Wii Fit is a game that stands defiantly against the negative point of view that video games are bad because people waste time on them when they should be out doing important things like exercising. Wii Fit is basically an exercise programme disguised as a game. This, I think, is a good thing.
To play this game you need the Wii Balance Board which is a rather sophisticated peripheral which you stand on so that it can weigh you and determine how you are standing. When you start the game, a cute, talking version of the Wii Balance Board has you answer a few questions and do a few tests and then gives you your weight, BMI and ‘Fitness Age’. You can set weight-loss goals after this and track your progress every time you play, but after this, you move onto the actual game. You’re then brought to a selection of different types of activity “Yoga”, “Muscle Workouts”, “Aerobic Exercises” and “Balance Games” and I’ll explain each one to you.
With the Yoga option, you’re basically given some yoga tutorials and then left to try them yourself. The tutorials are given by a Wii Fit Trainer, who’s basically just a regular person, and you can choose to have either a male or female trainer. What’s nice is that it measures your balance as you do the poses, so, it can tell you (to some degree) how much you’re improving as time goes by, but, sadly not all of them have that feature. Muscle Workouts are generally the same thing, but are different exercises of varying intensity (also conducted with a Wii Fit Trainer.)
The Aerobic Exercises are quite different and all use your Miis. My favourite feature of Wii Fit was actually in the Aerobic Exercises section; there is a game where, if you run on the spot with the Wii Remote in your pocket, then your Mii goes on a jog around a place called Wuhu Island and it’s the perfect way to go jogging without having to leave the house! You unlock different length runs and so on. Other exercises in this mode include hula hooping and rhythm boxing, which is very fun.
The final section is Balance Games and, while I think they’re the most ‘game’ like, they’re also probably the least good ones. These are mostly all non-exercise based and use the Balance Board in creative ways, like walking over a tight rope or flying around in a bubble. Curiously, one of them, called Zazen, is actually really rather creepy and has you sit in the darkness and stare at a flame.
Over all, this is an enjoyable game and one which I like very much. It’s good at persuading you to come back regularly and to do lots of exercise and I feel like it made me generally fitter, so it did its job. I like the setting of Wuhu Island and it’s been used since in various Nintendo games, which is nice. But if you’re not keen to get a game which is based around exercise, you might not like this.
Rating: 8.6/10
(Don’t miss today’s Finger Puppet Show!)
