REVIEW: Wii Fit for Wii

REVIEW
Wii Fit
Wii
Nintendo

Reviewed by Eric Leamen

With Wii, Nintendo is trying to reach out to casual gamers and people who have never played games before. They've released numerous games so far, like Wii Sports and Wii Play for the casual audience. But now, Nintendo is trying something different. They're aiming to help gamers become more fit and more aware of their physical health. Meet, Wii Fit.

Wii Fit utilizes a unique board accessory, called the Wii Balance Board. The Balance Board has 4 sensors in it that can easily track every tiny movement that the player makes. And according to famed game designer, Shigeru Miyamoto, it's the most accurate scale on the market. That's right, it mesures your weight.

Wii Fit comes packaged with software that has over 40 unique body training activities in 4 different categories: Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance Games.

Starting with Yoga, Wii Fit includes a variety of Yoga poses. As you're doing each pose, the game measures your shift in balance, and tells you to try and keep the little red dot inside the yellow area. This is included in most of the Yoga and Strength exercises, and really makes you aware of your center of balance. Some of the yoga poses are easier than others, and great for Yoga newcomers. The deep breathing exercise is particularly easy!

Yoga newcomers should try the palm tree and warrior poses. They're both fairly easy and simply involve holding your balance. Experienced Yoga enthusiasts will enjoy the range of harder yoga poses and excercises that Wii Fit offers.

Moving on to Strength Training, this is the area that you should concentrate on if you're looking to use Wii Fit to lose weight. Yes, despite what some doubters believe, Wii Fit can actually be used as a viable means to shed a few pounds. Strength Training offers exercises like Lunges, Leg Extensions, Push Ups, Leg Lifts, and more! Your personal trainer is an excellent source of motivation in doing these exercises, and it's nice to have someone who doesn't judge you while your working out.

We recommend trying out Lunges, Push Ups, and Leg Extensions is you're looking to get a serious workout using the Strength Training category.

Aerobics is also a sweat worthy category, but with a little more fun factor than the strength activities. Games like Hoolahoop last a few minutes each, and the constant twirling of your hips will definately make you sweat. You can unlock extra categories for these exercises as well, like Super Hoola Hoop, which lasts for 3 minutes in total! Aerobics also includes a jogging activity, where you put the Wii remote in your pocket and jog in place. Once again, you can choose from multiple difficulty levels and distances to jog. The step activity is one of my favourites, and next to strength training, it's the best way to work up a sweat. You step on and off the board depending on the on-screen symbols, and along to the beat of the slightly annoying music. Advanced Step takes things one step further, with faster speeds, and sideways stepping, and Free Step let's you change the channel to watch TV, as you step on and off the balance board to the beat, a tapping noise, that emminates from the Wii remote.

The best activities in the Aerobics category are Jogging and Step. They'll give you a real workout!

Finally, we come to the Balance Games. These activities don't give you much of a workout, they're more like fun things to do with the balance board. Ski slalom is really fun and addictive. You lean side to side steering through the coloured gates, and lean forward to gain speed. Advanced Ski Slalom is a longer course and the flags are closer together. Soccer Heading is fun, but you have to be very slight with your movements, you basically just lean slightly to one side and try to head as many soccer balls as you can. Ski jump is, well as the name says, a Ski jump. Line up your balance to gain speed, then extend you knees to take off! But don't actually jump! You should never jump on or off of the balance board, the game won't even let you! There are a few fun and strange activities, like Table Tilt (tilt to roll the balls into the holes), and Balance Bubble, where you guide your Mii down a river in a bubble. That's the strangest one in the game.

So let's talk now about the games other features. When you first make a profile, you'll pick a Mii to represent you. Then you'll need to enter your Birthday, and Height so that the game can acurately measure your weight, BMI, and WiiFit age. You will then take your first Body Test. This is a regular occurance with Wii Fit. The balance board mesures your center of balance, your weight, and your BMI. Miyamoto has stated before that the Wii Balance Board is the most accurate scale available on the market, so this feature is extremely useful if you're hoping to lose a little bit of weight. After showing you your CoB, BMI, and weight, the Wii Board will choose two balance tests for you to complete. These help determine your WiiFit Age. The Balance Tests include a simple walking test, take 20 steps in place, or the single leg balance test, which is pretty self explanatory. Once completed, the balance board will give you your WiiFit age, your goal being to match your WiiFit Age with your actual age.

Wii Fit also allows you to choose a personal trainer, male or female, to work out with. The trainer is a nice addition to the game, because they give you advice and encouragement, without the judging stares and sighs of a real trainer! You can change your trainer at any time by choosing the change trainer button from the Yoga or Strength categories.

Wii Fit also features compehensive charts and graphs, allowing you to keep track of every little fluctuation in your weight, BMI, or WiiFit age. you can also set a weight loss (or weight gain) goal and keep track of your progress on the chart. The graphs also let you compare yourself to other family members and friends.

With all of these features, Wii Fit is sure to become a huge hit all around the world, and sales are already starting to show it! It can definately be used as a workout tool, or as a means of enjoyment. Nintendo is truly inovating in the way we control games, and I'm sure the balance board will be put to good use not only in future Nintendo titles, but by third party developers as well.

Gameplay: 8
Peripheral: 8
Graphics: 6
Controls: 8
Re-playability: 7
Tilt: 8

Editor's Score: 7.5/10