I have to say, this game was a complete surprise. It’s been a while since I played something that came in a pink box with the world “girl” on it. Pretty straightforward, wouldn’t you say? But so was EverGirl, and I actually liked that game. Also from THQ comes American Girl: Mia Goes for Great, an adventure where you play an aspiring figure skater. I love my figure skating, so I didn’t mind trying this out one bit.
Mia Goes for Great tells the story of Mia, a ten-year-old girl who likes to play ice hockey with her three older brothers and decides to take her skating skills in a different direction: figure skating. The game revolves around learning about the sport, getting things ready for practicing (music, costume, routines) and executing the moves.
The basic gameplay is a point and click adventure. You move by clicking on any given area, you talk to someone or interact with objects by clicking on them, you can also use things from your inventory on objects or people by dragging and clicking. Very simple.
The progression of the story is quest-based, and that’s what sometimes seems not so simple. You get hints but they’re not very straightforward, which might get younger gamers confused. You can ask Mia’s mom for a hint about what to do next, but the hints you get can be a little vague. I was completely lost, and the hint “Try being nice to Vanessa…” when I’m all out of dialog options wasn’t making any sense. So I decided to try the old “use everything on everyone” routine until I found out what I was missing… I actually felt pretty silly after I figured it out!
There are also two mini-games to be found. One is a Bejeweled clone called Snowflakes. Here you help your brother clean the snow by swapping snowflakes to make matches of three or more and turn all the squares on the puzzle field a darker color. The other is Rink Sweep, a simplified Zuma, where you help Vanessa pick up the beads that fell from her costume, and clean up the ice by matching three or more beads of the same color.
The highlight of the game is the figure skating routine creator. Once you have everything to start practicing (your music, your skates sharpened and your costume) you can access the routine builder, where you must create your performance by putting a series of moves together. There are a few rules though: you must have at least two spins and two jumps, you must connect them properly by turning and skating forward or backward, and you must make your program the length of the music. When done, you can rehearse your program, which brings you to a mini-game.
Rehearsing shows Mia skating with a meter on the top of the screen where arrows will occasionally appear. The arrows represent a move, and to perform one a new meter appears. You must press the respective arrow with the meter as full as possible. If you miss, Mia falls and you have to start the routine from the beginning. You keep practicing until the coach says your spins and jumps are good enough for competing in the show.
I liked the overall look of the game. The artwork is quite nice and there is a lot of detail in the backgrounds. The animations on the characters aren’t bad either, though the faces seem a little odd sometimes. I especially liked how Mia moves when skating, it looks very fluid. The sound is quite good as well, the voice acting is well done and sounds natural, and there is plenty of classical music to be heard (some of my favorites are there). Though I would have liked to have more music options for the figure skating routines, since with the editor you can synchronize your moves with the tune.
Reviewing a girly game now and then gives me the chance to take a break from all the usual slashing or blowing up bad guys, and American Girl: Mia Goes for Great turned out to be very enjoyable. Pink box or not, it’s still an interesting game based on a different theme that young girls will certainly have fun with.
Special thanks to Karen Fujimoto and THQ for providing a copy of this game.