Fresh ringtone offers: Harry Potter Mastering Magic

Mastering Magic is Harry Potter’s latest for mobile phones but if you’re thinking another mystical adventure through Hogwarts, you’re barking up the wrong tree. Instead, get ready to challenge your mind in a battery of tests to win the coveted Studious Success Cup.

The Cup is awarded to the student who achieves the highest marks in various classes and O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Levels), therefore, the game is set up as a collection of mini-games that allow you to practice wizard classes and complete exams to perfect your magic skills. Playing as Harry, Hermione or Ron, you can track your performance and perfect magic skills within a wide range including Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration and Potions.

There are a total of eight classes to master in Practice and Studious Success Cup modes, with a tutorial available for each and the opportunity to challenge a friend as well. Each class starts off on an easy difficulty, and depending on your performance, tougher ones can be unlocked. They are all simple games to understand, but a bit tricky to complete.

In Divination for instance, you must guess which of the four items presented is being revealed in a crystal ball. You simply choose with the D-pad what the correct item is, but the crystal ball continuously morphs the shape within, making it more complicated. Astronomy has you memorizing constellations then drawing the missing lines by selecting the correct stars. There’s even a math game where you must decipher and place the correct number in order for the equation to work, but for true Harry Potter fans, the History of Magic quizzes are probably what will be enjoyed most since it turns out to be more of a trivia game on the anthology.

The thing about the Mastering Magic mini-games is that they are all somewhat unique and fresh ideas to play with. In fact, instead of a mini-game collection feel, it’s more like a rewarding brain training game. (Perhaps that IS the whole intent behind the title, since it does keep statistics on performance.) In any event, there certainly will be many Harry Potter fans checking this title out if only because of its theme, but others should do so as well because it’s cleverly disguised and enjoyable.