Despite being a hassle sometimes, Wii Fit is intuitive and a great new addition to the "Wii" franchise.
The Bad: It'll take a really long time to get "fit," let alone buff; almost no multi-player; a few mini-games are gimmicky; actually pulling out the Balance Board and unlocking things is a nuisance; the weight thing might hurt your feelings; the Balance Board talks to you, which is kind of... creepy.
Wii Sports, as we all know, was completely revolutionary. Not only did it come along with the Wii, so there weren't any extra expenses outside of getting the system, but it proved that video games could still appeal to the casual audience and hardcore gamers simultaneously, by being intuitive and avoiding utilizing too many buttons. Parents and friends who have never given games a shot before all willingly played Wii Sports, made their Mii (with humorous results along the way), and Nintendo, for that reason, has sold more Wiis than the PS3, 360, and PSP combined. They've done the same with DS due to games like Brain Age, Big Brain Academy, and Nintendogs, for that matter, not to mention the new Zelda that appeals to a broader audience than ever.
So everyone had the system. Wii Play came along and sold like hotcakes by coming along with a Wiimote, which were hard to find at the time. The game wasn't particularly great, but at least a fun diversion for a little while. However, the second game in the franchise was ultimately disappointing relative to its predecessor.
Wii Fit, on the other hand, makes up for it. It may take $90 to shell out for the game and Balance Board combined, but the U.S. is so eager to lose weight while avoiding dumping money to do so that just the idea itself became hugely appealing. Therefore, the game was highly anticipated before it came out, as a video game sequel generally is.
You'll be using your Mii again, like in every title of the "Wii" franchise, to represent you on screen. You'll be learning from a trainer, which is when you won't show up on screen, but in many of the mini-game diversions, you can see yourself portrayed skiing, snowboarding, running, tightrope walking, swinging your hips to keep a hula hoop up, hitting soccer balls with your head, or what have you.
First, however, you'll be talking to a Balance Board that seems to have hands and feet... Which is more than a little disturbing. But that's ok, since it's only used on a few menus. He'll have you select a Mii, then do some balance tests to determine how skilled you are right off the bat. You'll probably not do fantastically, but it doesn't change the game to suit your needs. It'll also tell you how to improve your center of balance to avoid slouching (which teens are prone to do), and show your center of balance on loading screens, a very smart idea from the big N.
You may be a tad better than average if you play a lot of sports or work out anyway, but it'll give you a "Fit Age" regardless to tell you if you're better or worse than you should be.
Here's where Wii Fit's first problem is naturally going to come into play: it tells you your BMI, your weight, and worst of all, whether you're underweight, normal, overweight, or obese. It should be taken with a grain of salt, of course, because it's a video game, but I personally found that it judged my weight pretty accurately, and the rest of my family and friends agreed.
But as you can imagine, complaints have already come in of children crying when it calls them overweight. It's a shame that people either won't admit they're overweight (or underweight, in some cases), or can't live with it. I can't say how I'd react, having been given a "normal" score, but that is kind of what Wii Fit is for, to help you out. No one's been called underweight on ours, so it probably tells you to eat normal amounts of food from the healthy food groups equally, etc. For overweight users, it suggests avoiding overworking yourself, because then you'll overeat. Instead, try working out just a bit, at least to break a sweat, and then eat normally and healthily. That's pretty good advice coming from a talking Balance Board. Again, though, take it with a grain of salt. Muscle weighs more than fat, so if you work out a ton and don't feel that you should be getting that score, there's a good chance that you don't have anything to worry about.
On the upside is the first part where the game shows an extremely amusing part with the Miis. You tell it your height, and your Mii grows or shrinks accordingly. That was in the Mii Creator, but it's somehow funnier here, being more accurate than a bar you move back and forth. And with weight, it shows you looking normal, insanely thin, chubby, or presumably, fat. Again, this could hurt your feelings, or you can just laugh about it, especially if the bit about being muscular making you overweight is the case. Again, it's there for laughs, not to judge you.
