Tancap Blog

Can the successor to the game that defined the exercise genre on the Wii set the standard again?

Wii Fit returns with the addition new exercises and activities, new routine modes, and a couple of ways to track calories burnt.  For the most part, the core of the game is the same.  All of the activities present in Wii Fit are present in Wii Fit Plus.  The new activities are for the most part welcome additions, but overall the exercises in Wii Fit Plus don’t compare in intensity to those found in EA Sports Active More Workouts.  The other main problem resides in the implementation of the routine system.  Both the built-in routines and customizable (“My”) routines do a good job of allowing the user to flow between a series of exercises.  Unfortunately, the Wii Fit Plus routines only guide the player through a small portion of the available exercises and routines, and repetition levels aren’t customizable.  The “My Routine” feature is similarly incomplete as it only includes yoga and strength training exercises and doesn’t allow inclusion of aerobic or balance games.  Even the calorie counting seems incomplete.  One of the features of calorie counting is representing the calories burnt as portions of food.  While the game includes a chart showing calories burned compared to many foods, only a small subset can be chosen as the food goal for an exercise session.  Despite these faults, Wii Fit Plus has enough activities to make it a worthy upgrade to Wii Fit.  However, it is unfortunate that Nintendo has made an apparent half-hearted attempt to fix Wii Fit’s deficiencies.

Scores:

Graphics

Generic and simple, but effective in showing the user how to do exercises.

Sound

Standard Nintendo style music.  Voice instruction is easy to understand.

Gameplay

Wii Fit Plus tries to address some of Wii Fit’s issues with new routine modes, but for the most part these modes are flushed out enough to truly fix the problems.

Controls

Wii Fit Plus doesn’t change the formula at all here, but that’s fine since Wii Fit’s controls are its greatest strength.

Originality

While an attempt has been made to improve the original, it for the most part fails.

Overall Single Player

Wii Fit was a solid single player experience and with its core gameplay unchanged so is Wii Fit Plus.  While Nintendo had the right idea with the new routine modes, the implementation of them leaves much to be desired.

Overall Multiplayer

There is a multiplayer component, but its mostly just multiple players taking turns and competing for the highest scores. (unrated)

Reviewer’s Opinion

While Wii Fit Plus is a worthy upgrade to Wii Fit, it isn’t enough to keep up with its competition (EA Sports Active More Workouts).  However if you are looking for a slightly less intense exercise program that still offers a very high quality experience, Wii Fit Plus is definitely worthy of consideration.

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