Great concept well executed. (Wii Fit (Wii))

Member Name: Kjn123

Product:	Wii Fit (Wii)
Date:	28/10/09 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well thought out exercises that incentivise your exercise.

Disadvantages: Aerobic exercises are low impact.

My girlfriend bought a Wii Fit one day and having watched her use it a few times I thought that it looked like a waste of time and a poor substitute for exercising outside or else wise taking part in actual sport.

The main reason for this was that she spent a great deal of time doing the jogging game and the step aerobic music game. I pointed out that the jogging thing misrepresents how much exercise you are doing and is completely fradulent in telling you how far you have run - it would take far more effort to run a mile on the roads than it would to run a Wii Fit mile. At that stage, I dismissed Wii Fit as a gimmick with little more practical use than to weigh yourself and measure your BMI.

One day this began to change. When I was off work I got a bit bored and I decided to explore more of the options. Being a rugby playing sort of fellow I looked at the strength exercises and gave them a go. As I performed more and more of these exercises and accrued minutes in my Wii Fit piggy bank, I began to unlock more exercises - it became strangely addictive. Eventually I was unlocking 'challenges' which were more or less keep going til you can't do it anymore. Moreover, the rage the game induced in me when telling me I wasn't doing press-ups properly only spurred me to do more.

By the time I had unlocked most of the exercises I was performing each one in turn - one after the other on the increased repetitions and in some cases, myself versus my Wii Fit personal trainer. It actually became a fairly decent workout and when engaging in the Yoga exercises that get suggested after certain strength exercises, it became a good way of toning.

Another really good point with regards to Wii Fit is that in many of the exercises are designed to incorporate some element of core muscle targeting - a group that is comprised of abdominals, obliques and the deep muscles in your back which play a big role in balancing your body. The great thing about this, as any boxer will tell you, is that your core is where a great proportion of your strength comes from and I was really impressed that such a level of though had been incorporated into the game's design.

The Yoga exercises are an excellent support to this fact and really help you improve your balance. The Wii Fit board is the perfect gauge for this and is a great aid to ensuring that you can see yourself improving. The board also ensures that you are doing the exercises properly and goes to great lengths to make sure that you are getting the greatest benefits from the exercises and not simply cutting corners.

Some of the balance games are really great fun as well, and an excellent aid to exercising your abdominal and oblique muscles in a way that most people wouldn't imagine.

Whilst I have become greatly impressed by this game, I have to say that the Aerobic Exercises are disappointing and are really quite low impact. However, given that Nintendo developed this game knowing that it would be played in the living room, you can't really hold this against them. Conducting any form of aerobic exercise in your living room is unrealistic at best and Nintendo have done a great job in coming up with some practical exercises.

All in all, this is a great tool and provides a brilliant incentive to people who are trying to lose weight - the daily weigh in and BMI measure will really help keep you on track. Well done Nintendo.

Summary: A great game for people of all ages and a really useful tool.