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The Golden Compass - Worst Licensed Game of the Year?

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pswii60

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Following Game Informer's 3.25/10, another review steps in for the 360 version of the game:

Nobody but nobody sets out wanting to make a bad game. When you've tried your best with the limited resources, assets and time available, carefully balancing your design ideas with a movie studio's agenda in a precarious compromise, rushing against all odds to get your game out on the same day as the movie, having some oblivious critic gleefully walk all over your efforts must sting. Imagine being asked to create a game that identically follows the events and aesthetics of a film that hasn't even been shot yet? It must be development purgatory. So, before we get started, know this SEGA and Shiny: we understand. We sympathise.

But we also remember that on the other side of this sorry equation sits Timmy, a twelve-year-old 360 owner hoping for Skate or PGR4 this Christmas. His mother, nervous about videogame stores and their sweaty clientele and chunky staff, instead walks into Woolworths, scans the shelves for a suitable present for her son and settles, naturally enough, on the warm familiarity of The Golden Compass. He liked the book and she's seen the film's advertisements on the side of the bus and, besides, it's got Nicole Kidman and James Bond in it, so it must be good, right? She doesn't know how these things work. She doesn't know the rules and little Timmy will have a rotten Christmas because of it.
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The ideas aren't all bad and on paper this must have sounded like a rich and promising game. However, the game far overreaches itself and the coding, visuals and execution of those ideas is comprehensively unpolished. The problems with The Golden Compass are, of course, symptomatic of wider problems with the cancerous videogame tie-in genre. Trying to turn each narrative scene from a film into an interactive game is an exercise in wrong-headed futility. While movie studios continue to want a tie-in videogame hitting shop shelves on the same day that the movie itself hits cinemas, the quality of these games will never improve. Had the game had another six months to a year of development time, many of its problems and rough edges might have been smoothed and the score below perhaps doubled, a fact that will bring little comfort to either the development team or little Timmy this Christmas.
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http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=89051

3/10


So a film that arguably deserved a decent videogame tie-in seems to have ended up getting by far the worst scores of any licensed game this year.

I also have to wonder about the worth and future of Shiny Entertainment.
 
Man I sometimes wonder how these shitty movie games are even made anymore. Does anyone buy these games? Who the fuck pays 60 dollars for a shitty movie game that gets 3 or 4 review scores?

I can't even imagine how these games can be profitable. I don't know anyone that has ever bought a bad movie game. Sure some fucking suckers probably bought Harry Potter because of the name, but honestly can games like The Golden Compass or Eragon actually make more in sales then they cost to make?
 
Shamrock said:
Man I sometimes wonder how these shitty movie games are even made anymore. Does anyone buy these games? Who the fuck pays 60 dollars for a shitty movie game that gets 3 or 4 review scores?

I can't even imagine how these games can be profitable. I don't know anyone that has ever bought a bad movie game. Sure some fucking suckers probably bought Harry Potter because of the name, but honestly can games like The Golden Compass or Eragon actually make more in sales then they cost to make?
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Yes, because they port them to every platform under the sun. And it'll probably sell well over Christmas and early in the New Year because of name alone. Although I reckon a chunk of every copy sold will go towards paying the license.

It seems that the game was just far from being ready, and instead of delaying it 6+ months, they just rushed it out of the door to capitalise on the film's success.
 
Shamrock said:
Man I sometimes wonder how these shitty movie games are even made anymore. Does anyone buy these games? Who the fuck pays 60 dollars for a shitty movie game that gets 3 or 4 review scores?

I can't even imagine how these games can be profitable. I don't know anyone that has ever bought a bad movie game. Sure some fucking suckers probably bought Harry Potter because of the name, but honestly can games like The Golden Compass or Eragon actually make more in sales then they cost to make?
Click to expand...

The more optimal question is: Among the general consumers, who the fuck actually reads the 3 or 4 review scores?

The answer: No one.
 
Harry Potter, Golden Compass, Ratatouille, Meet the Robinsons...

All of it is regurgitated horse manure.

In fact, most of the time I feel like the developers pay the journalists not to mention or promote the games.

And then I caught myself staring stupidly at a game play video of Golden Compass. I thought that it was taken from either the PSP or NDS or at the very best, PS2 version. And then all of a sudden, the 360 buttons pop up in the video. Horrible.
 
painey said:
the next gen harry potter was actually decent. Golden Compass is shite though.
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You can tell it was rushed at the end, but yeah, the last HP game was good. And the 2nd one was awesome.
 
