The Golden Compass

1UP expects most movie videogames to be less-than-memorable. Occasionally, a few that break the mold (King Kong, Lord of the Rings), but traditionally they exist solely to pad a publisher's bottom line. Such expectations mostly played true with the adaptation of The Golden Compass, which was actually an adaptation of the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials children's fantasy series. With King Kong, Ubisoft tried to break the mold by putting one of their best designers, Michel Ancel (Beyond Good & Evil), at the helm. It mostly worked. What if something similar had happened to The Golden Compass, a universe full of richly complex characters and mythologies? There's plenty to play with, given the right creative minds. Of course, that didn't happen, but apparently System Shock and Deus Ex designer Warren Spector, now working on a to-be-revealed project with Disney, was interested in bringing His Dark Materials to life.

New details on Sega's videogame tie-in with movie The Golden Compass, which is based on the first book in Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy, have emerged. Sega's game sticks closely to the screenplay adaptation of the novel. Players will assume the role of the trilogy's main character Lyra as well as Iorek Byrnison, a warrior polar bear whom Lyra befriends during her adventure. Accompanied by her demon Pantalaimon, Lyra's adventures begin when she goes in search of a friend kidnapped