Wii Fit Plus

Wii Fit was released in May 2008, and with it came the brand new Wii Balance Board. The Wii Balance Board acted as Player 4 in Wii Fit and other games, and the player would use their feet to control the game. Some games require you to lean forward and back, while others require you to lie down and lift your feet off the board. The game costed about AU$150 (the average game costing AU$100). 
 
Other video games decided to use the Wii Balance Board to their advantage, like Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party, which advertised itself as "The first video game you can play with your butt.". The Wii Balance Board was reliable at reading your actions, since the board senses weight and centre of gravity, and uses these to make the player move around a lot. 
 
Back to Wii Fit Plus, the game features 15 new balance/aerobic games, 3 new yoga poses, and 3 new muscle workouts, all of which I'll review later. The game costs about AU$160, a bit more than the original, but if you've already got the original game, this costs AU$30 without the balance board. 
 
Wii Fit Plus isn't really a sequel, as it has all the content of the original game, from those press-ups to the jogging. Control-wise, those are exactly the same. Jogging still has that tendency of reading two steps at once, and the Step games still have a problem with timing the side moves and kicks. 
 
But what shines here is the My Wii Fit Plus section. Here you can look at a food serving's worth of calories you've burned off (like burning a slice of toast), create your own play-list style workouts, and even play some of the set workouts. Some of those include one for eating too much, one for your back and neck, and even one for your form. 
  
There's also some new tests when you're doing the body test. You'll do one of the original 5 tests, followed by one of the 5 new tests. These tests use more mental capabilities, such as moving over a number under 4, or squatting if the number that's highlighted is larger than the previous number. These actually get kind of difficult, and are a good addition to the tests. 
 
Each activity also has a number of METs. This tells you how intense this activity would be. The highest number in the game is the Single Arm Stand's 5.5 METs. The METs, multiplied by your weight, multiplied by the number of hours you did this activity, multiplied by 1.05 equals the amount of calories you burned. Yes, the game now counts your calories.
 
Let's go to the games:
 
The first yoga pose is the Spine Extension. This pose requires you to put your legs straight in a triangle posture, then lean forward to straighten the back. This is a nice pose, as it really tightens your waist as well as your back. 
 
The Gate requires you to have one knee on the ground and the other leg straight to the side, then bending over in that direction. This one takes a while to do well, but it's great for your sides. 
 
The Grounded V requires you to sit on your butt, and support your back with your arms straightened out. Then, you lift your legs as high as you can in a V pose. This pose really works out your lower abdomen. Breathing is important here. 
 
The Balance Bridge workout requires you to do the Grounded V thing, except with one leg on the ground. Then, you lift up so your leg is parallel with your body, and then you go back down. This really uses your legs and arms to its full extent. 
 
The Side Lunge requires you to have your legs jumping jack distance, and then bend to the sides. This uses the thighs quite strongly. 
 
The Single Leg Reach requires you to stand up in a Mario-jump pose, with one leg on the ground, and the other bent up. Then you reach down to the ground and straighten your leg, and then go back up. This one's tough, as it uses the torso a lot. Plus, it uses your balance strongly. 
 
To the balance games, Perfect 10 requires you to bump to the sides with your hips so that you hit the mushrooms. However, you have to hit them so the numbers on them add to 10. Harder difficulty levels turn this game into Perfect 15, Perfect 20, and even add negative numbers to the mix. 
 
Cycling requires you to hold the Wii Remote sideways like handlebars, and then you step on the Balance Board like pedals. The aim is to travel to all the checkpoints on the island and return to the start. Rather than being timed, you're score is your distance, so finding the shortest route is the best way to go. Later difficulties require more spread out checkpoints, and there's even a free mode where you cycle freely for 30 minutes. Yes, freely as in you can steer yourself. This is fun for travelling around the island on foot...or wheel. 
 
Rhythm Kung Fu requires you to put your hands (with the Nunchuk) into poses like the Miis before you do. It's a bit hard at first, but you soon will get it. Also, there's some with the Balance Board as well. There are some really hard poses, and sometimes, it won't read your actions. The trick is to do a fast movement when you have to, rather than doing it before your time. 
 
Driving Range requires you to swing your Wii Remote to hit the ball towards the target hole. Power and balance are required to keep the ball going straight to the hole. If you're unbalanced, you'll spin the ball too much. Since you can't aim, getting your shots far and straight are key to doing well. 
 
Segway Circuit is a fun (but licensed) game where you have to ride around the arena to pop all the balloons, and then chase the mole at the end who steals the last balloon. This game is a bit shallow. There's not really much of a workout here, and balance only changes your speed. Steering is all in the Wii Remote. 
 
Bird's-eye Bull's-eye requires you to flap your arms like a chicken (your Mii is in a chicken suit) and land on the targets. Amazingly, the Wii Remote is not required here. Landing in the centre of the targets scores more points, and the courses are fun to fly through. Especially the one where you have to land on the blimp. 
 
Snowball Fight requires you to lean left and right from your cover, and point and press A or B to hurl snowballs at other Miis. This game is a bit mindless, but it's fun, and that's what this game tries to aim for. 
 
Obstacle Course requires you to run on the Balance Board and squat to jump past obstacles such as swinging balls, moving platforms, and even iced ground. This one is tough to beat. Falling only sends you back to the past checkpoint, and even the Advanced level is still quite hard. 
 
Tilt City requires you to tilt your Wii Remote to control the top platform's tilt, and the Balance Board to control the lower platforms' tilts. Your aim is to roll the balls into their correct coloured buckets. This one is tough to get good, as you need to have a good hand-eye-feet co-ordination. Confusing? 
 
Rhythm Parade requires you to step in time of the whistle and swing the Wii Remote and Nunchuk when required like an actual parade. This game gets tough quickly, as the whistle stops, and you require to step in time with the music that keeps throwing you off beat. While it's a bit shallow, the music is nice. 
 
Big Top Juggling requires you to flick you hand up as the ball comes to that appropriate hand. To make it harder, you've got to keep the ball your standing on steady with your feet. It's tough to do, as getting 3 balls juggling is difficult, and that's just beginner difficulty. Later difficulties have more balls. Yipes. 
 
Skateboard Arena requires you to lay the Balance Board sideways, and ride it like a skateboard, Leaning forward and back to turn, and placing your foot behind the board to speed up. There are half-pipes, ramps, and cones, as well, to spice up the game-play. Your goal is to get the number of points set, and this get's really hard at times when you can't find any points to find. 
 
Table Tilt Plus is just like the original, but there are some traps, like moving pieces and switches. This is much harder than the original, but is fun none-the-less. 
 
Balance Bubble Plus is also like the Wii Fit counterpart, but this time, there's a new course, and a difficult dark section, where you can only see what's close to you. How unfair is it that you can't touch the walls, when there's walls all around you. 
 
Jogging Plus is the same, but when you finish, you'll be asked questions, like what was the cat you started with, how many dogs did you see, or what 8-bit sprite did you find. These questions really make you observe, which makes this really interesting to try to answer the questions. 
 
Wii Fit Plus may not be a direct sequel, and seems a bit recycled, but overall, the new features make this game quite worthwhile. This is a good recommendation to those who fell out of doing a daily Wii Fit test. It gets them back into the habit. Plus, it's a lot more fun. That's the big plus.