So, now that that's over with (easily the most controversial bit), it lets you set a goal- you can decide how much weight you want to lose or gain in a set amount of time. It'll later tell you if you succeeded, which I've done with the one goal I've now completed (I set it for a few months). Of course, your "Fit Age" will probably vary a bit, because some of the balance games will probably seem easier than others for you.
The game itself is where it's at though. It's kind of nice to see if you're changing at all (and it'll remind you that people tend to weigh more after eating), but it's now that you can change that- or you supposedly can.
The mini-games are split into four types: yoga, strength training, aerobics and balance games. You can probably already tell what you're going to be playing and enjoying the most.
Yoga is probably not the one, unless you're an adult female. Not to be discriminatory, but those are the statistics. Some of these actually do what yoga's supposed to do. You'll be stretching in a lot of ways, which can feel good and relaxing, and sometimes does that crazy yoga thing where you stretch something you didn't know you had. On the other hand, some of them feel completely useless. I kid you not, one of them just has you breathe. I can't honestly say why it's in there. The tree is the one you see in all the commercials though- where you stretch your arms above your head and put one foot against your other leg. This and a few of the others actually feel like they're improving your center of balance, or giving you a legit stretch, which is nice to see.
For every minute you do an excercise, you get points that go toward unlocking new mini-games. It's cool that it keeps track of how long you've played at every sitting (especially when your parents want you to only play an hour, and you never keep track of the time), but it's annoying that you can't do most of the activities at first. It's a good idea to unlock a greater difficulty for each mini-game if you do well on the first difficulty, but unlocking other mini-games is annoying.
Strength training is one that will probably appeal to the dad of the family, and is probably the one that'll actually get you to break a sweat. It does a very good job with push-ups, sit-ups, planks, and the numerous other excercises in there. The biggest annoyance here is that in certain positions, you can't look at the television, so you can't tell if your center of balance is right, which it's judging the whole time. On the plank, in particular, you can't see if you're leaning forward or backward enough.
Wii Fit generally does things right, but with little drawbacks like this. It'd be better if there was any reason for other people to be involved with your training, to tell you if you're doing it right, but there's no multiplayer to be had, except in one mini-game: running.
It's in the aerobics section, as you can imagine. You're not supposed to jump or run on the Balance Board, so instead, you run in place with the Wiimote in your pocket. You can also hold it in your hand, but we've already learned that it's not as effective that way. It gets you to go at a steady pace, instead of as fast as you can, a good idea on the part of the developers. But this is all the multiplayer there is, and when Nintendo's trying to appeal to everyone, multiplayer is the best way to go. Wii Play was plagued by this too, with only two player available in the mini-games.
Other aerobics games get you moving, and focus on your balance in a lot of places. The hula hoop game is here, where you are in fact swinging your hips (which looks stupid, but there's no way to avoid it), the Step, where you move off and on the Balance Board in different directions, in time with the beat (also kind of lame), but there's also the really, really fun skiing and snowboarding. These are a little different from the actual sports themselves, but they get you to lean forward and turn realistically, and you do increase your speed leaning forward. It takes getting used to, but it does make you feel that you're getting better. I snowboard, for example, but it's different on Wii Fit. It is similar though, so it's not about to ruin the experience for you. Aerobics are probably the games that will apeal to everyone the most, and fortunately, they're pretty fun.
Aerobics and balance games are the ones where your Mii is actually involved. It's a shame your Mii isn't in yoga and strength training though, since your cartoon entity livens up gameplay a lot. At least it's on the menus and half the mini-games.
Balance games are where it gets a little gimmicky. This is where younger audiences will probably go to the most. One of the cooler ones is shifting your weight to header soccer balls, while avoiding flying shoes and... panda bear heads... But there are some really lame ones. Moving your weight so different balls (not a word from you) move through holes in a board isn't particularly cool, but at least the heads of random Miis off your system (generally the ones of people who are in Wii Fit) is a nice touch. It's kind of up in the air whether the balance games are awesome or just sort of stupid. But they too count for Fit points, which go toward the next mini-game to be unlocked. That means playing balance games unlocks yoga poses sometimes, which is a bit of a mixed bag, but I prefer it that way.
