It dosn't exactly make excerise fun but it isn't far off
Wii Sports introduced us to the Wii Mote and Nunchuck, The Legend of Zelda: Links Crossbow Trainng introduced us to the Wii Zapper, and now Wii Fit introduces us to a fine piece of technology The Balance Board. The game was hyped for quite sometime about it being the perfect mix of fun and excerise. is the game just a bunch of posturing, or is there some real muscle behind it?
The Wii Balance Board is shaped like a household body scale, with a plain white top and light grey bottom. It uses four AA batteries as a power source, which can power the board for about 60 hours. The board is wireless and contains multiple pressure sensors that are used to measure the user's center of balance, the location of the intersection between an imaginary line drawn vertically through the center of mass and the surface of the Balance Board, and body mass index.
The Board is much like the Wii Mote in the way that its very inicative and gets people off the sofa and actully moving around as aposed to just sittting there pressing some buttons. The Board is at most parts very reliable and if you get somthing wrong you can never really blame the board because about 95% of the time it actully is the users fault. One fault is that it has a limted weight limit of 300 pounds so if your that heavy, hit the tredmill first. One thing to keep in mind before purchusing Wii Fit is to make you will have enough room to play all of these games, you don't want to raise your hands into a ceiling fan of kick a priceless vase on the floor.
Now onto the game itself, when you first start off Wii Fit you are introduced to the adorable mini Balance Board who will beone of your trainers so to speak as you go through Wii Fit. Then you choose your Mii, enter your height, date of birth and then taking a series of balance tests. Measuing your body mass, center of balance control. The game then gives your your Wii Fit age, and urges you to either plan to lose weight or gain weight depending on yor situation. It's clear that the game can't replace a doctor so it's best to take your Wii Fit age not to seroiusly.
After that you finnaly enter the game so top speak, the game's modes are split up into 4 catagorys. Yoga and Muscale are the only modes which actully feel like proper excerises, the other modes are balance and areobics which are like mini games rather than fitness workouts. In true video game fasion, you only have a small number of exferises and games to choose from and the rest need to be unlocked, which dosn't make a whole lot of sense and is sure to annyoy people who bought the game to use as an excersie machine.
You may be skeptical and pass it off as just another gimic that dosn't really do anything, but don't be fooled, there are some proper excerises here that when done properly do make you feel the burn. Yoga concertrates on holding a diffrent array of poses, some may look easy when showm by one of the two trainers, but when its your turn, you regret saying how easy it is. Some of them require you to stand on one leg while others just require you to breath. Muscle workouts is where you will feel the most burn and belive me, theres alot of it. They range from squats, to press ups, lunges, jacknifes to a mean presss of push ups and side ups. While doing both of these the trainer will be talking to you as your going through it coaching you along as you go. At the end you will be rated and be given some advice from the trainer, which is good if you keep at it.
The mix of Arobic excerises is abit mixed when excerise comes to mind, the jogging and hula hope excerises make you build up a sweat but the step dancing and rythm boxing do little to get the blood pumping. Balance games is the area where you'll find the most "Game" parts to Wii Fit, there are some fun games here like one of them is where you head footballs while avoiding Football shoes and mascot heads while another has you litteraly sit still for as long as you can without moving. (Harder than it looks) These games don't give you much of a workout but it shows people what the Wii balance Board can do and shows good potential for future games to come especailly in the Snowboarding and Sking games.
Wii Fit's Graphics are just like all of the many other "Wii X" games, there standard and do what they have to do get the job done. It has its own style of graphics and at times can be quite good, Its cool to see your Mii in all of these diffrent situations, but thers no hding the fact that not much effort went into making the game the next Mona Lisa. The balance board is very cute and is nice twist and is always a joy to see. The Yoga and Muscle training however don't get much seeing too either, the area you are in is trying to make a peacfull tranquil place, and it may achive that but it still looks awfully bland and the male and female instructors also don't make it easy on the eyes. While they look more fleshed out animationy than that of Mii's they are still very bland.
The sound for the game is mostly a joy to listen to, the voice acting, miniamal while it is does a good job of showing off the diffrent postions. However the male trainer can feel like he dosn't know what he is doing at times. Other little things is when depending on what time of day it is The Balance Board will say good evening and Good morning which does make you smile, and when the Board tells you to stand on him you'll hear him say a little Ow which is quite comical. Musically the game dosn't do that bad either with some peacfull tracks when doing yoga dn some nice upbeat tracks while doing Step Dancing and Rythm Boxing.
Wii Fit isn't just a bunch of games, it gives you a whole lot of data too. Everyday your urged to do a daily fitness test much like Wii Sports, the game will then give you a new Wii Fit Age and then lumber you with a bunhc of graphics, scales and tips to help you improve. This is very handy for people who plan to stick at it and track there progress. It also enables you to download The Wii Fit channel which lets you take a test and track your data without the use of the disc.
Unfortantly with a game that was emphasid in ads to have the faimly have fun with you this is non exsistant, with the exception of 2 players jogging everything is solo and is a shame because it would have been nice to do everything with sombody. The replay value for the game is exceptionally good due to the games to unlock and the daily fitness tests do keep you coming back. also the fact that you actully doing excerises makes it even easier to pick up and play.
However all of this comes at a price, a rather big one at that, all toegther the game and Balance board can go as high as £80 ($160) so it isn't the most cheapest excerise ever since you can do quite alot of them with a £10 DVD. So if your having doubts as to whther it will end up gathering dust in the cupbaord after 3 days then do not buy it.