It's a shame... I thought the film actually had potential to make for a good game. Iorek is perfect for beat-em-up gameplay, Lyra could use Pan's different abilities in a Zelda-style fashion, and there's plenty of land and sea travel. It sounds like they mostly got the ideas right but flubbed the execution. Meh. :(
 
Amir0x said:
The more optimal question is: Among the general consumers, who the fuck actually reads the 3 or 4 review scores?

The answer: No one.
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Gamers are probably the most informed of all consumers. Still pretty fucking stupid, but infinately better than the movie and music industries.
 
It kinda pisses me off that companys allow shit like this get released.

If I worked for the development studio that made this I would be embarassed
of my company.
 
Shamrock said:
Sure some fucking suckers probably bought Harry Potter because of the name, but honestly can games like The Golden Compass or Eragon actually make more in sales then they cost to make?
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Hence,it strengthens my philosophy that public casuals are stupid.
 
IronicallyTwisted said:
Gamers are probably the most informed of all consumers. Still pretty fucking stupid, but infinately better than the movie and music industries.
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The only reason that would hold true on an average is because gaming is miniscule compared to music/movies/books/what have you.
 
I remember watching the Discovery channel a few days back and they had some polar bear marathon, and on one of the commercials for the game I heard them say "This will be a great game.” That was the best part of my day right there, hearing those words and knowing it would suck.
 
Don´t forget Beöwulf.

The recent performance of games based on films is just terrible, I don´t remember anything like this since Ocean times. Developers don´t care anymore, they don´t have resources, time or anything to make something out the box (all the contrary, they have a tiny box given by film producers), they just have a date and they better make something for that date no matter is a pile of shit. The game is going to sell almost automatically if the film is succesful, so who cares?
 
So is Shiny officially synonymous with crappy licensed games now? I'd say that the goodwill and respect built up by Earthworm Jim is all used up by now - they're just another forgettable C-list developer at this point.
 
Shamrock said:
Sure some fucking suckers probably bought Harry Potter because of the name
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Actually, GBC HP games (PS & CoS) were pretty good RPG games, quite possibly they were among best licensed games ever.
 
dakota-golden-compass-4.jpg


FEIGNED ENTHUSIASM
 
I remember attending a conference a few years ago on licensed games...

They ALWAYS sell, no matter what. Horrible reviews or not, it doesn't matter.

Basically, there are 3 types of customers who go into stores.

1- The hardcore (GAF crowd, basically). They know what they want, don't look at shelves, don't care about anything else. Zero chance of buying crap licensed product.

2- The casual. They sort of know what they want. Usually, they know what they like, and will look for something similar. This crowd has a higher chance than the hardcore to buy licensed products, usually because they are familiar with the license.

3- The non-gamer. Moms, grandmas, etc. They don't know what the person they're buying for wants. They look for familiar things - the best example we had was Harry Potter. Basically, if a grandma walks into a game store and knows her grandkid loves Harry Potter, she's VERY likely to buy a Harry Potter game, because to her it's a safe bet. She's sure that the kid will love the game because he loves the license.

It's pretty much how it goes. If a grandma walks into a store, knows her kid loved the movie and the book, she's going to buy the game. Reviews don't matter to her (she probably doesn't even know there are reviews!)
 
Pureauthor said:
The only reason that would hold true on an average is because gaming is miniscule compared to music/movies/books/what have you.
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There are many reasons it holds true, a large one being the cost element. The more one is about to spend, the more concerned they are with the nuances of the product. Theres a big difference between a $12 movie ticket and a $100 game.
 
glaurung said:
Just making sure, that everyone knows what this is all about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vmwgt9NKP7Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJWPoA_izvs

This is almost like the next generation, only shot in the face, repeatedly so.
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Thanks for that. I had know idea what the movie or the game was about. Just like the review said I saw the adds at the bus stop and thought maybe its a movie about fighting polar bears. I guess I was sorta right. Any way Kuma would kick his any day of the week.
 
TimeKillr said:
I remember attending a conference a few years ago on licensed games...

They ALWAYS sell, no matter what. Horrible reviews or not, it doesn't matter.

