Over the last two years, the Nintendo Wii has continued to dominate the gaming world. With already 34.55 million units shipped worldwide, the Wii seems to be a powerhouse that cannot be stopped.
Adding to that success, Nintendo has released a line of original games that utilize the Wii’s motion controls. Wii Fit is the third game in the series to be released, and it has managed to evolve into a massive hit for Nintendo. Why? Because Wii Fit combines two very different hobbies, and combines them with style!
The premise behind Wii Fit is pretty easy to understand: the balance board reads your weight and shift in motion, and your main goal is to get your BMI (Body Mass Index) to fall in the “normal” category. Another objective, though, is becoming more aware of your center of balance.
When you first power up Wii Fit, you’ll be greeted by a talking balance board identical to the one you’re standing on. It then continues to ask you some personal questions (weight, height, etc.) so the game can tell you your BMI, which lets you know if you’re obese, overweight, normal, or underweight. Obviously you want to be in the normal category. You then proceed to set a goal for yourself that you wish to complete over a certain amount of time. After completing these steps, you’re free to explore the vast amount of training exercises the game has to offer.
Each day when you turn on Wii Fit, you’ll have the chance to do daily training. The game automatically assigns you a couple of tests to complete in order find out your Wii Fit age, and the goal here is to get your Wii Fit age as close to your real age as possible. It’s a nice little feature, just try not to mess up or you’ll be left feeling ancient.
After that, you can pick and choose what exercises you want to do that day. You can do Yoga, Muscle Workouts, Aerobic Exercises, and Balance Games. All the yoga poses you can do focus on finding your center of balance, and increasing your flexibility. Surprisingly, these can be some of the hardest games to master, especially if you’re inflexible.
Muscle workouts will help you tone your muscles and build strength. As you get better at each exercise you will be able to unlock more repetitions. If you don’t have a lot of muscle strength or you’re just out of shape, you will find yourself struggling and maybe even breaking a sweat. Are these muscle workouts fun? Well that depends how much you like going to the gym.
The Aerobic exercises are where the game starts to be entertaining. In this category you can hula hoop, go jogging, and my personal favourite, Basic Step. Basic step is basically a simplified version of Dance Dance Revolution. You will be required to step backwards, forwards, and side to side. Once you the hang of Basic Step, you can move on to Advance Step, which adds kicks, clapping, and turning sideways to the mix. This is definitely one of my favorite games in Wii Fit, but you can only dance to one song, and it’s always the exact same steps. I know this isn’t Dance Dance Revolution, but is it too much to ask for a few different songs?
Finally, we come to the Balance Games. They are easily the most fun, diverse, and addicting of all the games. Here you can ski and snowboard slalom, walk a tightrope, ski jump, and even hit soccer balls with your head. It’s definitely a unique collection, and more often than not you’ll be playing these games more than the rest.
The replay value here is brilliant, especially if you have a competitive family. Even if a few games quickly become repetitive and annoying, the majority of the stuff included will keep you coming back for more.
If you decide to buy Wii Fit, don’t expect any hardcore action. Wii Fit is strictly a casual game, and it’s all about getting up off the couch and being active. If you want something different, unique, and a game that makes exercising a whole lot of fun, Wii Fit is the game for you.
Rating: 4/5