Wii Fit – Whether Fitness Tool or Game, Mediocre at Both

The Wii took the world by storm with it’s revolutionary motion controls and amazing technology. The Wii, whether you are a fan of it or not, has greatly impacted gaming forever. Some may say that the Wii has created a huge burst of “casuals”, who have not only tarnished the reputation of “hardcore gamers” but ruined the Zelda, Mario, and other Nintendo games previously made for “hardcore gamers”. Others may say that the Wii has made it so the wonders of gaming has been revealed to a much more open audience, and giving the well-deserved Nintendo the money they should’ve gotten back when the GameCube was released. Or some, may not even care about “casual gamers” or “hardcore gamers”. Either way, a lot of people on all sides were tipped over on the release of a game known as Wii Fit – a game most people think are directed to adults and not the “hardcore gamers”. So I tried it out – and though it’s fun to play around with, overall, in either view of a game or a fitness tool, I found them both to do nothing more than average and found it more of an impress showcase of technology yet to come.

Starting out, you pick a Mii and create a profile. You weigh yourself in on this nifty little peripheral known as the Balance Board, a decent sized board you step on, and measures weight, pressure, and all sorts of neat little gizmos. Once weighed in, you’re prompted to “find your center of balance”, and be able to do crazy exercises that require you to have near perfect balance on your heals and toes. Though it may sound pretty boring at first, it is very nifty technology. You can watch as your body shifts out of game, and then your in-game Mii practically synchronizing with you.

You are then given a “weight” estimate, that shows whether you are Overweight, Underweight, Obese, or at Risk of Obese. I’ve found these to be pretty inaccurate, and it tries to shove a label on you. The game doesn’t take into consideration about muscle, or size, and though it does ask you for your age and height, I still don’t find it accurate. Of course, considering all this information being caculated out of just a Balance Board, I didn’t expect spot on results. However I would’ve match rather that they would have made sure they could get it perfect before they put a weight label on you.

Then you get a horrific little number known as your “Wii Fit Age”. From experience, I’ve found it near impossible to get lower than your actual age. It caculates how old you supposedly are in terms of health from simply your normal age and the balance tests you took earlier. The supposedly “amazingly accurate” Wii Fit Age will reflect when you’re having a bad day and can’t perform well, and if you by stroke of luck do well.

And then we get into mini-games – probably the best part. These mini-games are meant for both the “hardcore” audience by including high-score tables and pretty high score capacities, and “casuals” by having a short learning curve and simple games. I have to admit, they did a pretty great job on keeping this balance. The games varie from intense snowboarding involving quick motion on the feet, or keeping your body completely still for an amount of time. There’s also Yoga and Strength exercises, though, some of these exercises can be abused beyond belief, and some of these dubbed poses and exercises, probably around a third of them, don’t do anything more than an animated demonstration.

Though I have been ranting on a lot, Wii Fit is actually not really a bad tool. There’s beautiful graphics, high-tech UI, catchy tunes, addicting mini-games, and though flawed in many places, a decent health-keeping system, the problem is the pretty hefty price tag. Though it depends where you get it – it can go up to $80 for the entire game and balance board, meaning it’s not a small price to pay. I could easily go jogging or do push-ups, per se, without the game – all the game does is motivate.

If you truly need the motivation, you have a good amount of money on you and need to burn it on a nice family game, or just have to have that Balance Board, I’d say go for the game, and hey, even though I might consider myself part of the “hardcore gaming” group, I still enjoyed it, but otherwise I’d stay away. The fitness tools are overall not entirely accurate, and a hefty price tag scares me away.