Written by: Ian

 

 

 

"Michael Jackson: The Experience" is the first of many MJ themed games to see a release, and more will be coming- how does this dancing simulator work out? With Ubisoft already tasting success with the Just Dance series, hopefully this will be the definitive MJ game available!

 

 

There’s no story, no progression, no nothing. The presentation of the content in MJ: TE is one of the sparsest, blandest methods I’ve ever seen. There’s no progression, no impression that you’re trying to recreate the career of Jacko.

 

You just get a list of songs, can dance to any of them, and it shows the current high score beneath the track. For such a high status game (at least judging by the fact I’ve seen a good few TV adverts for it), it’s pretty unacceptable.

 

 

If you’ve played Just Dance, or an equivalent dancing game on the Wii, then you’l know roughly what to expect here- the only difference is that the soundtrack is exclusively Jacko based.

 

 

Basically, all you use is the wiimote, rather than the nunchuck, or anything else. This basically means that the only part of your body which the game can register is your right arm. So all the moves which you end up doing with your legs, or even your left arm, are pointless.

 

Also, following the moves on screen is pretty tough. The diagrams, which you should be following, often give you a good start, but then you’ll see that Jacko on screen is actually doing something far more complicated, and the actual scoring is for following him. It’s pretty annoying that you need to keep your eyes in two places at once really. And, if that wasn’t enough, the game is insanely tough. You can’t fail, but scoring seems totally arbitrary, and getting 5 stars is insanely difficult- even when I was getting several ‘perfects’ in row, I would still end up getting 1 or 2 stars at the end, which was pretty confusing.

 

 

It’s also annoying that the unlockable videos (whilst generally bad), require mad scores to even see. Then, the game won’t even remember your name from song to song, asking you to re-enter your details in a generic, non-themed space. Technically, the game sucks. However, from a fun perspective, there is something about the game that’s a bit different, and interesting to play, that brings it back from the abyss, raising it above your usual Wii shovelware.