I was incredibly excited to have the chance to play Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on the DS. To give you an idea, I re-read the entire series of books back to back prior to reading "Deathly Hallows." Then I reread "Deathly Hallows," in case I'd missed anything. We've been watching the first four movies on DVD and finally got to see "Order of the Phoenix" in the theater.

I also got the Lego version of "Order of the Phoenix" and built Hogwarts castle (though I did grudgingly allow the 7-year old to play with it once I finished construction). Then there's crocheting the Gryffindor hat and scarf set for the child to wear this year ... Given all this, you can imagine the level of excitement at getting the game to actually play as Harry! In Hogwarts!

I really wanted to love this game. I did. And Order of the Phoenix does have some really fun stuff, but it's got some real issues that to me, at least, are really off-putting.

The characters do look like themselves. If you've watched the movies at all, you're going to recognize all of the main characters.

There are a ton of mini-games within Order of the Phoenix, and they all make use of the special abilities of the DS to varying degrees. Each subject has its own little mini-game. Once you've officially been to that class, you can practice the skill from the board in the common room as much as you want. I have to say that I totally rock at Exploding Snap, and I'm getting better at Gobstones.

When you're casting a spell, it shows a little figure and the direction it needs to be drawn. Duplicate the figure, and then tap the little bursts of light however many times it wants you to. When you get to Charms with Professor Flitwick, you'll get even more spell options (not to imply that this adds any additional spells to the set you can cast at various points during the game).

Potions class was fun (of course, I didn't have Professor Snape breathing down my neck). It's kind of like Cooking Mama meets the three witches from Macbeth. Wait until you see what you throw into that cauldron. And, of course, you have to blow on it to get the right temperature and stir it with your wand. I bet Professor Snape needed a Tums after giving me my first Outstanding in Potions.

I like that there are two save game spots. If my daughter hadn't deleted my save game when she took off with my DS, I would have even shared with her and let her play, too.

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You will probably have trouble following the game if you haven't seen the movie. There is some jumping from scene to scene with no real explanation. Here's an example: Harry goes to Umbridge's office for his first detention. He arrives. They have a brief exchange where she basically tells him that she'll decide what is and isn't the truth, and then next thing you know, he's back in the Gryffindor common room, and Ron is asking what happened to his hand. If you haven't watched the movie or read the book, you'll have no clue what's going on. I understand that the game is rated E for everyone, but can't they have conveyed something of her evil nature while still not traumatizing children? Honestly, really young children aren't going to follow the game anyway because all of the dialogue that has to be read. You're not going to find any voice acting here.

The background graphics and pretty much everything but the characters look pretty pixilated. They're just not very sharp. I know the DS can do better, because I've seen it do better in other games. It doesn't make the game unplayable, but it detracts from the enjoyment for me.

While I initially enjoyed moving through magical Hogwarts, constantly traveling through the castle got really old, really fast. A little white-gloved hand points to where you need to go next, but sometimes, the directions can be a bit ambiguous. One of the most maddening parts of moving around is how the camera angle flips. I'll be running toward a room, and suddenly, I need to be moving in a different direction. I have many times ended up doubling back into the room I just left because the camera angle and my perspective relative to the movement keys changed so much.

In case you hadn't noticed from the movies, the castle is huge. It takes time to maneuver from one location to another. Every time I was sent to find another person or thing, I dreaded it, because I knew that I would inevitably be sent to yet another location. The only good thing is that many times when the task was completely done, I would appear back in the Gryffindor common room.

I don't like that you can't save the game when you want — the game auto-saves at predetermined points when you've completed certain tasks. I hate having to redo stuff I've already done — especially when it means another long and frustrating trek through the bowels of the castle.

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Sometimes while making your way through Hogwarts, you'll find a piece of furniture or other item sitting in the middle of the hallway. If you tap it with your stylus, sometimes you get to cast a spell on it. I've found little glowing balls (a snitch maybe?) and jumping chocolate frogs. If I walk over them, I get a little sparkle, but I'm unclear if they're actually adding to my abilities in any way.

While moving through the castle, there were many times that I would run into a group of Slytherins — usually Draco and usually with his goons Crabbe and Goyle. At this point, you get to flip the DS sideways, and you are now involved in a magical duel. You got to pick your target by tapping their little picture with the DS (and it would show you their relative health and magical energy remaining), then you got to pick who was attacking, and then you got to pick a spell from your available list. Sometimes, and I don't know why this was sometimes an option, you got to cast Expelliarmus instead of picking a spell from the list.

With most of the dueling spells, colored orbs appear briefly (very briefly) on the screen. You have to tap each orb as it appears. The more you can tap in time, the stronger your spell. Half the time, I have trouble seeing them, because my stylus, poised to tap, is in the way. At least with Expelliarmus, it shows a figure on the screen that you have to match. Trace the figure as precisely as possible, and you can disarm your opponent and automatically knock them out. It would have been nice if it gave some better instructions on how the process is supposed to work — or at least a tutorial for the first duel. To me, the whole dueling thing is a bit awkwardly implemented. Only one character from each side (usually) gets to attack during the duel. Now I ask you, does it make sense for Ron to stand there and twiddle his thumbs while Harry faces Draco, Crabbe and Goyle, or would he have his wand at the ready faster than you could say "golden snitch"?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix lacks the nuances of the book, but it can't quite manage all of the action of the movie either. There are some cute mini-games, and it's initially interesting to walk through Hogwarts, but it's just not enough. I wanted to bring my Harry Potter immersion to a new level, but due to lack of depth in design or perhaps a limitation in the system itself, the DS version unfortunately doesn't deliver the goods.