Review by: Kenzo287
Wii Fit is Nintendo's first game to use a brand new accessory, the Wii Balance Board. First things first though: Is the balance board worth the 90 dollar price tag? Like most Nintendo branded hardware it is well put together and very solid and very stable. It runs off of 4 AA batteries and is is easy to sync to a Wii as the Wiimote. Under the battery cover is a red sync button exactly the same as the one of the Wiimote, and after that you only need to tap the power button on the bottom side of the board. The trouble is that you can only sync one balance board to one Wii at a time. This means with titles such as We Ski can only let one person use the board at once. This further increases the ever growing need for proper online support in games such as We Ski.
But this isn't bundled with We Ski. This board comes with Wii Fit. As soon as you boot up Wii Fit you create your profile using your Mii that you create from the Mii Channel. You enter your height, and the year you were born and the game will measure your BMI (Body Mass Index) as well as measure your weight. But picky moms fear not, the game hides your weight unless you click the in game button to show it. After that you complete several balance games and are given your Wii Fit age. This is essentially how old your body is. The closer your Wii Fit age is to your actual age the better. After your body test you get into the bulk of the game: Training. Training is split up into four categories: Yoga, Strength, Aerobics, and Balance Games. Yoga is a series of stretches and poses designed to encourage proper breathing and sometimes increased metabolism. The strength exercises include push ups and squats and help your body gain extra strength and these are exercises that you can do anywhere and don't necessarily require the board. Aerobics are used to get that heart pumping and these exercises are exceptionally good for your body. You will break a sweat with these exercises. The balance games are fun mini games that are just basic tech demos for the balance board hardware. That's not to say you won't enjoy them because you will.
The graphics in the game are incredibly simplistic but fit in with other titles like Wii Play and Wii Sports and the Mii Channel. A wide variety of colors are used, the most prominent of which being green. There's not much else to say about the graphics. They're what you expect, but nothing mind blowing. The sound is pretty mediocre being a simple soundtrack. The male and female trainers who guide you through yoga and strength exercises are voiced well and easily guide you through all the steps of each exercise. There really isn't much else to say about it.
You will want to play this over and over again to maintain a steady workout. Though admittedly it's not enough to just play Wii Fit, you have to control your diet and all the other stuff so those expecting a miracle game will be disappointed, though it is a good start.
On the down side of Wii Fit there is some occasional trouble is picking up on your body when playing on carpet. But this is usually resolved by removing and extra rugs you have under the board and a basic layer of carpet won't affect the game too much.
I want to pay special attention to the Wii Fit Channel, an optional channel that requires 106 blocks for install. Using it you can preform the body test but when you choose the training option you will be asked to insert the Wii Fit disc. This is more than a simple way to do a quick check up on yourself, this is the ability to start a game up and then have the game load certain things as you already play. This could be used in future games to cut down on load times. Shortening load times by installing files onto a hard drive is something that Sony's PS3 has been doing but this actually starts up the game and boots up the rest while you play. A little more research into this and load times will forever be a thing of the past. Never thought a simple Wii Channel could be such a big deal did you?
All in all the balance board alone is worth the 90 bucks and provides a fun and refreshing experience and further shows that the Wii is capable of providing brand new experiences years after release. Although the balance board is much less revolutionary than the wiimote which is why you will not feel the same euphoria experienced when you played your first frame of bowling in Wii Sports but a little work on the software side and the Wii Balance Board will be the next standard controller for Wii and will prove much more successful that the short lived Wii Zapper.
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