Exercises

In almost every activity, a diagram is placed somewhere on the screen. This diagram will indicate your center of balance. In Yoga and strength training games, your center of balance will determine your final score and how many 'stars' you will receive. In balance games your center of balance will help determine if your weight is equally aligned or not.

The strength training exercises are pretty decent. In total, there are 15 different exercises and each one of them puts different parts of your body to the test. After completing these exercises, I usually found myself sweating and exhausted, especially after doing jackknives. These exercises really push you to your limits and demand you give everything you've got in order to succeed.

Yoga is probably the most difficult group of activities to master, especially if you are not very flexible. If you are looking to burn some calories, Aerobics are the activities you should spend most of your time doing. Aerobics are a very demanding group of activities that will keep you moving all the time. One Aerobic activity requires you to go for a jog on Wii Fit Island; it's one of the few activities that doesn't use the Wii Balance Board. In this activity you will be asked to put the Wii-mote in your hand or your pocket and jog in place. It may sound easy, but there is a catch: if you go too fast you will fail the training. In order to burn your calories, you will need to maintain a steady pace.

I found the Balance games the most enjoyable because they truly give you the feeling that you are playing a video game instead of working out. They are difficult to master though.

Deeper into the game

Each activity has different difficulty levels and each time you complete an exercise, it is likely for a new difficulty level to be unlocked. I found this to be really great idea as it makes you feel as though you have mastered the current level. And it gives you a new challenge as well. During your second training session, the talking Wii Balance Board will ask you if you'd like to install the Wii Fit Channel. This channel is practically useless and only worthwhile when you want to do your daily body test without having to insert Wii Fit into your console.

Graphically, Wii Fit is mixed bag. The Aerobics and Yoga exercises have hardly any textures at all, causing them to look very simplistic. Most of the other exercises look decent but won't blow you away. Perhaps due to the stark contrast, I was baffled when I first entered Wii Fit Island. The graphics look great and surpassed my expectations for any game in the Wii series.

Some of the activities in Wii Fit involve rhythm and one would assume that the game would have some ear pleasing sounds to accommodate this. The audio portion of the game is nothing out of the ordinary but the rhythm element in each activity is astonishingly catchy. It will stick in your head long after you have finished exercising, adding positively to the game's overall score in this area.

A steal

Wii Fit may not really help you lose weight unless you are willing to spend hours upon hours on the Balance Board. It does assist you in exercising, but perhaps it is better to see it as a journey to become healthy and active. With a MSRP of $89.99 for the game and the Wii Balance Board included, Wii Fit is a steal!