Michael Jackson: The Experience.

"His Music. His Moves. Your Experience."

There have never been truer words. This game for the Wii Console really is an experience! An experience which is a must for any Michael Jackson fan! If listening to the music of Michael isn't treat enough now you can pretend you actually are him in this game.

I must admit that this game is probably only suitable for fans, although I can't see somebody who isn't a fan buying it. The game is full of Michael's greatest hits and is busting with his moves. I love the fact that all the dance moves are genuine and they are the exact moves that Michael danced.

The game is suitable for those aged 12 and above. I think that this is an appropriate age as it is quite difficult to follow at times!

You can have up to 4 people playing the game at any given time. In order for this you must of course have 4 Wii remotes. I think that it is great that the game allows this many people as it can be played at parties or within families. Considering you have the room however, there is a lot of arm flinging and turning around involved so you need quite a bit of room. It is vital that you use the wrist straps as well which are connected to the controls to avoid 'flinging accidents'. Whilst playing this game my brother actually managed to smash the lamp shade on the ceiling when attempting a move!

You play the game with the Wii remote in your right hand, Michael Jackson is your mirror image! You must copy the dancing as close as possible to each of the songs. You can choose which song you dance to and the lyrics come up along the bottom of the screen so you can sing along too!

There are 'Dance School' sessions which teach you the moves with training videos. A choreographer takes you through these videos and explains the dance routines step by step so you can follow it closely, practise and then attempt the song. The catch is that in order to see these videos you have to get a certain number of points on the actual game. Every so often if you do well enough then you 'unlock' another video. I do recommend using these videos, however tempting it is to launch yourself straight into the game. They are very useful and they help you to improve and therefore get more points and beat the high scores! There are also videos which teach you how to do the iconic poses and dances by Michael.

You can choose from a variety of Michael Jackson songs to dance to, from all the greats! Each song has a level so you can choose the song according to the level you want to dance at. There is the choice of Easy, Medium or Hard. On some of the songs you have the choice of being either Michael Jackson or one of his backing dancers. This is good as you can get used to the routine being one of his backing dancers and then you can step it up a gear and try Michael's routine.

The selection of songs include:

Thriller
Bad
Beat It
Smooth Criminal
Black or White
Earth Song
Another Part of Me
The Girl Is Mine
They Don't Really Care About Us
Remember The Time
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin
Billie Jean
The Way You Make Me Feel
Leave Me Alone

And there is more!!

The aim of the game is to dance in sync with the dancer on screen. Your score is calculated by the amount of effort you put in and how precisely you do the moves. The Wii control picks up on these flows and movements in order to mark you on how well you are doing. There are pictograms which move up the left hand side of the screen which show you which move is coming up next so that you can learn the dance routines easier.

Whilst you are dancing, a word will pop up on the screen to give you an indication of how well you do each move. If you miss the move completely then a X will appear, if you do the move but only just then it will say OK, if you do the move well but it could be better then it will say GOOD and if you do the move in sync with lots of energy then it will say PERFECT.

You need to try and get as many PERFECTs as possible in order to get the best scores. A line which appears on the left hand side of the screen will get bigger as you get more points, it will have your player number next to it also so if there is more than one person playing you can clearly see which points belong to you.

If you are really good at this game then you can earn extra points with Gold Moves. These moves are clearly demonstrated by the gold special effects which appear when the move is being done, they can really make your score rocket!

At the end of each song you are rated on your overall performance by being given a star from 1 to 5. It is really difficult to get to 5 stars (I am averaging about 3 stars). It would take a lot of practise to get really good scores! You can enter your name when you reach a high score and it will save it for others to see. Every time you reach a new star for a song you unlock a 'Dance School' video.


I think that the hardest song to dance to is either Bad or Smooth Criminal as the dance moves are quite difficult to follow! The easiest song is The Girl Is Mine, the dance moves are quite comical and the rhythm of the song is slower so it is easy to follow.

The game is great as a workout! If you put all the effort in to each dance move and every song then you can really work up a sweat and it definitely gets you out of breath. I would certainly recommend getting this game if you are a fan of Michael Jackson or if you enjoy playing these sorts of dance games! It does require a level of skill and dedication in order to go over the routines and get them right.

I think that I will keep playing this game for some time yet, however it will be on my days off as I can't imagine playing it after being at work, it requires far too much energy for that!


The game can be bought for about £30 from HMV and play.com.


There is a community which you can join and discuss your own enjoyment of the game @ www.MichealJackson-TheExperience.com


Thank you for Reading!


Review also on Ciao under luceey.