 Review By: Siou Choy |
Developer: | Nintendo |
| Publisher: | Nintendo | |
| Genre: | Fitness | |
| ESRB: | Everyone | |
| # Of Players: | 1 | |
| Online Play: | No | |
| Accessories: | Includes wireless Wii Balance Board, Wii Fit Channel | |
| Buy Now: |   |
It almost defies logic: the Nintendo Wii has proved itself exactly what it seemed to be at the outset - a system whose appeal lie wholly on the gimmick of semi-interactive motion detection. While there appear to be few if any outstanding games attached to the system beyond the ones it was bundled with (and the one we’re about to discuss) and against all odds, this ballsy tactic (all hardware, no real quality software to back it up) appears to be working.
While most systems have sold themselves on at least one or two “big draw” games (House of the Dead for the Dreamcast? Resident Evil for the GameCube?) or stunning graphics (PS one compared to the Saturn, Xbox for the original next-gen crop), this silly little system, with no solid backup on either front (Wii graphics are most redolent of the much reviled N64, with their overly bright colors and blocky character designs) is currently the best selling console on the market, hands down. While hardcore gamers could easily cite the rather damning fact that Nintendo’s next-gen peers failed to deliver any appreciable upgrade in graphics while substantially upping the ante in terms of price ($500 for a PS3? $400 for an Xbox 360? WHY?), the fact of the matter is that novelty sells.
The Wii has been embraced not only by the gaming public per se, but by people who have never before picked up a controller in their lifetime – news reports cite the popularity of the system in hotels (during business seminars), physical therapy rehabs and even nursing homes (as low-impact, yet engaging exercise fueled by competition against both peers and one's own best scores). In case you didn’t get it before that last sentence, one of the system’s biggest selling points is the recently released Wii Fit.
Simply put, Wii Fit is Nintendo’s attempt to get gamers off their feet and active. While an argument can be made that the Wii Sports packaged with the system covers a bit of the same ground, there’s really no comparison between a few rounds of such relatively sedentary pursuits as Golf, Baseball, or Bowling and, say, the island run on Wii Fit. Guess which one will work up a good sweat.
Making use of just one additional piece of hardware (the “Balance Board” which comes bundled with the game), fitness challenged gamers find themselves essentially handed a gym membership for $90. I should note that this seeming blanket statement is being made at a very superficial level, mind you – there are no free weights or nautilus equipment, no treadmill, stairmaster or stationary bike, no swimming pool to be found here. But seriously, what did you expect for $90?
The one area where Wii Fit is just like any other gym membership is in how not every available activity is one you’d care to take part in. Similarly, your virtual trainers could use some work. And of course, we have the grand mission statement of would be pound shedders everywhere: it’s never easy to force yourself to work out, no matter how much “fun” they try to make it. That said, Wii Fit represents something of a step up from standard fitness activities in the sheer number of unlockable activities, games, and exercises that are available, with just one remote and a “balance board”.
Wii Fit consists of four separate modules: Yoga, Strength Training, Aerobics, and Balance. There are about 40 activities total, but as usual for videogames, you have to unlock a fair portion of those. Unlocking games and activities doesn’t seem to be all that difficult, and in fact can be as simple as playing the right game, activity, or module for a particular number of times. Some of these games and activities, however, are little more than upgraded versions (whether extended in duration or degree) of the ones you’d been playing already. Do we really need to have discrete entries, for example, for Basic Step, Advanced Step and Free Step?
Gamers who are out of shape may find themselves somewhat hesitant to expose themselves to the tender mercies of the Wii Balance Board for another reason: beyond its role in the various exercises and activities of the Wii Fit, the board serves as a high tech scale, measuring both BMI (Body Mass Index) and weight. As if that weren’t enough to scare some of us off, the game will then actually transform your Mii so that it shows as being accordingly fat. So much for the illusory fantasy world of the virtual avatar! While Wii gamers tend to enjoy seeing some version of themselves in most Wii games, this particular level of truth can be a bit hard to (ahem) stomach. I gather this is supposed to supply incentive by injecting a large dose of uncomfortable reality into the proceedings, but it can be a bit too much, depending on just how out of shape the gamer in question is. Seeing a disproportionately tubby Mii standing there and patting its bloated gut day after day can really turn a gamer off of using the Wii Fit…presumably not the developers’ intention.
Posted: 2008-12-03 18:40:40 PST