Will the Wii Fit replace a "real" exercise program? Of course not. Will it get you off of the couch more often? Definately, and your muscles will feel that you are doing something!

I was a little scared of this when we got it, thinking "I don't want to jog on television!" But after watching my kids and seeing what is all included with the game, I was very anxious to play. After a simple set up of the platform, you are ready to go. It came with 4 AA batteries and included 4 little risers for thicker carpets. I haven't tried these as mine is a berber carpet and works fine, I didn't need a pad or anything.

You have to personalize your Mii with your age, height, weight (yes, it is a scale, too.) From the data, your BMI is calculated and you are noted as underweight, ideal, overweight, or obese. You then take a little balance test (where you shift your weight to certain areas within a time limit.) Your Wii Fit Age is then displayed in large numbers on the screen. Well, of course this could be incorrect (especially if you are heavy due to muscles or something!) but it is an okay feature as long as you don't get bent out of shape about what it says. It isn't a doctor, it is only a game, afterall! As you get better, your Wii Fit age decreases. NOTE: You can even play as someone else's Mii if you don't have time to set one up for yourself (or don't want to.) You'll get a little voice when you step on saying something like "you weigh a little different than before, do you want to continue?" Just click "continue." I didn't want to set one up at first, so I just played as my husband's Mii. Then I just set one up...geez, it wasn't so bad!

Game play: If you have played Big Brain Academy, this game reminds you of that, but you use your body, not just your brain (but maybe this should be called Big Butt Academy for me!! ha ha) The exercises are divided into four different categories designed to help improve your health (and to have fun!) They are yoga, muscles, aerobic, and balance. The yoga and muscle categories feel the most like "real" exercises. You start with a few unlocked categories, and earn new ones. You dont' have to master everything to get the new stuff as things unlock as you bank "time spent" minutes. You can choose a woman or man virtual "trainer" to help guide you in your form (they will also give you feedback on how you are doing.)

My family's favorite parts are the aerobic and balance activities. The games include things like hula hoops (super funny to be a spectator!), jogging, boxing, or step dancing. The balance activities are the ones where everyone wants a turn (even grandma wanted to do these!) These include a marble game (where you balance and lean to get a marble through a hole), ski jump, slalom skiing, snowboarding (you get to turn the balance board sideways to simulate riding on a snowboard), riding in a river inside a bubble (you lean forward and sideways to get your bubble to move and avoid the walls), and even tightrope walking.

Many of the games show a little icon of the balance board and a dot. There is a red dot that shows you where your center of balance is. It is like a target where and you try to get the dots to overlap by shifting your weight. It is really an amazing little board! Even pushing down with only your toes effects the on-screen outcome. We play the balance games the most and all try to get the top score (it shows the top 10 leaders.)

Do we cheat? Well, no..but it is possible, especially with running. You don't use the board with this game, but your arm movement while holding the Wii remote register as running. You could certainly just wave it around, but that sort of defeats the fun!

It seems that there will be many more games coming to work with the balance board. I hope so, because it is a fun gadget. Would I change anything? Maybe. You can't really compete with each other on too many games (you can jog two-player.) You are mostly playing one at a time then comparing scores. It would be fun (but more expensive) to have a split screen, two balance boards, and snowboard against each other! Also, I would like it if you could set up your own little workout routine (like link together 7 or 8 activities that you like the most to run consecutively) but you cannot do this. It isn't that hard to select each one with the remote, but it seems like it would have been a good addition. I actually thought this would be an option before I bought it.

Will the Wii Fit replace a "real" exercise program? Of course not. Will it get you off of the couch more often? Definately, and your muscles will feel that you are doing something! Plus you can see some progress with weight, Wii Fit age, and improved scores. Overall, we really like it and we have logged many hours on it in the first few weeks (which I can't say for all the Wii games we have!) For the price and amount of fun, it is definately worth it!


Source / Author / Credit: Anonymous