The winter Olympics are 2 years away, but figure skating fans can still enjoy the sport by playing Imagine Figure Skater on the DS.

This game is played entirely with the stylus on the touch screen. You start the game by choosing your character, who is in junior high school, and a name. Then you begin story mode; you touch a place on the map to go to it. You can go to school, the skate shop, your room (where your mom gives you your allowance once a month and where you can save your game), the training center (where you'll play some mini-games) and of course, the skating rink where you train for performances. Other buildings will open up throughout the game. Reading is required for this game, so keep that in mind for younger gamers. Besides skating, you will have conversations with your friends and other people around town. Make sure you take the time to talk to all of them.

Each week (not played in real time) your coach will give you a set of goals to accomplish. One is a skating move you have to learn, and one is playing one of 7 mini-games to raise either your stamina, coordination or artistry. You can raise them all each week, even if the coach only requires that you raise one. The higher your raise them, the better you'll do at skating competitions. The mini-games are entertaining, although some definitely pose a greater challenge than others. The skating moves require you to trace a line for jumps. If it's a double jump, you'll have to trace it twice; a triple jump, 3 times. Spins require you to slide a button back and forth in the boundaries, and step sequences require moving the missing pieces to the spaces they go in. If you aren't able to complete the moves in the time limit, your character will fall. When you need to learn a new technique, the coach explains what exactly the move is. By in-game explanations, I learned the differences between the various jumps, which I've never completely understood before.

When it is time to enter a competition (at the end of a month, but not every month), you will need to select your performance music and your costume, including your hairstyle and accessory. Then you will need to choose your routine. When you start, you choose from pre-created performances, but as you progress in the game, you will be able to select and create original routines.

Your goal is to win the World Championships. You have to place 1st-3rd in order to participate in the next level of competitions. The order of competitions is Town Competition, City Competition, State Competition, Regional Competition, US Championships, US-China Tournament, and World Championships.

If you don't score well enough to progress to the next competition, the game is over, but you don't have to start all over at the beginning, which is nice. You can choose to start over at the beginning of the month or choose to just skate your short, freestyle or both programs over again to try to get a better score.

I think this game would be fine for tweens and older. It has nothing inappropriate, although some comments are made about crushes and cute boys. I think younger children may be challenged too much and get frustrated playing this game.

A lot of little (and not-so-little) girls dream of being champion figure skaters. This game is fun and lets them imagine what it would be like while they are guiding their character through practices, training and competitions. It's not actually like being a real-life figure skater, since you are using your stylus to complete the moves, but it does show your character (cartoon-style) skating and participating in the mini-games.