The Golden Compass Title Theme Animatic (2007, Shiny/Sega)
12Music composed by Jamie Christopherson,
The Golden Compass is a 2007 action-adventure/puzzle video game developed by Shiny Entertainment for PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox 360 and Windows, and by A2M for Nintendo DS. The game was published on all platforms by Sega, and was released in Europe in November 2007 (except the PSP and Windows versions, which were released in December), and in North America in December.
The game is the "official videogame" of the film of the same name, although it is also partially based on the novel upon which the film is based, Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. The game was released prior to the film and features a slightly different sequence of events towards the end of the story, as well as additional footage at the end of the game not seen in the film. This was due to a last minute re-edit of the last half-hour of the film by New Line Cinema, which couldn't be incorporated into the game, as it was based on the shooting script. The Golden Compass was the last game developed by Shiny before Foundation 9 Entertainment merged them with The Collective.
The game received primarily negative reviews across all platforms, with many reviewers arguing the plot was incomprehensible unless one were familiar with the film and/or novel. Other common criticism included graphical glitches, poor gameplay and level design, bugs, and a general sense that the game was rushed to release before it was ready. Despite the poor reviews, however, it sold well.
The Golden Compass received "generally unfavorable reviews" across every platform; on Metacritic, the DS version holds an aggregate score of 43 out of 100, based on seven reviews; the PC version 26 out of 100, based on six reviews; the PlayStation 2 version 46 out of 100, based on ten reviews; the PlayStation 3 version 40 out of 100, based on seventeen reviews; the PlayStation Portable version 28 out of 100, based on four reviews; the Xbox 360 version 41 out of 100, based on twenty-five reviews; and the Wii version 35 out of 100, based on twelve reviews.