Unlike The Deathly Hallows Part 1, Part 2 will tell the final chapters of Harry Potter's epic journey in a linear way. While most people cringe at the word "linear" when it comes to games, it's a welcome addition here. The first title was cluttered with random side missions that had no real purpose, and they severely distracted from the actual storyline.

It was easy to forget where you had left off. Thankfully, those have been removed and the game will follow the movie's (not the book's) plot line much more closely. That means you won't just be playing from Mr. Potter's perspective – you'll also take part in other characters' adventures including Hermione and Seamus. Awesome.

Getting out of the line of fire in the first Deathly Hallows game was a chore. Sometimes Harry would duck behind the safety of a large boulder or wooden barricade and sometimes he wouldn't. If there was nothing to hide behind (which happened frequently), you could cast the protection charm Protego, but you were forced to stand in one place.

All of that has been altered in Part 2. Harry is much more willing to stay out of danger, and casting Protego doesn't mean you're stuck to one spot. The charm now continues as the character moves around the screen, and it's super helpful when moving from cover to cover.

Best of all, there's a new cover feature tied to Harry's ability to Apparate (what Muggles call teleporting). Stuck in the line of fire? You'll be able to get yourself out of there by Apparating into cover both in front of and behind you. It's really cool and makes the game feel like more than just a generic third-person shooter. The only trouble is it unlocks fairly late in the game, so you won't get to enjoy Apparating back and forth as much as you might like. Once you beat the game, there is an option to restart the campaign with Apparate unlocked from the get go.

The spell wheel in Part 1 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will not be making a return in this summer's game. In its place, each of the three top face buttons will house two different spells. To access the second spell you'll need to double tap the appropriate button.

For example, if you want to cast Expelliarmus you'll tap once on the Square button, but if you want to use Petrificus Totalus you'll quickly hit Square twice. When I heard about this system I thought it would be irritating to use, especially during high pressure combat situations, but I got the hang of it fairly quickly. It helps that spells are unlocked gradually, so you'll naturally memorize the layouts.

Another new aspect is that when enemies cast Protego you'll need to use Expelliarmus on them to break the spell. All of the spells look and function differently, so you'll no longer be able to spam one and survive.

The invisibility cloak missions in Part 1 weren't fun. There was a random time limit causing you to stay still for several seconds at a time and an awkward first-person perspective. The team at Bright Light decided to address this by cutting those missions out entirely.

Now unfortunately the graphics and voice acting haven't improved much – it's still the same engine and although some of the voice actors from the movie returned, most are impersonations.