Polar Express (PS2)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 1.5 stars Poor
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 3.1 (1.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Avery Score
• Reviewed on: 12/06/2004
• Released on: 11/02/2004
• Originally published on GameSpot: Polar Express (PS2) Review

As a game based on a movie based on a book, The Polar Express is two degrees removed from the original vision of children's author Chris Van Allsburg, whose surrealist yuletide imagery won him a Caldecott Medal in 1986. One would assume that the video game purveyors of such a beloved property would feel pressure to be faithful to book and film, as they are both products of considerable talent. Instead, the end result of this game's development is a directionless hack job. An ugly collection of poorly conceived minigames, The Polar Express is a failure by the standards of any medium. It may be a blessing that this game is also extremely short, such that it can be completed by its target audience in about as much time as it takes to watch the film.

Most of The Polar Express takes place on a magical train destined for the elfin metropolis of the North Pole. As the bathrobe-clad, anonymous "hero boy," you take it upon yourself to ensure that all the children on the train arrive safely. At first, you'll have to contend with Scrooge, a misanthropic puppet who frequently steals the children's tickets through some manner of prestidigitation. Each room on the train is a simple sort of minigame in which the object is usually to defeat some of Scrooge's mechanized underlings, thereby advancing toward one of your compatriots' lost tickets.

One relatively memorable minigame has you sneaking by an angry chef, whose head will project a Metal Gear-style exclamation point should a noise arouse his suspicion. Another game has you climb atop the train to chase the conductor to some unknown point where he plans to jettison your ponytailed romantic interest--unless, of course, you can supply her missing ticket. By far the strangest of these sequences, however, are Polar Express' several rhythm-action games, which require nothing of you, save the arrhythmic tapping of buttons in conjunction with the faintest touch of background music, probably culled from the film. These games are invariably facile and uninteresting.

At about the game's halfway point, you'll defeat Scrooge, using snowballs to hit him in his nose and exposed chest. Once the Polar Express' only villain is defeated, this already disjointed game loses all semblance of direction. The second 40 minutes of gameplay feels even more meaningless than the first. At this point, the game is frequently interrupted by cinematics taken from the movie.

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