Michelle Kwan Figure Skating - PC Games

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