Metacritic Games

Golden Compass, The (Playstation 2)

The Golden Compass follows the screenplay adaptation of the first book in the acclaimed trilogy, capturing the fantasy adventure set in a parallel world where giant armored bears rule a kingdom, beautiful witches fly through the frozen skies, and human beings' deepest essence is manifest as talking animals that remain their faithful companion for life – their daemon. Players can assume the role of Lyra, a young girl, along with her daemon Pantalaimon (Pan), as she journeys through the frozen wastes of the North to rescue a friend kidnapped by a mysterious organization known as The Gobblers and winds up on an epic quest to save not only her world, but ours as well. Gamers can also take on the character of Iorek Byrnison, a great armoured polar bear who joins the quest. As Lyra, players use their daemon and collaborate with in-game characters, collecting special items in order to explore, evade, and deceive their way through confrontations with the Gobblers, the Magisterium, and the horribly dangerous spy fly to find her friend. They can also do battle as Iorek with special attacks and a riding mechanic as he protects Lyra during the journey. Gamers can unlock secrets and mini-games using a mysterious, truth-telling golden compass device called an alethiometer. Players can explore 13 vast locations, including all-new breath-taking environments not seen in the film, on this massive journey of collaboration, exploration and the eternal struggle between good and evil. [Sega]

Sega
Action, Adventure
Players: 1
E10+ (Everyone 10 and Older)
Developer: Shiny Entertainment
Released December 4, 2007

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

46 / 100

Critic Reviews

60	Official Playstation 2 Magazine UK Not a disaster, but sorely lacking in polish. It is riddled with problems and takes too many liberties with the franchise. [Christmas 2007, p.98]
60	PTGamers Short and yet boring, doesn’t bring anything new to the table and doesn’t even accomplish what it ought to. Only the biggest fans of the material will take some enjoyment out of this game.
50	Playstation Official Magazine UK Playing as either character simply isn't much fun. [Jan 2008, p.114]
50	Maxi Consolas (Portugal) As in many of these cases, if you liked the movie you’ll probably enjoy revisiting the story and characters. But that doesn’t make it a good game. [Jan 2008]
50	AceGamez With repetitive, tedious gameplay, poor graphics and generic level designs, The Golden Compass is a mildly enjoyable fantasy videogame for younger audiences only; anyone above their formative years will not find the depth or enjoyment of the books in what boils down to yet another uninspired action adventure translation of a great movie license that couldn't be more by the numbers if it tried.
45	PSM3 Magazine UK A crushing disappointment for fans of the book and film. Oh, and gamers generally, too. [Jan 2008, p.76]
45	GameSpot The Golden Compass is just another family-friendly film cash-in with few redeeming qualities.
42	Gamer 2.0 There’s not really much more to say about the game other than just ranting about our horrible experience with it. Surely, that would bore you, our respected readers. We’re actually somewhat sorry that you’re being exposed to this game in the first place. Please, look elsewhere for gaming if you want to do yourselves a favor.
40	Pelit (Finland) Golden Compass for the Playstation 2 is yet another turd of the black shit of death that Hollywood sees fit to squeeze upon the video games industry time after time. The only commendable facet of this monstrosity is the high quality of voice-acting. Buy the book or see the movie, but do not ever buy the game. [Jan 2008]
35	IGN Even the music, as pretty as it is, can't redeem such poor gameplay and atrocious presentation.

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