Basically, there are 3 types of customers who go into stores.

1- The hardcore (GAF crowd, basically). They know what they want, don't look at shelves, don't care about anything else. Zero chance of buying crap licensed product.

2- The casual. They sort of know what they want. Usually, they know what they like, and will look for something similar. This crowd has a higher chance than the hardcore to buy licensed products, usually because they are familiar with the license.

3- The non-gamer. Moms, grandmas, etc. They don't know what the person they're buying for wants. They look for familiar things - the best example we had was Harry Potter. Basically, if a grandma walks into a game store and knows her grandkid loves Harry Potter, she's VERY likely to buy a Harry Potter game, because to her it's a safe bet. She's sure that the kid will love the game because he loves the license.

It's pretty much how it goes. If a grandma walks into a store, knows her kid loved the movie and the book, she's going to buy the game. Reviews don't matter to her (she probably doesn't even know there are reviews!)
Click to expand...


This is correct. If executives and investors pulled their heads out of their asses long enough, they'd realize there's so much more to be had if they cooked these things a little longer. Why even make the game closely reflect the movie? Why not use the general ingredients from the license and let the developers have their way with it? Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay is a perfect example.

The Golden Compass could have been a golden opportunity but ...

Over time, shitty licensed titles dilute the value of the publisher/developer brands. There's no escaping it. It's not healthy for the industry. Consumers can get turned off by too much garbage and turn their backs on games altogether.
 
Shamrock said:
Who the fuck pays 60 dollars for a shitty movie game that gets 3 or 4 review scores?
Click to expand...

What I want to know is who the fuck pays 60 dollars for a shitty movie game when they KNOW that the DVD version of the actual movie is going to be 20 dollars.

It's like buying a cheap imitation of a product for 3x the price all the while KNOWING it is a cheap imitation!
 
This game is coming out on nearly every system. It's unfortunate because if they had just focused on one or two, they would have had so much more time available to polish the game and fix the stuff that was broken.
 
I always cringe every time I see a mother buying a licensed game for their kid at the store. Sometimes if the game is REALLY bad I try to stop them and recommend something better, but usually they don't feel comfortable buying a game they've never heard of based off a strangers recommendation.
 
The answer to the question that this thread poses is no, no it is not the worst licensed game of the year, not in a year that saw the release of Yaris.
 
Shard said:
The answer to the question that this thread poses is no, no it is not the worst licensed game of the year, not in a year that saw the release of Yaris.
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I had no idea what this was about, so after googling I found this pic.

6s98upw.jpg


Instant lolz.
 
NeoXDeath said:
I always cringe every time I see a mother buying a licensed game for their kid at the store. Sometimes if the game is REALLY bad I try to stop them and recommend something better, but usually they don't feel comfortable buying a game they've never heard of based off a strangers recommendation.
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That's exactly why licensed games still sell: they're always bought by non-gamers as gifts and since these folks have no clue what's good or not, they always go for the familiar licensed stuff they at least recognize. If Little Timmy really, really wants to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean or Spider-Man movie, he will be thrilled by the game based on those movies of course!

The unfortunate thing is that a lot of these kids don't know any better. Imagine being too young to buy games yourself and always getting licensed crap games because those are the only games your parents, grand parents , aunts and uncles recognize while browsing the shelves...
 
ymmv said:
The unfortunate thing is that a lot of these kids don't know any better. Imagine being too young to buy games yourself and always getting licensed crap games because those are the only games your parents, grand parents , aunts and uncles recognize while browsing the shelves...
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Don't put it all on the clueless family members - a lot of kids ask for those shitty games. My son desperately wants Transformers. He doesn't care that I told him it was a terrible game. It's Transformers, and he wants it. End of story.
 
IronicallyTwisted said:
Gamers are probably the most informed of all consumers. Still pretty fucking stupid, but infinately better than the movie and music industries.
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"

"Gamers"(I fucking hate that word) aren't the ones who are going to buy this game.
 
played the game yesterday and with the knowlegde of the books....wtf? its like a bad licensed movie game from 2003 is making a comeback. the game plays mediocre (though its for kids, but the gameplay mechanics arent bad per se), but also looks bad and does an absolutly bad job with storytelling. i would put it in the same league as happy feet or the ant bully. just a worse game - oh how the mighty (shiny) have fallen.
 
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