Product Description

This software is BRAND NEW. Packaging may differ slightly from the stock photo above. Please click on our logo above to see over 15,000 titles in stock.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28717 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: 12027
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows 95
• Format: CD-ROM

Amazon.com Review
Compete in a regional skating tournament and then move up to international competition in Michelle Kwan Figure Skating, a highly customizable game that lets you enter the glamorous world of ice skating from the comfort of your computer station.

This game gives players control of every aspect of their virtual skater's performance. Users may paste their own photographic portraits onto a range of skaters' bodies before selecting a costume and getting out onto the ice. Once there, players select music for a program, either their own imports or a song from the selections provided. A menu of options at the top of the screen offers skating moves: spins, jumps, spirals, poses, and transitional moves--everything you need to put together a medal-winning routine.

It is tempting to load your program with triple jumps and combinations, but be warned! Once you have put the program together, you have to skate it in competition--and there is no guarantee that you and your skater can make all of those jumps. A jump meter at the bottom of the screen moves every time you are setting up a jump. It is up to you to click your mouse at the right time to land the move. Click too soon or too late, and you will watch as your skater lands on her backside and your score plummets.

Michelle Kwan Figure Skating does suffer from a few tiny flaws. Getting your face perfectly centered on the figure skater's body is tricky. It also takes trial and error to develop routines that look truly smooth, there is no provision made for skater fatigue, and scoring is purely on technical excellence, failing to reflect the complexity of real-world scoring for this sport. While the other required moves for competition are included, there are no options for the intense and clever footwork sequences required in both long and short programs. However, these concerns will only be obvious to devoted skating enthusiasts, and are minor when set against the vast range of details this program does get right. Everything in Michelle Kwan Figure Skating is set up to put you--with only the tiniest bit of imaginative input--right there on the rink, skating for the judges and hoping to win gold.

Best of all, the illusion doesn't break once you have finished your program. Instead, the camera cuts to a shot of you and Michelle Kwan sitting together, surrounded by figure skating's obligatory flowers and stuffed animals while you wait for your scores. Score poorly, and it's back to the rink to fine-tune your routine and practice some more. However--if you win--you get a chance to see yourself on the podium with the other medalists, enjoying a brief moment of glory before moving up to the next level of competition. --Alyx Dellamonica

Customer Reviews

Michelle Kwan Figure Skating
Well, being a figure skater like my self, everything is not easy. When your Michelle Kwan or other skaters, just a click of a button will make your jump successful or not. Graphics are impressive, the jumps spins and field moves selection is great! I can take my skating program and make Michelle Kwan do it, with a couple of revisions and she would do it better! The Music selection is great! I am going to buy it as I have the demo! I really enjoy this great game, and I know the moves Michelle's going to do because its what I do on the ice! Happy Playing! =)

Michelle Kwan
I am a big fan of figure skating. Michelle Kwan on Ice is a package where you can make interesting routines. To make sure your jumps land you have to have good coordination with the mouse. If your hands cramp up or you get nervous; you have to work at it. I had no luck making an original face(it looked like a space alien). I was almost stuck with the original but was able, somehow, to get the default copy of Michelle Kwan(phew!!). This reviewer is not a computer maven or a motor moron. What makes the package more difficult than it has to be is that there is no hard copy manual. There is a downloadable manual using Adobe Acrobat that comes with this software. Make sure you have the required hardware. The hard copy manual is available for $5. Right now, I don't know the limits of the music selection. If creating a skater becomes easier and music can be added it could be a more enjoyable game for myself. If it is just a matter of clicking your mouse at the right time...

For many people this game is not a "plug and go".

Michelle Kwan Figure Skating
I love this game! It's just great. You can make different routines with different music and different outfits. You can even add your own face and body type so you can see yourself skating! The views are great, the moves are beautiful and there is a compitition feature where you control the timing on the jumps (and if you're off you can even fall!). The only thing I'd add is I'd love to see more outfits or downloadable outfits. I wish they'd make more skating programs like this because it's just great and there is nothing else like it out there.

Get it - you'll love it! Great for any age, kids or adults, as long as you like figure skating.