Before the world was allowed to try out the Wii's motion controls, Red Steel tried to promote the revolutionary gameplay, promising an authentic swordplay experience that would be as realistic as it gets. We saw screens and video clips prior to release with blades swiping across the screen, mixed with some heavy gunplay. It was by far the system's best launch title for the mature audience. However, the responsiveness was terrible, and many melee situations were made frustrating when you couldn't get your character to block and swing at the right moment. Red Steel showed that world the Wii's new-fandangled motion controls were far from flawless.

The LEGO spoofs get a free pass because they put a comical spin on the otherwise dark storyline throughout all seven years of the boy hero's tenure at Hogwarts. The straight movie tie-ins, however, do not. The books were great, the movies were great, and with Warner Bros. and Electronic Arts at the publishing helm, you'd expect the games to be great as well. There was a lot of potential to create a narrative that stretched beyond the boundaries of the written and Hollywood products, actually going through the daily life of a student at the School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. From potion-making to conjuration, the magical possibilities were endless. Instead, we got a handful of games that poorly represented the films, were tedious to follow, and had no level of polish whatsoever. The only saving grace for J.K. Rowling fans is that they were all very short.