This game deviates significantly from its predecessors in terms of gameplay, with a fixed path and camera angle replacing the "tried-and-true" free-roaming exploratory gameplay in the first three titles. Consequently, it was met with mixed if not negative reviews from fans of the series this far.
First game in the series to feature an actor from the corresponding film reprising their role (Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort).
The first Harry Potter game that wasn't developed on the Unreal Engine on any platform. The same version was ported to all home consoles, and developed using RenderWare. The PC versions of the last three games had been made on the Unreal Engine.
The first harry potter game to strictly follow the plot of the movie alone. The previous 3 were role playing games that only loosely followed the course of events from the books or movies (much more from the latter than the former), with the bulk of the actual gameplay having very little to do with events of either.
First title of the series to license character likenesses from the respective film, with a photo of actor Daniel Radcliffe featured prominently on the cover as the title character (even though his actual voice is not featured in the game itself). According to EA Games, earlier titles in this game series had been deliberately 'generic' character design, in case any of the principal kid actors of the films would have been replaced as they got older. Once that risk seemed to have been avoided (coupled with the merging of Warner and Electronic Arts), the door was open for a proper license with minimal expense, one which would only intensify in future installments.
(Source: Interview with EA Games as conducted and issued by Mugglenet.com)
(Source: Interview with EA Games as conducted and issued by Mugglenet.com)