The Wii Balance Board–similar to the Wii itself–was set to change the way people interacted with their video games. A new peripheral to change the perspective of the Wii, more specifically to help people get in shape and to have fun while they do it. What better way to help people get fit than to add the drive of getting the high score or winning? These are all great ideas, but like many first generations, it failed to impress and was met with mediocre reviews. Nintendo opted to give it another go taking the most common criticisms of the first Wii Fit game and improving upon the formula. Lucky for us, we had the chance to try out this new iteration, and so far, we have nothing but good things to say.
To spread the word of the new and improved Wii Fit Plus, the Wii Fit Plus Team is traveling the US to show people just how much Plus comes with your purchase of Wii Fit Plus. The event that we attended was super swank, with 10 Wii’s lining the walls, complete with balance boards and yoga mats, ready to be put to the test. Before we dove in, the very nice Nintendo rep walked us through the newest features to be found in Plus. While doing so, she iterated over and over that Nintendo listened to the problems users had with the first version. Soon after, we got to see if she was telling the truth.
First we got a run through of what you get when you start up Wii Fit Plus for the first time. An oddly animated Balance Board is your host and greets you with a warm hello. He (she? it?) then gives you a few facts about fitness and asks you to step on the board. After entering your height and birthday, the game weighs you, giving you a roundabout estimate of your Body Mass Index (BMI). One of the biggest complaints lies in that the game can’t differentiate between an overweight person and a really muscular person. If you weigh more than a math equation estimates you should weigh, the game calls you overweight. The assumption here is that people that are actually fit or muscular aren’t using the Wii Fit to lose or maintain weight. This is fair, I just feel that they should make it more clear that the number they give you is an estimate as opposed to a concrete number.
After progressing to the next screen and being fed a few fitness tips, you get to take your body test. The body test is made up of a few simple balance and weight shifting tests to measure your “Fit Age”. Your “Fit Age” is how old (or young) your body is judged by how well you did on the tests. Again, it’s important to remember that this number is an estimation and will likely be rounded up as opposed to down.
After the demonstration, we paired up to try out a few beginner yoga poses on the balance board. The big deal here is that the Wii Fit Plus allows you to set up and save exercise routines. You can create multiple presets as well, allowing you to save workouts for completion on different days of the week or different times of the day. The poses rank from super easy (a simple deep-breathing exercise) to a little more difficult (a “Grounded V”, whatever that is) but with the trainer talking you through it on-screen, they’re all possible to attempt without hurting yourself.
After our yoga routine we took a break, sat down and were briefed on the Aerobics (read:games) portion of what the Wii Fit Plus had to offer. As well as adding twice as many games as Wii Fit Regular, the Wii Fit Plus allows for true multiplayer (for 9 of the games), without navigating through a slew of menus between each player’s turn. (It also allows you to seamlessly switch Miis to trade-off during the non-multiplayer games). After the Wii Fit Plus Team demonstration of the ski jump we had a chance to mingle and chat with others while trying out a few of the games for ourselves. My favorite was the Snowball fight, the Time Crisis of the Wii Fit Plus. You stand behind a barrier, armed with unlimited snowballs, and by leaning right or left you peek around the obstruction in front of you and proceed to pelt your friends (the game uses other Miis on your Wii as your opponents) with snowballs as time wears down. All of the games aren’t as responsive as say, actually taking part in physical activities but none of the games are unplayable.
Overall, Wii Fit Plus is a valuable tool to aid you on your way to getting healthy. While using Wii Fit Plus alone will yield few, if any, weight loss results, using it daily will prove helpful. Not only can it track your weight and relative BMI but you can input other measurements such as waist size and amount of steps taken (if you own a pedometer) and the Wii keeps track. Even if you never use the Wii Fit Plus to exercise, and only perform the body test every day, it will track your weight loss progress giving you that extra motivation to work out a little harder or maybe not eat that entire, meat-lovers pizza.
Stay tuned for the Atomik 30 Days of Wii Fit Plus Challenge when we see how the Wii Fit affects us over the course of 30 days of continuous use!