Wii Fit is a good way to show at what the Wii Balance Board can do and shows alot of potential for games to come, it dosn't exactly make excerise fun but it isn't far off. It isn't exactly a full on excerise machine, but it isn't either a full on game. But never the less, it does a good job at making you feel the burn, and having fun doing it.
Thanks for reading!
The Wii Balance Board is shaped like a household body scale, with a plain white top and light grey bottom. It uses four AA batteries as a power source, which can power the board for about 60 hours. The board is wireless and contains multiple pressure sensors that are used to measure the user's center of balance, the location of the intersection between an imaginary line drawn vertically through the center of mass and the surface of the Balance Board, and body mass index.
The Board is much like the Wii Mote in the way that its very inicative and gets people off the sofa and actully moving around as aposed to just sittting there pressing some buttons. The Board is at most parts very reliable and if you get somthing wrong you can never really blame the board because about 95% of the time it actully is the users fault. One fault is that it has a limted weight limit of 300 pounds so if your that heavy, hit the tredmill first. One thing to keep in mind before purchusing Wii Fit is to make you will have enough room to play all of these games, you don't want to raise your hands into a ceiling fan of kick a priceless vase on the floor.
Now onto the game itself, when you first start off Wii Fit you are introduced to the adorable mini Balance Board who will beone of your trainers so to speak as you go through Wii Fit. Then you choose your Mii, enter your height, date of birth and then taking a series of balance tests. Measuing your body mass, center of balance control. The game then gives your your Wii Fit age, and urges you to either plan to lose weight or gain weight depending on yor situation. It's clear that the game can't replace a doctor so it's best to take your Wii Fit age not to seroiusly.
After that you finnaly enter the game so top speak, the game's modes are split up into 4 catagorys. Yoga and Muscale are the only modes which actully feel like proper excerises, the other modes are balance and areobics which are like mini games rather than fitness workouts. In true video game fasion, you only have a small number of exferises and games to choose from and the rest need to be unlocked, which dosn't make a whole lot of sense and is sure to annyoy people who bought the game to use as an excersie machine.
You may be skeptical and pass it off as just another gimic that dosn't really do anything, but don't be fooled, there are some proper excerises here that when done properly do make you feel the burn. Yoga concertrates on holding a diffrent array of poses, some may look easy when showm by one of the two trainers, but when its your turn, you regret saying how easy it is. Some of them require you to stand on one leg while others just require you to breath. Muscle workouts is where you will feel the most burn and belive me, theres alot of it. They range from squats, to press ups, lunges, jacknifes to a mean presss of push ups and side ups. While doing both of these the trainer will be talking to you as your going through it coaching you along as you go. At the end you will be rated and be given some advice from the trainer, which is good if you keep at it.
The mix of Arobic excerises is abit mixed when excerise comes to mind, the jogging and hula hope excerises make you build up a sweat but the step dancing and rythm boxing do little to get the blood pumping. Balance games is the area where you'll find the most "Game" parts to Wii Fit, there are some fun games here like one of them is where you head footballs while avoiding Football shoes and mascot heads while another has you litteraly sit still for as long as you can without moving. (Harder than it looks) These games don't give you much of a workout but it shows people what the Wii balance Board can do and shows good potential for future games to come especailly in the Snowboarding and Sking games.
Wii Fit's Graphics are just like all of the many other "Wii X" games, there standard and do what they have to do get the job done. It has its own style of graphics and at times can be quite good, Its cool to see your Mii in all of these diffrent situations, but thers no hding the fact that not much effort went into making the game the next Mona Lisa. The balance board is very cute and is nice twist and is always a joy to see. The Yoga and Muscle training however don't get much seeing too either, the area you are in is trying to make a peacfull tranquil place, and it may achive that but it still looks awfully bland and the male and female instructors also don't make it easy on the eyes. While they look more fleshed out animationy than that of Mii's they are still very bland.
The sound for the game is mostly a joy to listen to, the voice acting, miniamal while it is does a good job of showing off the diffrent postions. However the male trainer can feel like he dosn't know what he is doing at times. Other little things is when depending on what time of day it is The Balance Board will say good evening and Good morning which does make you smile, and when the Board tells you to stand on him you'll hear him say a little Ow which is quite comical. Musically the game dosn't do that bad either with some peacfull tracks when doing yoga dn some nice upbeat tracks while doing Step Dancing and Rythm Boxing.
Wii Fit isn't just a bunch of games, it gives you a whole lot of data too. Everyday your urged to do a daily fitness test much like Wii Sports, the game will then give you a new Wii Fit Age and then lumber you with a bunhc of graphics, scales and tips to help you improve. This is very handy for people who plan to stick at it and track there progress. It also enables you to download The Wii Fit channel which lets you take a test and track your data without the use of the disc.
Unfortantly with a game that was emphasid in ads to have the faimly have fun with you this is non exsistant, with the exception of 2 players jogging everything is solo and is a shame because it would have been nice to do everything with sombody. The replay value for the game is exceptionally good due to the games to unlock and the daily fitness tests do keep you coming back. also the fact that you actully doing excerises makes it even easier to pick up and play.
However all of this comes at a price, a rather big one at that, all toegther the game and Balance board can go as high as £80 ($160) so it isn't the most cheapest excerise ever since you can do quite alot of them with a £10 DVD. So if your having doubts as to whther it will end up gathering dust in the cupbaord after 3 days then do not buy it.
Wii Fit is a good way to show at what the Wii Balance Board can do and shows alot of potential for games to come, it dosn't exactly make excerise fun but it isn't far off. It isn't exactly a full on excerise machine, but it isn't either a full on game. But never the less, it does a good job at making you feel the burn, and having fun doing it.
Thanks for reading!
