Review: Wii Fit Plus

Another item I received for Christmas is the new Wii Fit Plus.  I had seen this played at a friend's house when we had a Wii party after they bought theirs.  The new features were enough to convince me that it would be a great improvement over the original.  I tried it out with my mom Christmas Day.  She was the reason I decided to purchase the original Wii Fit, as her and my dad already had it.  Even she enjoyed the game significantly, and was asking to play it several times during the weekend I was in town.  Read on for my full review.

Review

 

Upon starting up the game, the first thing I noticed was that all of my original data from Wii Fit had transfered over to the new game, so I started out with the guilt of the little balance board icon telling me he hadn't seen me in a while and even forgetting my name (and mistakenly calling me by my fiance's name).  The new games are fun and challenging, and the multiplay capabilities allows for motivation to work out more often.  Afterall, excercise is more fun when you have a partner.  It allows for players to switch back and forth with the click of a small icon in the game selection area.  No need to log out and log in as a new player.  The new ability to estimate calories burned is also a useful tool.  If I know I overindulged on food and have to excercise a little harder than usual, than I know exactly how hard I'll need to work out.  The assignment of METs to each game allows for me to use better judgement in choosing a routine I'd like to try based on how much of a workout I want.  They have also added the ability to create pets and babies so that you can track their weight.  There aren't any special fitness routines for them or anything, but it will chart their weight.  Plus, I think it's cute to have the little kitty Miis.  If I'm doing certain activities, sometimes I can see my cat following me around as I jog, for example.

The only feature I was slightly dissappointed in is the custom routines.  When I read on the box that in had routines based on what the user wanted to accomplish, I thought that meant it would recommend activites to me based on data I put in.  That is not the case.  It has several preset groupings of activities that you can use to accomplish certain tasks (ie: flatten tummy, maintain figure, warm up, relax).  While it is handy, I was hoping for a more custom workout.  It isn't that much of a disadvantage, though, as I am perfectly capable of choosing my own activities, and it allows you to combine more than one routine to create a semi-custom workout.

Overall, this game is a good investment.  As part of my 101 things, I plan on using the Wii Fit more often.  Wii Fit Plus provides just the right features to encourage me to increase the amount I work out.  I very much look forward to working out on it, and would gladly recommend this product to anybody.  5 out of 5 stars.