Since you’re reading this article, you might be wondering how good this game really is and if it’s actually worth your money. If that’s the case, I have both good and bad news for you. But don’t worry too much; if you’re serious about starting a new exercise routine, this game will do the trick. Just remember Wii Fit is not an actual game, but an exercising tool you can use with your Nintendo Wii.
Now that you know Wii Fit is not a game, you’ll understand why “playing” it is not as fun as it sounds. Wii Fit requires as much commitment as an actual exercise program, and if you don’t keep up with it, you’ll just be fooling yourself. This is no magic. You either exercise or you don’t, and if you do, you’ll obtain good results.
When you play Wii Fit for the first time, the chatty Balance Board on the screen will give you a few tips and facts about exercising, balance, postures, and health in general. You’ll then select your Mii and enter some data like your birth date and height. Then it will go ahead and calculate your weight and BMI (Body Mass Index). This is the point where I had to find a solution for a problem that came up: if you have carpet in the living room, the Balance Board won’t be able to calculate your weight accurately…unless you add the provided attachments to each of the four legs. Once I did that, the game was able to measure my weight without a problem, and it told me my BMI was normal. Sweet!
The Balance Board character on the screen, though it had no eyes or mouth, was quite friendly and convinced me to create a goal for myself. I’ve never looked nor felt overweight, but I’ve always felt completely out of shape. Because of that, I decided to set a goal of losing three pounds and reducing my BMI in two weeks. However, since I just started playing a couple of days ago, I can’t confirm it works. But I’m sure it does, because there really isn’t much difference between exercising in front of the TV screen or at the gym.
Perhaps this is the biggest problem with Wii Fit. Despite its attempt to become your personal home trainer, Wii Fit gives you too much freedom. It’s like when you go to the gym by yourself and plan your own activities; you may do it right, or you may not. The game offers four types of exercise (yoga, balance, strength, and aerobics). Within those categories, there are different exercises and postures you can choose to practice. This is all well and good, but where’s the trainer? And where’s the exercise program? That’s the catch. It’s not the same to do a half hour of yoga and balance activities as it is to practice strength and aerobic exercise during that amount of time. Therefore, it’s mostly up to you, your knowledge about exercising, and your willpower.
Leaving that problem aside, Wii Fit is actually fairly complete and offers a good amount of activities that will greatly improve your circulation, help you burn calories, and pump up your heart rate. You can take a Body Test everyday, and it will recalculate your weight and BMI, while it also checks your abilities and improvements with small and random balance tests like maintaining your equilibrium with just one foot or shifting your balance from side to side as prompted by the game.
Depending on your performance in this test and your BMI/Weight results, the game will tell you how old your body feels that day. You can then put a stamp on the calendar, and the data will become part of your statistics which you can check at any time. Those stats are good motivators, especially when other family members are participating in the same routine. Of course, if you don’t want to share this information with the rest, you can password-protect your profile and no one will be able to look at it. However, if you’re in the overweight or obese category, your Mii will show off a pompous belly!
It’s probably a good idea to start your daily exercises by choosing different postures from the yoga section. They help you relax, breathe in and out, and stretch your muscles. After that, I like selecting activities from the aerobics section. There’s a pretty fun game based on step aerobics. You and a bunch of Miis from your console will go on stage and dance to the rhythm of the music by stepping on and off and to the sides of the board. You’ll have to be careful not to trip! This game is similar to Dance Dance Revolution, and it gets a lot harder when you unlock the advanced mode. A few times the board didn’t sense my foot on top of it. I’m not sure if it was because I put more weight on the other foot, but it was definitely strange. It only happened a few times though, so it didn’t bother me too much.
Other aerobics activities include the hula-hoop and running. You don’t need the Balance Board for the latter one; it senses your movement through the Wii remote. You’ll go running around an island and come across several Miis from your Mii Plaza. Some are running and some are there just cheering you on. It’s fun to explore the different parts of the island, and it’s also a good workout. I’d say it’s probably my favorite, plus it’s one you can play with another friend at the same time.
