Michael Jackson: The Experience

Michael Jackson:The Experience
North American Wii box art.
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montpellier Ubisoft Paris (Wii) Ubisoft Sao Paulo (DS) Ubisoft Shanghai (3DS)
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Release Date(s)
Wii	NA: November 23, 2010 JP: December 8, 2011 EU: November 26, 2010 AU: November 25, 2010
Wii	NA: November 23, 2010 JP: December 8, 2011 EU: November 26, 2010 AU: November 25, 2010
Nintendo DS	NA: November 23, 2010 EU: November 26, 2010 AU: November 25, 2010
Nintendo DS	NA: November 23, 2010 EU: November 26, 2010 AU: November 25, 2010
Nintendo 3DS	NA: November 8, 2011 EU: November 11, 2011
Nintendo 3DS	NA: November 8, 2011 EU: November 11, 2011
Platform(s)
Genre(s)	Music (Rhythm)
Rating(s)
ESRB	04
PEGI	03
CERO	01
ACB	01

Michael Jackson: The Experience is a music video game based on the late Michael Jackson's music and songs released for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and Nintendo 3DS in 2010/2011. It was developed and published by Ubisoft. The game features many of Michael Jackson's greatest hits, such as Bad, Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, Black or White, The Way You Make Me Feel, etc. Initial launches of the game included a limited edition replica of Jackson's sequined glove. The game sold 2 million units in two months, not including Japanese sales, making it one of the best-selling Wii title games.

Gameplay

The Wii version of the game features Just Dance-style gameplay. There are three modes of play in this version of the game. The first is "Classic" where everybody follows the on-screen Michael Jackson avatar. The second is "Duo" which is used for duets (such as The Girl Is Mine) or videos with two main characters (such as The Way You Make Me Feel and In the Closet The player(s) can choose to dance as either Michael or the other character. The third mode of gameplay is "Crew", which features Michael and two backup dancers (five during some songs.) Players can opt to dance as any of the three. After performing songs, players are able to unlock training videos in the "Dance School" where they are taught some of the more difficult moves from several of Michael Jackson's music videos and stage performances.

Four player multiplayer is available on the Wii, but the Kinect will be limited to one player at a time. The DS version features gameplay similar to Elite Beat Agents. In this version, there is a cartoon version of Michael on the top screen and the player follows along by tapping the bottom screen with the stylus to the rhythm of the music. Also in the DS version, there is an anti-piracy feature created by Ubisoft that will freeze the game and replace the audio with the sound of vuvuzelas (popularized by the South Africans in World Cup 2010) if the player is playing a pirated or ROM version of the game. On the Wii version, players can play as Jackson or the Back-up Dancers. The game was displayed at New York Comic Con at Ubisoft's booth.

Kinect features

The Kinect version of the game features full body tracking, and entirely different choreography to the Wii version, along with several other changes and additions. This version uses a technology called Player Projection, which puts the player's own image in the game allowing them to star in their own Michael Jackson video. The Kinect version includes two game modes: "Solo" and "Party". Solo mode features one player. Party mode features 2-4 players. There are two options in Party mode: "Co-Op" and "Battle". Co-Op mode is a "every player for themselves" mode as players take turns jumping in and jumping out in order to complete the song. Battle mode is a team mode where two teams face off to get the highest score. Battle mode is a little different from Co-Op mode as each team performs the song together and the song gets broken down into two parts in which one player dances and the other player sings. Party mode only features Dance Mode, Performance Mode and Master Performance Mode. There are four symbols to represent each player: Michael's glove, Michael's hat, Michael's shades and one of Michael's jackets. Several of the songs in the game do not feature any moves to perform, instead becoming "Singing Only" songs, with Earth Song being the first song confirmed as Singing Only. There are certain songs that have moves that can be taught in a practice mode called "MJ School". During each performance, a crown pops up above the player's head and the player must hit the crown to activate "King Power" before it fades away. The crown, appearing only once per song, will multiply the score by 8. Similar to the Wii version, the player is scored on how well they sing and dance. The player can get five different grades: "Perfect", "Good", and "OK" increases the player's score, while "Almost" and "Miss" make causes the player to lose their current score. Points add up at the end of each song along with the rating of stars the player receives and a photo the player takes during their performance. Players can either use the Kinect's built-in microphone or an attached mic/headset to sing. The game does include the option, however, to choose a "Dance Only" version of the song, which means the player will not be asked to sing.. The Kinect version also features a mode known as Master Performance, which requires the player to both sing and dance to a set of choreographed moves that are harder than the normal moves, and "as close as possible to the videos".

