Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #487 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Sega
• Released on: 2007-11-30
• Rating: To Be Announced
• Platform: Nintendo Wii

Manufacturer's Description

The official game of the New Line Cinema feature film 'The Golden Compass', starring Oscar winner Nicole Kidman, newcomer Dakota Blue Richards, and Daniel Craig. Based on Philip Pullman's best-selling and award-winning first novel in the His Dark Materials trilogy

Immerse yourself in a parallel world where giant armoured bears rule a kingdom, beautiful witches fly through frozen skies and a human beings soul manifests itself as a transforming talking animal - their demon. Assume the role of Lyra, a rebellious young girl, as she journeys through the frozen wastes of the North on an epic quest to save not only her own world, but ours as well.

Assume the role of Lyra's demon Pan to help her solve puzzles, collaborate with other characters to gain vital information and collect special items in order to explore, evade and deceive their way through confrontations and adventures. Gamers can also play as Lorek, a giant armoured polar bear and Lyra's companion, who battles enemies with his powerful attacks and special moves.

Customer Reviews

A bad game...but a lot of fun!!
By most people's standards, the Golden Compass on Wii would be described as a horrible game, but personally I think it's not all that bad. (Granted, i got it for a budget price...)

Firstly, the graphics are awful, like a blurry 1st-generation ps2 game, and there is absoloutely no excuse for that. The environments are acceptable at some points in the game, but it is the expressionless and blocky characters which make the game frustrating to look at.

The gameplay won't win any awards either, since most of the time, you are just fetching items, jumping on platforms, or playing shallow 2d minigames. Thankfully, the wii's motion sensing controls do make some of the gameplay bareable, and pumelling through hordes of witches and wolves can actually be really satisfying. Also, you can play as either a polar bear or a young girl, and each character has their own distinct type of gameplay. (Lyra=puzzles, Iorek=fighting)

Some things which save the game are the story and the music. Obviously, the story had to be good, for the book to be turned into a film and then into a videogame. The game tells the story mostly through cutscenes, some of which are taken from the movie itself, which is a nice feature. The orchestrated music is also a nice touch - i was humming the music for days! Also, there is voice acting from the real actors throughout the adventure, so at least you can hear some nice cheesy dialogue while you attack stuff.

In conclusion, the game is conventionally a bad one, but I hadn't read the book or the film, so I really enjoyed playing out Lyra's "epic tale". It's not for everyone, but if you love action adventure games, and you find this game cheap, you might as well give it a try!!

A decent game for the younger fans
Developed by Shiny Entertainment, this Sega published movie tie-in attempts to envelop you in the world of the highly successful books. But can the game escape the usual brush movie tie-ins are tarred with?

Unmistakeably, this title is aimed at the book's younger readers - which will delight in being able to play through this action adventure as Lyra, controlling her daemon Pan (the physical representation of a person's soul which all people have in this fantasy world), and also by fighting as the armoured bear Iorek.

Shiny Entertainment (think Earthworm Jim) have singled out their target audience for this title as kids, and so older readers of the books need to be aware the game will not challenge them in the slightest. The game starts right in the middle of the action, centred up in the Arctic where players will learn the basic controls. The game is a simple to follow, linear affair, with objectives clearly stated and gameplay restricted to going somewhere and doing what you are told to.

And yet the storyline of the game flits back and forth - the next chapter being a flashback to the beginning of the story, set in Lyra's version of Oxford. Lyra's sections of the title are largely about platforming - navigating the roofs of Jordan College or the precipices of the North by jumping, with aid from her demon which can take four animal forms - the hawk, for example, allows Lyra to glide from platform to platform, while another allows Lyra to examine her surroundings from a first-person perspective to hunt for clues. However, only the youngest gamers will actually be stuck on this title for very long, as the game's level of difficulty is very easy. Iorek's sections by contrast are all about beating the living daylights out of your enemies, of which you can happily obliterate very easily by simple button-mashing.

Mini-games ensue when Lyra must pass enemies by lying to them. These are more fun, and entail Lyra deceiving NPCs by a series of quick fire-questions, and are a welcome break from the often relentless platforming. Another concept is her control of the alethiometer, the magical 'Golden Compass' of the game's title, a sort of truth-telling device which answers Lyra's questions through a series of symbols - which you must collect during the game to gradually aid in your deciphering.

Graphically, its disappointing that the Wii version can be compared more to the PS2 incarnation of the game than any other. Some of the visuals in the Arctic have the potential to be stunning, but are instead stunted by last-generation graphics. Film clips from the movie, spliced in rather randomly throughout your progress through the game, only show how beautiful this game could have been if more time were spent on it.

On the audio side of things, the game does impress. The title boasts the full might of the film's orchestral score, which has been made to fit the game surprisingly well. Add to this the original voices of Lyra and her daemon from the film, and the result is generally very pleasing for the ears - with the aforementioned pair bantering together as you trot around the levels.

To sum up, this title will appeal to the book and film's younger generation of fans. It's strange, because the game contains references to the wider world of the books which will probably be missed by this audience, but the title just doesn't get challenging enough to warrant the interest of the more discerning gamer. Older fans of the source material may find pleasure in the title, but need to be warned they will not be stretched at all throughout the game's duration.

N-Europe.com (c) 2008

Pleasantly surprised
My son bought this for himself after seeing the film. Usually I would steer away from games of films as they disappoint! BUT this game definately didn't do that! I personally wasn't impressed by the film and therefore would say the game is 100% better than it! The control were easy to master and game play was interesting and moved at a good pace. Would definately recommend purchasing