This Wii Fit review is nearly a year old, but playing through Wii Sports Resort recently inspired me to dredge it up. You’ll notice that I wasn’t as impressed with Wii Fit as Nintendo’s most recent casual release, but at least it provides a decent experience for those new to fitness.
Here we have another title aimed for the casual crowd. Nintendo’s scheme to get anyone from soccer moms to your elders playing Wii has worked so far, so why not another go at these market segments? Wii Fit is Nintendo’s latest non-traditional game–a title that will interest many, but will turn others off at the same time. In order to properly describe Wii Fit, it is important that I not only discuss the gameplay elements, but also examine how useful it is as a fitness tool.
When I first turned on Wii Fit, I was brought to a screen where I had to input information and perform a variety of tests. It reminded me of going to a doctor’s office. Once I was past this initial mundane experience, I was free to choose from a variety of mini-games. Only a select few are initially available– you must unlock other mini-games by playing certain games multiple times and by earning credits (in-game currency earned based on how many minutes you play each game).
The initial batch of mini-games ranges from boring to highly addictive. There are four categories of mini-games: strength, yoga, aerobics, and balance, and the first two are clearly geared towards those interested in fitness. The strength and yoga exercises are more about increasing your fitness, rather than having fun, so I will discuss those in detail later when I evaluate Wii Fit’s performance as a fitness tool.
Doing push-ups and performing stretches on one leg isn’t what most people consider fun (unless you are sadistic), so I’ll leave that part out of the gameplay evaluation.
The balance and aerobics games are the meat and potatoes of the Wii Fit gaming experience. I had the most fun with the balancing games. One of them, which I played over and over until I got it right, had me rolling a ball (or multiple balls), into a hole by shifting my body weight in different directions. The game played like a new-age version of Marble Madness, and was highly entertaining.
Once you complete eight stages of this challenging game, an advanced mode opens up that makes the beginner mode look easy. It is highly addictive, and it actually makes you feel like you’re improving your balance and control of your body. Other modes I’d like to highlight are snowboarding, skiing, guiding a bubble upstream, and grabbing fish on a tilting iceberg with a penguin.
The snowboarding game feels like actual snowboarding without the risk of breaking bones and dealing with ski-lifts. You swerve in an out of posts by leaning back-and-forth, much like you would on a real snowboard. The skiing mini-games are similar, but I felt that the snowboarding was a more authentic experience.
Guiding a bubble upstream is pure fantasy, but it makes great use of the Wii Balance Board. You have to shift your weight carefully to avoid running into walls and bees which bring about instant death. Besides avoiding obstacles, you have to deal with various currents, so you have to be extremely careful with your movements. At times, it was frustrating when I couldn’t pass a certain point, but I kept on playing, which reveals the addictive nature of the game.
Moving side-to-side with a penguin on an iceberg to grab fish was also a short, but fun experience. For these balance games, I suggest bringing a friend or two over to your place to see who can get the highest score, or who can get the farthest on these mini-games.
I covered the balance games in detail, but how do the aerobics games measure up? Some of them are fun, like the infamous hula-hoop experience that was made famous via a Youtube video. Others are a good workout, but are disappointing from a hardcore gamer’s perspective. The stepping mini-game is somewhat like DDR, but it is actually closer to a simple aerobics tape infomercial you’d see on TV.
Likewise, the running mini-games are good for your health, but don’t translate into a creative game experience. You basically jog in place and watch your on-screen avatar move, which you could just as easily do without the balance board. Still, since this is a game where you can see how you perform, people might be more motivated to partake in these cardiovascular activities.
So now that you’ve heard about the Wii Fit game experience, you’re probably wondering how it stacks up as a fitness tool. Well, it delivers to some extent, but you could probably get better results by lifting weights, doing simple exercises such as push-ups and crunches on your own, or by running. If you do these exercises enough, you can unlock modes that will allow you to do higher repetitions, which feels closer to a real workout.
Unlike the strength exercises, the yoga poses were all new to me. Despite my inexperience with these basic poses, I felt that the Wii Fit system did a decent job of explaining how to perform them. For those who practice yoga regularly however, this system probably isn’t that useful.
You could just as easily do these exercises without a Wii Balance Board.
For those of us who don’t stretch enough however, this game just may be the motivation we need; just don’t expect a great gaming experience.
Wii Fit is an interesting title, and there is definitely a lot of untapped potential in the Wii Balance Board. A full-fledged snowboarding or skateboarding game would be fun with the device, and perhaps it could even be used for fighting games. It measures your weight successfully, and provides for fun experiences while playing Wii Fit balance games.
Wii Fit provides some great mini-games that are fun to play alone, or by alternating with friends, and the fitness experience is decent, but unfortunately, the experience comes off as relatively shallow.
I would consider buying Wii Fit if it were fifty or sixty dollars, but ninety dollars is simply too much for a title such as this that lacks depth. There just aren’t enough mini-games to warrant the expensive price tag.
If you were someone who used the game every day for months on end, it could be worth it, but you’d have to be a dedicated fitness enthusiast to even consider doing that. I’m glad Nintendo tried something new, but I’d really like to see them utilize the Wii Balance Board to its full potential in future titles.
Let’s hope this happens before the Big N decides to release another peripheral.
Score: 7.5
Pros:
- Balancing mini-games are fun
- Yoga pose demonstrations are helpful
- There are a number of cardio and strength activities
- The Wii Balance Board accurately measures your weight
Cons:
- Not enough content for traditional gamers
- Unlocking mini-games is a hassle
- Doesn’t provide as good a workout as going to the gym or running
- Ninety dollars is pricey for a relatively short experience
- Where are the multiplayer games?
- Some people will have a problem with the game revealing their weight