List of songs

Songs	Albums	Year	Wii	DS	3DS
Bad	Bad	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Beat It	Thriller	1982	Yes	Yes	Yes
Billie Jean	Thriller	1982	Yes	Yes	Yes
Black or White	Dangerous	1991	Yes	Yes	Yes
Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough	Off the Wall	1979	Yes	Yes	Yes
Leave Me Alone	Bad	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Smooth Criminal	Bad	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Thriller	Thriller	1982	Yes	No	Yes
The Way You Make Me Feel*	Bad	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Remember the Time	Dangerous	1991	Yes	No	Yes
Ghosts	Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix	1997	Yes	No	Yes
Another Part of Me	Bad	1987	Yes	Yes	Yes
Rock with You	Off the Wall	1979	Yes	No	Yes
Heal the World	Dangerous	1991	Yes	Yes	No
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'*	Thriller	1982	Yes	Yes	No
Speed Demon	Bad	1987	Yes	No	Yes
Streetwalker	Bad: Special Edition	2001	Yes	Yes	No
Who Is It	Dangerous	1991	Yes	No	No
Blood on the Dance Floor	Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix	1997	No	No	Yes
Will You Be There	Dangerous	1991	Yes	No	No
The Girl Is Mine (feat. Paul McCartney)	Thriller	1982	Yes	No	No
I Just Can't Stop Loving You (feat. Siedah Garrett)	Bad	1987	No	No	No
They Don't Care About Us	HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I	1995	Yes	No	No
Hollywood Tonight	Michael	2010	No	No	Yes
Working Day and Night	Off the Wall	1979	Yes	No	No
Dirty Diana	Bad	1987	Yes	No	No
In the Closet	Dangerous	1991	Yes	No	No
Money	History: Past, Present and Future Book I	1995	Yes	No	No
Earth Song	HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I	1995	Yes	No	No
Stranger in Moscow	HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I	1995	No	No	No
Sunset Driver	The Ultimate Collection	2004	Yes	No	No

• A "*" indicates that there is a dance teaching video of that song.
• A "**" indicates that there is a three-part dance teaching video of that song.

In the Wii console version of the game, "Money" is incorrectly credited as a song from the album Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix which was released in 1997. This would be true if the song in the game was the remix, but it is the original version of the song, released on HIStory: Past, Present, and Future, Book I in 1995.

Development

Roughly two weeks after Michael Jackson passed away in June 2009, MJ Productions announced that a Michael Jackson game had been in development for several months.

Reception

Michael Jackson: The Experience was met with generally mixed reviews, with most of them citing the varied differences between the different versions of the game. The reviews for the DS version was above average, with a slightly better score for the DS version. IGN gave a 6.5/10 and Destructoid gave a 6/10.

IGN gave the Wii version a 3.5 saying that it does not give clear instructions on how to dance and also criticized the controls. Metro gave it 5/10, describing it as "perfectly good party fun if you don't care that the controls don't work". The game received positive reviews from tabloids that had previously been anti-Jackson. VideoGamer.com gave the review a 7/10, stating that the music overplays the responsiveness difficulty. CNET gave the game 5/5, writing that the game is "extremely easy to pick up and play" and "the choreography is amazing" The Escapist gave the game 4/5, noting that the game "is not meant to be played by yourself".

Eurogamer thought that the Xbox dance routines "feel a little slower and more simplistic than those in the PS3 game", while the Daily Star said that "the Move seems a touch more sensitive".

Gallery

Main article: Michael Jackson: The Experience/gallery

External links

• Michael Jackson: The Experience at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Michael Jackson: The Experience at GameFAQs