In the strength category you’ll have exercises like push-ups, lunges, torso-twists, rowing squats, etc. These activities require more effort, especially when you’re not in shape. But you shouldn’t skip them if you want to do a complete workout and obtain good results. When I tried to do push-ups the first day it was like torture, but I’m hoping (and I know) it will get easier.
The balance category is the easiest of them all. It may not be easy to excel at the exercises provided, but you won’t sweat too much if you just do these ones. Consider the balance exercises as an add-on to improve your posture and stability. It may help you avoid possible back pains and more. In addition, these activities are a bit more on the fun side, and Wii Fit called them games. Yeah! There’s a bit of everything, from soccer headshots to ski slalom, ski jumping, etc.
In all four training categories you’ll unlock new exercises as you go, and you’ll also be rewarded with higher difficulty levels. Your own, personal piggy bank is filled with the amount of time you work out every day, and you can even add extra time when you happen to exercise outside of Wii Fit. Also, you can add the Wii Fit channel to your Wii menu and have access to the calendar, stats, user settings, weight, and body test without popping in the disc.
Let’s get a little technical here. Don’t you want to know what the game looks like, sounds like, and feels like? You should be happy to know the Wii Balance Board is a solid peripheral (or so it seems). It’s made of sturdy plastic and has four “feet” that act as shock-absorbers. There are four extra foot extensions you must add to the board if you have carpet flooring. The Board is heavier than I thought and can support up to 330 pounds. My only complaint about the controls was not knowing when I needed the Wii remote and when I didn’t. Some games use it and some don’t, but you still need to press A once in a while to advance to the next screen. The Balance Board and the Wii remote can really take the Wii experience to the next level, so I hope more games like We Ski make use of it.
Wii Fit doesn’t have dazzling visuals at all. In fact, they’re no better than the ones in Wii Sports and Wii Play. I guess Nintendo figured if the other games are so successful even with very simple graphics, why would they step it up a notch? I hope someday they’ll reward players with nicer visuals, but for now, I’ll I guess they’ll do the trick. It’s very funny to see all your Mii relatives and friends hanging out in the different games, sometimes exercising with you and others just watching. The strength and yoga exercises look a bit more serious though and just have a realistic-looking male or female trainer.
These two characters are the only ones that talk in the game, although the on-screen Balance Board speaks once in a while too, with the typical mouse-like Nintendo voice from Big Brain Academy and other similar games. The other trainers’ voices are more serious and interesting. They also sound friendly and motivating enough. The background music is very lighthearted and soothing most of the time, although it gets more active and cheery when doing aerobic or balance games.
I’m sure everyone that’s interested in Wii Fit will be happy with the purchase. It is a little expensive, but the quality of the Wii Balance Board seems to justify the price. The title is missing some key elements that would have made it better, such as different training programs and maybe some other tracking systems. You can cheat easily and not do the exercise. But you’d just be fooling yourself…or your mom. If taken seriously, Wii Fit provides a solid workout experience that should motivate many of us to continue exercising daily.
RATING OUT OF 5 RATING DESCRIPTION 3.5 Graphics
The graphics are no better than the ones in Wii Sports or Wii Play. Once again, fun and functionality reigns over visuals. However, we’re ready for a more balanced gaming experience! 3.9 Control
The Wii Balance Board is very sturdy and works great for the most part. The Balance Board and the Wii remote make a good combination, although it’s tough to know when you can put down the controller. 4.0 Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
“Nintendo-ish” music fits Wii Fit. Light tunes help you relax and concentrate. Catchy tunes help you get up to speed when practicing aerobic exercises. The trainers’ voices are nice and motivating. 4.5
Play Value
This game is really good if you know how to use it and take it seriously. Having a virtual trainer at home, stats, and tracking abilities may help you commit to a healthier lifestyle.
3.9 Overall Rating – Good
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.
Game Features: