Gamertell Quick Preview: Imagine: Figure Skater

Title: Imagine: Figure Skater
Price:$29.99
System(s): Nintendo DS
Release Date: March 4, 2008
Publisher (Developer):Ubisoft (Spike)
ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
Pros: Intuitive gameplay, decent graphics, quirky minigames, lots of outfit options, game like this hasn’t appeared on the DS in the U.S. yet.
Cons: Very girly, sometimes performances can feel a bit repetitive

The Imagine line of games have received mixed reviews from gamers. Some are happy to see games for young girls that don’t star Bratz, Barbie or Disney princesses, while others find the girly themes somewhat condescending and sexist. Personally, I’m glad to see a company like Ubisoft stepping up to localize Japanese girls’ games for North American audiences. Imagine: Figure Skater is the next scheduled Imagine title, and it is a localization of a very popular Japanese game called KuruKuru Princess: Figure de Kira Kira Koori no Angel.

Imagine: Figure Skater does appear very girly at first glance, with anime-styled characters, colorful backdrops and saccharine-sweet skating costumes. This is a quality title though. It isn’t completely perfect, for example the 3D graphics during skating performances look a little sloppy, but this is a minor distraction. It is fun, has quirky little mini-games and provides a positive gaming experience for the target audience.

The game begins with players choosing one of three different figure skater girls to represent them throughout the game. You then meet your coach, friends, rivals and other members of the community. After buying an accessory from the skating costume shop and building up stamina through a sushi eating mini-game, your skater is able to attend her first lesson. After that, you build up skills in three categories with mini-games and prepare for skating performances.

Skating involves drawing various shapes and symbols on the touch screen during performances. Players need to draw double circles, for example, to execute spins. It starts out fairly simplistic at the beginning, but after a while moves need to be executed more quickly and in conjunction with other moves. In fact, the skating performances are the only aspect of this title which can get a bit repetative. The music for skating is fairly monotonous and unassuming. Combine that with the fact that only a handful of moves are used to execute skating moves and it ends up being boring after about 15 to 20 hours of playtime.

It still will definitely be a title worth checking out. I’ve only sampled the Japanese version of the title and Ubisoft will hopefully add some additional polish to the game before release. Even if only the dialogue is changed, Imagine: Figure Skating will join Imagine: Master Chef as one of the most worthwhile entries in the series. Hopefully it will sell enough copies to merit the localization of the sequel, KuruKuru Princess: Yume no White Quartet.

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