Michael Jackson’s life has left, along with a seemingly quality-ambivalent commerciability, an unerring sociological legacy.
Alongside a frankly Invincible discography that generations will be boogying on down to long into the future, I’ve learnt from experience that he is just about the only person who can get away with grabbing his thrust crotch and screaming like a madman in public.
That is, until now.
Michael Jackson: The Experience brings both his questionable dance moves and his timeless back catalogue together into one prospectively party-tastic package. And while it’s been floating around on the Wii for a while now, this Xbox 360 and Kinect-abled version adds a Karaoke-lite singalongability and full motion tracking to encourage you to spin, thrust and moonwalk your way to perfection/social suicide.
There are over 25 of Wacko’s songs to play with, ranging from the classic (Dirty Diana, Billie Jean) to the, erm, questionable (Earth Song), and Ubisoft have gone to town in ensuring there’s an appropriately recognisable array of dance moves and song arenas to embarrass yourself to.
Using the Kinect’s Player Projection tech, you’re literally beamed into the action, and watching your distinctly un-iconic figure groove along to the King of Pop’s classic tracks in dingy bars, massive arenas, and graveyards – all the while accompanied by a gaggle of choreographed backing dancers – is undeniably fun.
Alas, when it comes to accuracy, this is no Dance Central. The judging system is either leniant or inaccurate depending on how your pride wants to look at it, so even when you’re BAD (cough), you’re still guaranteed a certain level of enjoyment without recrimination. Which is all well and good for the ‘drunken party with your mates’ aspect, but restricts replayability or any real learning curve somewhat.
Similarly the singing sections are bastardised so you’re only able to ever warble along to specific sections of songs in between dance skits during the main performance mode, meaning it’s less a Singstar contender than a vocal warm-up.
Still, with such a classic, infectiously recognisable track listing, and some undeniably flashy presentation, it certainly serves its purpose as a party starter.
[Rating:3/5]
