Critic & User Reviews
IGN Review of Golden Compass
Games that are "direct" translations of movies generally don't turn out very well, and The Golden Compass game is a perfect example of a title that suffers from this tragic tradition. Developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by SEGA, this quasi-adventure/platformer is all over the place and pretty much does nothing well. Even its rare positive elements can't brighten the infinitely dull experience that the game provides.
The Golden Compass is based on the film and follows the story of Lyra Belacqua and her journey to... well, that's the first big problem, really. This title does an absolutely horrendous job in telling a story, even when it's already been told in film and novel form. In fact, we can only assume that the game was designed with the pure and unbridled assumption that the player has already read the book or, more probably, seen the movie. We were flabbergasted at how convoluted the game narrative was, because so much dramatic potential is utterly lost in the transition.
Roughly speaking, the game is poorly attempting to recreate the story of Lyra's journey as she seeks out a bunch of missing children, including her dear friend Roger. Although there are clips from the movie featured throughout the game's narrative, they seem to be thrown in rather haphazardly and are often spliced together with a hasty narration dubbed on top. It's almost laughable at how cluttered the end result feels while playing.
The second main element involves repetitious and unexciting mini-games, which are usually connected to Lyra deceiving people. When interacting with certain NPCs, you successfully lie to them by succeeding in a series of ten-second mini-games. The games usually involve a bunch of glowing orbs and either avoiding them, controlling them, collecting them, or some other nonsense. It's completely unrelated to the weak narrative -- and it's not even fun. There are a few Quick Time Events also, but they're even less exciting than usual.
The third mechanic in Golden Compass is controlling Iorek as he bounds through a bunch of easily beatable enemies. The combat system is entirely simplistic and almost epitomizes the button-masher, so these segments did little to alleviate the pain of the slow-moving Lyra sections.
Besides lousy gameplay, The Golden Compass has little else worth mentioning. The graphics, regardless of which system you play on, don't push the hardware at all. The sound is almost never properly synchronized with what's happening on the screen, and the overall presentation is embarrassingly cheap. Truthfully, there's only one genuinely great thing about this game: the orchestral score. We were shocked at how beautiful the music was -- music that was written specifically for the game. It was almost surreal to hear such majestic, charming pieces streaming from the speakers when the game itself is pitiful.
©2007-12-13, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The Golden Compass is based on the film and follows the story of Lyra Belacqua and her journey to... well, that's the first big problem, really. This title does an absolutely horrendous job in telling a story, even when it's already been told in film and novel form. In fact, we can only assume that the game was designed with the pure and unbridled assumption that the player has already read the book or, more probably, seen the movie. We were flabbergasted at how convoluted the game narrative was, because so much dramatic potential is utterly lost in the transition.
Roughly speaking, the game is poorly attempting to recreate the story of Lyra's journey as she seeks out a bunch of missing children, including her dear friend Roger. Although there are clips from the movie featured throughout the game's narrative, they seem to be thrown in rather haphazardly and are often spliced together with a hasty narration dubbed on top. It's almost laughable at how cluttered the end result feels while playing.
The second main element involves repetitious and unexciting mini-games, which are usually connected to Lyra deceiving people. When interacting with certain NPCs, you successfully lie to them by succeeding in a series of ten-second mini-games. The games usually involve a bunch of glowing orbs and either avoiding them, controlling them, collecting them, or some other nonsense. It's completely unrelated to the weak narrative -- and it's not even fun. There are a few Quick Time Events also, but they're even less exciting than usual.
The third mechanic in Golden Compass is controlling Iorek as he bounds through a bunch of easily beatable enemies. The combat system is entirely simplistic and almost epitomizes the button-masher, so these segments did little to alleviate the pain of the slow-moving Lyra sections.
Besides lousy gameplay, The Golden Compass has little else worth mentioning. The graphics, regardless of which system you play on, don't push the hardware at all. The sound is almost never properly synchronized with what's happening on the screen, and the overall presentation is embarrassingly cheap. Truthfully, there's only one genuinely great thing about this game: the orchestral score. We were shocked at how beautiful the music was -- music that was written specifically for the game. It was almost surreal to hear such majestic, charming pieces streaming from the speakers when the game itself is pitiful.
©2007-12-13, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved