The Golden Compass (video game)

This article is about the video game. For the film, see The Golden Compass (film). For the novel, see Northern Lights (novel).

The Golden Compass
Developer(s)	Shiny Entertainment
Publisher(s)	Sega
Distributor(s)	New Line Games Warner Bros. Games
Platform(s)	PC, Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	All platforms: EU November 30, 2007 NA December 4, 2007 AUS December 13, 2007
Genre(s)	Action-adventure game
Mode(s)	Single-player Multiplayer (DS)
Rating(s)	ESRB: E10+ OFLC: PG

The Golden Compass is an action-adventure game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Sega. The game is based on the novel-adapted movie of the same name. It was released in December, before the movie, for all major consoles. It was declared the last game by Shiny Entertainment before they merged with The Collective.

Story

Based on the book (under both the names The Northern Lights and in some countries, The Golden Compass) and movie, players assume the role of Lyra Belacqua and Iorek Byrnison in Lyra's attempt to get the golden compass (alethiometer) to her uncle, Lord Asriel which she presumes is what the master of Jordan college wanted her to do, and to save her friend, Roger from the General Oblation Board.

In some sections, the game actually follows the book more closely than the film. The sequences in Bolvangar and Svalbard are switched in the film but remain unchanged in the game. Also, some of the ending (unseen in the film) is shown in the game. That makes the game the only place, thus far, to view these deleted scenes.

Voice cast

• Dakota Blue Richards as Lyra
• Freddie Highmore as Pan
• Nick Jameson
• Jim Cummings
• Kath Soucie
• Fred Tatasciore
• Nolan North
• Michael Gough
• Wally Wingert
• Wendee Lee
• Steven Blum
• Chris Edgerly
• Susanne Blakeslee

Reception

Reception
Review scores Publication Score DS PC PS2 PS3 PSP Xbox 360 Wii GameSpot 4/10 4.5/10 4.5/10 2/10 4.5/10 4/10 Nintendo Power 4/10 Aggregate scores GameRankings 46.71% 22.00% 46.11% 40.85% 29.25% 42.63% 35.65% Metacritic 43/100 26/100 46/100 40/100 28/100 41/100 35/100

GameSpot rated The Golden Compass Xbox 360, PS3, and PS2 versions a 4.5 (out of 10), the Wii and DS versions garnered a 4.0, and the PSP port fared the worst with a low score of 2.0. Nintendo Power rated the Wii version a 4.0, noting the repetitive environments, simplistic minigames, low-resolution visuals and hard-to-grasp story.

The Golden Compass ranked number 10 in the UK's all formats games sales chart of 2007.

GamePro says that despite low-res graphics, sound effects, and clunky controls, the video game manages to capture the magic of the original source material; giving it a 3.75/5. (Feb. 2008 issue)

References

Gamepro Magazine February 2008 Issue

External links

• Official website
• Sega's minisite
• [1]
• [2]