing the remote at the screen. While you can't control your overall direction, you'll have to move around on screen to actually hit the goals. The hardest part is staying awake.

Duels are decent, but they're not that exciting because Harry is a powerhouse. You only have a few spells to cast (each triggered by remote movements), and once you get the opponent down, it's easy to keep him there until he's out.

Unfortunately, that's all there is to the game. Harry moves from one activity to the next, with cutscenes so brief you won't have a clue what's going on unless you've read the book. And even then, you'll wish for more details.

While you can wander around the castle between activities, there's no reason to. You can search for hidden crests, but they unlock items such as new dueling partners, and that's it.

I'd have liked to see more to do around the castle - side quests, hidden areas, other games - and a real reason to find the crests. Maybe movie clips or trivia, similar to DVD extras.

As it is, the story is barely comprehensible, and there's little joy in moving through activities.

I wanted more. A lot more.

Rent it if you're a Potter fanatic. But you're better off rereading the book or going to the movie.

- Not bad-looking: While some of the characters look a bit stilted, I was mostly impressed with how the Wii handles the visuals of Hogwarts and its students.

- Headless help: It's nice that the game adds in Nearly Headless Nick, who will appear on command to lead you to your next objective if you get lost.

Reach Aimee Green at 473-7326 or Aimee.Green@lee.net.