Okay let's be real here. If you don't count: the insanely bad voice acting, the outdated models (for a GAMECUBE GAME), the classic "take this 20-second scene from the movie and stretch it out for a whole level", the difficulty level going as crazy as a rollercoaster, the music going in and out inconsistently, the minigames being err, bad and/or boring minigames, levels that for you to win them, need to be completed with precise controls or with very few errors, levels in which characters have one and only one line they repeat over and over, and other levels where they have 2! 2 VOICE LINES!, the "incredible" puppet boss, the minigame you have to complete 6 times in a row, the awful music during rhythm games, the "difficulty" of said rhythm games, the camera sometimes going crazy, the two minigames on ice, the audio levels unmixed between the game and the movie cutscenes, and finally the grand total of 2 hours of gameplay,
Then I guess yeah, the game runs well, doesn't have apparent glitches, is reactive, and "can" be fun at times.

When your movie game clocks in under the runtime of the film it's based on, you've got to ask if this tie-in is too rushed. The Polar Express is one of my favorite animated movies and there seemed to be a lot of potential for a video game based on some of the set pieces in the movie. Unfortunately the game is just hilariously low budget and poorly put together, lacking much entertainment value other than to laugh at. The best I can say is that it sort of follows the film and changes up the gameplay regularly over its extremely short duration. Getting off the train to ski down some slopes was a funny idea for a level, as is a boss fight with the puppet of Ebeneezer Scrooge- maybe the main villain of the guy. Overall, satiate your curiosity with YouTube videos instead of wasting money and time on this absolute shovelware.

This is one of THE most short games I have ever played. Though I don't mean it in a good way. First, for the things I like. The voice actors have returned. Also Tom Hanks' brother did a good job with the conductor. The game looks very good and christmasy... for the most part. Also making Scrooge the main villain of this game is honestly perfect and very creative. Also the soundtrack fits so well for a Christmas game. Some minigames can be fun. Some of them. Now for the bad. Yeah those were the only things I actually like.

Character models look so damn ugly. Like my god they are so hard to look at. The only character that even looks actually decent and good is the Conductor. Some of the designs of the levels don't feel good or isn't designed well level wise. The movies scenes being used in this game does NOT work well for this game. For example, during the level where you fight Scrooge in the first level. You are in a different room. When you defeat Scrooge it cuts to where you are with the other characters. They could've done something better with this. I mean Chicken Little does this better. The most of the minigame levels don't feel all the good and don't seem designed well. Also yeah the dance minigames. I know you guys were waiting for that. Yeah they are the worst sections of this game and feel very fillerish. The Hero Boy acts incredibly out of character. Like it seems they took his character and made it extreme. Like yeah he has done some good moments in the movie, but those feel relatable. Here? They gave him this superhero persona. I feel like they should've had another Scrooge boss fight because the second one we had feels like the end of the game and it just keeps on going with putting in the same minigames we did before. Except nothing changes. The platforming feels incredibly wonky and isn't all that good. Wish that they could've inproved this. And at the end of the game, we don't even meet Santa Clause. Which is... THE WHOLE POINT OF THE MOVIE!

Overall, I feel like this game doesn't know what it wants to be. Like it either wants to be minigame focused or wants to be a platformer. I think it should've just stick to being a platformer and have it improved. This game is bad. I admit, but not really the worst I have ever played. But, I definitely won't be going on this train ride again.

The best thing I can say for the rather terrible Polar Express video game is that you're always doing something different over the course of its disappointingly (or mercifully?) short runtime. Whether I was tossing toys at evil puppets led by the villainous Ebeneezer Scrooge puppet to get children's lost tickets back, playing a rythym game to serve hot chocolate to the passengers (why did this remind me of Parappa the Rapper?), or platforming around in Santa's bag of presents, I can't say I was bored.

This game still leaves a lot to be desired, with horrible presentation that makes the movie's character models look like the greatest CGI achievement ever by comparison. There are too many cutscenes stringing together the short gameplay segments with comically bad voice delivery, but fortunately you can skip all of them. There are also some difficulty spikes which will definitely give the young children this game is aimed at some frustration- I think the skiing level in particular is far too long and demanding.

But you know what? I had a slightly good time playing this again on Christmas Eve and laughing at the weird translation from movie to game. I think some thought really did go into some of these levels, even if it's very near broken. I am improving my rating from 0.5 to 1 star. Still do not recommend.