The Polar Express is an action-adventure video game developed by Blue Tongue Entertainment and published by THQ, released for the PlayStation2, Nintendo Gamecube, PC, and Game Boy Advance. The Xbox version is planned to be released, but it is cancelled.
The game follows most of the main plot of the film. One major difference is that the Ebenezer Scrooge Puppet, who only makes a minor appearance in the film, plays a much bigger role as the main antagonist with a goal to keep the children from believing in Santa Claus by stealing their tickets, thus getting them thrown them off the train so that they will not get to the North Pole.
The game features fifteen levels, which are divided into six chapters, giving players the opportunity to explore areas like the train, the North Pole and more. The player controls Hero Boy in each level, which features puzzle-solving and minigame-styled elements, as well as coins and toy parts to collect. Every twenty coins collected earns the player an additional life while finding enough toy parts to complete a toy unlocks a bonus feature.
Several scenes from the film with altered music appear as cutscenes.
Levels[]
Chapter 1: The Polar Express[]
Scrooge's Plan: The Scrooge puppet steals and hides all the children's tickets. The children go to find them with the help of Hero Boy while Hero Girl stays to distract the Conductor. Along the way, they encounter some of Scrooge's friends who use various tactics to try keeping the children from finding the tickets, including hiding in a darkened car and starting a food fight in the dining car. Know-It-All is one of the children whose ticket was stolen. This level is featured in the demo version.
The Lonely Boy: The train passes by Billy's house, so Hero Boy goes to pull the emergency brake, despite the possibility of getting thrown off the train. However, Scrooge is blocking access to the brake and Hero Boy must throw balls at him to clear the way.
The Lost Ticket: Hero Boy continues helping find the other children's tickets. He plays tennis with a Jack-in-the-Box in a boxcar and sneaks past the cook in the kitchen car, who was angry about all the food wasted in the food fight. Next, he clears a boxcar of mice (which turn out to be just toys) and uses an ice smasher to smash large blocks of ice, one of which has a ticket frozen inside. Finally, he fights some Jack-in-the-Boxes by throwing toys at them and hitting them with a big mallet. With all the tickets retrieved, everyone heads back to the passenger car. Parts of this level are featured in the demo version as part of the "Scrooge's Plan" level.
Chapter 2: The Rooftop[]
The Rooftop Rescue: Scrooge is angry that everyone retrieved their tickets, so he steals Hero Girl's ticket and sticks it to the air vent. The Conductor comes to punch her ticket, but since she cannot find it, the Conductor takes her away. Hero Boy finds the ticket on the air vent and goes after Hero Girl and the Conductor by walking across the passenger cars, dodging various obstacles in the way, including signals, bridges, and water towers. Along the way, he meets a Hobo.
Chasing the Train: The Hobo is impressed with Hero Boy's determination and helps him get to the locomotive by taking a shortcut where they jump off the train and ski down the hill. Hero Boy is responsible for shifting his weight to the sides to steer them away from obstacles, including logs, trees, houses, and icicles. This level is featured in the demo version.
Chapter 3: The Engine Room[]
Repair the Engine: Hero Boy lands in the engine room to find Hero Girl driving the train. Suddenly, she uses the wrong controls, nearly causing the locomotive to explode. Luckily, Smokey and Steamer return to the engine room to fix it. Hero Boy helps by grabbing parts that fall out and throwing the green ones to Smokey and the blue ones to Steamer.
Stoke the Flame: After the caribou clear the track, Smokey and Steamer have to get the train moving again. The Conductor, impressed with Hero Boy's skills, asks him to help. The goal is to mimic Smokey and Steamer's dance moves, which involve digging and shoveling. Soon, the train is moving again, but the Conductor brings up Hero Girl's missing ticket, which reminds Hero Boy that he still has it, so he gives it to her, saving her from being thrown off the train.
Chapter 4: Back on Board[]
Toys! Toys!: While making their way back to the passenger car, Hero Boy and Hero Girl encounter the Jack-in-the-Boxes again. Like earlier, Hero Boy fights them by throwing toys at them. After that, they enter the frozen room again but find a pair of ice boots, which Hero Boy uses to walk across the car and move the crates, clearing a path for Hero Girl, who slides across the ice, using the crates to steady herself. They also go through the car with the mice, so Hero Boy catches and throws them in the bin again as he did earlier.
Scrooge's Last Stand: Hero Boy encounters Scrooge again, who has become very large since the last encounter. Hero Boy tells him Christmas is more about giving and sharing than about toys, but Scrooge scoffs. Hero Boy throws snowballs at his chest, which weaken him, while resisting the vibrations caused by him pounding the ground.
Hot Chocolate: After Scrooge is defeated, the Conductor shows up and invites the children to the dining car for refreshments, which include hot chocolate and cakes. However, they are short one waiter, so Hero Boy is asked to fill in. He learns how to serve the other children by watching what the other waiter does and copying his moves. Afterward, Hero Girl gives Hero Boy a refreshment she saved for him, then asks the Conductor if they can give Billy some hot chocolate, which he agrees to.
Chapter 5: The North Pole[]
Runaway Car: The train arrives at the North Pole and all the children get off, but Hero Boy and Hero Girl notice Billy staying behind and go back to try convincing him to come. However, Hero Boy steps on a lever which uncouples the observation car and causes it to roll down the hill. The children use the brake wheel to tilt the car and avoid hitting potholes, oncoming vehicles, and other passenger cars in the way. However, they cannot tilt it for too long or else it will fall over. At the end of the tracks, the car stops on a turntable.
North Pole Center: After watching the elves use the pneumatic, the children decide to ride it back to the Square. The pneumatic has a screen which shows what color switch, blue, green, or yellow, the player has to hit in order to switch the right gate. The pneumatic stops at a factory where the children get off.
Chapter 6: Race to Santa[]
Sorting Room: At the factory, Billy sees a present he thinks might be for him and chases it, but gets separated from Hero Boy and Hero Girl. The player must catch up to Billy by using the conveyor belts to make it through the factory. Pulling levers changes the direction of the belts. Each room has a tunnel that takes the children to the next room and other tunnels which take them to a different part of the same room, the latter of which are marked by lights of the same color.
Inside the Sack: The children go down a slide and land in a big pile of presents. They must climb it like a ladder to the top to get out of the factory. There are obstacles along the way, including presents that bounce or elevate, as well as vines which the player can climb or use to swing across large gaps, and Jack-in-the-Boxes which allows them to make tall jumps.
Final Delivery: The presents are lifted in a big bag by a pair of zeppelins. The captain, who initially seemed mad at the children, is actually glad to have them on board because he needs someone to fly the zeppelin while he goes to help the other elves. Hero Boy agrees to help, but he has to avoid hitting bridges, hot air balloons, ships and buildings to keep the bag of presents safe and arrive at the Square before time runs out. When they arrive, the captain returns to take over again.
Demo version[]
For the PC, a demo version of the game was made available free to download. It features only two levels. The first one uses elements from "Scrooge's Plan" and "The Lost Ticket" while being called the former. The other is "Chasing the Train".
The Polar Express (video game) at the Internet Movie Database