The graphics, meanwhile, are generally passable, but nothing special. The trainer in yoga and strength training is bare bones, and pretty boring, so that would generally dock points a tad, since it seems that Nintendo didn't feel like putting a ton of effort in there. Of course, they knew they didn't have to for the game to sell, but that's not generally how Nintendo works. The Miis, on the other hand, look better in this game than on the menu or in Wii Sports and Play, for some reason. Maybe lighting effects is it, or just looking more 3-D, but they look better for it.
The music is reminiscent of Wii Sports and Play- not really groundbreaking, but at least it fits the tone of the area of the game. It's calming in yoga, kind of a steady beat in strength, and changes to fit whether you're doing well or poorly in the balance and aerobics games. That last is a nice touch, at least.
All in all, it's obvious that Wii Fit sells like crazy, especially in America, where we have a very overweight society, partially because we rely so much on cars to get around, as opposed to Japan and Europe, where bicycles, or at least trains, are more common (I say trains because at least it can give you a bit of a walk to your house). Plus, McDonald's has been proven to clog your arteries like none other, as does all fast food, leading to us being us. Nevertheless, we do have one of the most athletically extreme countries too, which you can see in the Olympics. That's not to say everyone else sucks, there just seems to be a larger focus here. There are extracurricular sports left and right for kids at least, and many for adults in the forms of a few sports, and at the gym.
Wii Fit does Americans the pleasure of being able to work out in the comfort of their own home, so you can have easier access to it. Plus, after you pay for the game, you won't have to keep paying, as is the case at the gym. For that matter, it's often more fun than the gym would be.
Of course, the biggest question is: does it actually make you fit? Yes and no. If you work your ass off, doing about a half hour a day (the game itself tells you to take a break at that point), and don't just do the balance games, so you work up a sweat, then you can probably do so. You'll get toned, at least, so "fit" is definitely a better word for it than "strong." The trick is, as with any other fitness training, to stay motivated. That's a little easier here, but not a ton.
That's a bit up in the air. As for whether it makes you strong- alas, probably not. I suppose if you do the strength training for a long time you may see some improvements, especially if you do the upper difficulties, but the weight room is where you're going to get benefits in that area.
Should you buy it? As of this writing, it's unfortunate that there aren't many games that actually utilize the Balance Board. It's intuitive and detects your motions pretty well, but again, there's only one major game to use it for. Still, I'd suggest it. It may cost $90, but again, everyone can get into it. Well, your immediate family can; friends not so much, since again, it's single player focused.
And as a bonus, Nintendo assures us that the Board will be utilized more in future. When you don't have to start dragging it out just for this one game is when you'll probably have a lot more fun with Wii Fit. There's a Wii Fit channel, even when the game's not in, but having the Board in the middle of the living room probably isn't going to go down well with the parents, regardless of how much they play it.
We Ski is the first third party title to actually use it, so that's kind of cool. Ubisoft finally seems to be realizing that they can't just make half-ass games on Wii and expect them to sell, so they appear to be upping their game. Maybe, just maybe, they'll quit with the shovelware, the exceptions being Rayman Raving Rabbids and Prince of Persia: Rival Swords (although that was too expensive for a port). The next Rayman will utilize it, and Shaun White Snowboarding looks pretty freaking cool. And apparently skateboarding games are going to start using it, which will be very cool to see. Nintendo, meanwhile, is probably looking toward a certain giant franchises of theirs to put it to good use...
Wii Fit is a much better addition to the "Wii" franchise than Play, and is more or less on par with Sports. Therefore, especially if you have parents or a large family, I'd recommend it, partly because it's fun, and partly because it'll be involved in things to come on Wii.