Fit to Be Tried

I casually mentioned in my recent review of Mario Kart Wii that two other Wii games were taking up more of my attention these days. One of them is Wii Fit. I wasn't there on day one to buy mine, but a friend of mine came through and found one for me, sparing me the need to: a) wait months; b) waste any luck I would end up using later at the craps table; or c) pay double for it on e-Bay or something.

I'm glad I didn't post a review of it here right away, because my very initial response on it was, "yeah, it's fun, but a workout routine? Come on."

Let me be clear. Nobody is going to lose 60 pounds doing nothing but Wii Fit. Nor is anyone somehow going to pack on 30 pounds of muscle doing Wii Fit either. (Cue Subway Jared-like internet celebrities who manage(d) to do just that.) But neither is it a trivial effort. Like the Dance Dance Revolution, you have to get up and move, and it is exercise.

Or put another way -- I consider myself to be neither particularly "in" nor "out" of shape, but if I spend 15-30 minutes doing some of the activites the game dubs as "aerobic" or "strength training," I do feel it. If I spend 10 or more minutes doing some of the "yoga" activities, I do feel more relaxed and full of energy. And me not being particularly flexible, a few of those yoga exercises actually hurt a bit, dammit. (Has the first Wii Fit-related lawsuit been filed yet?)

Above all, it's actually pretty fun, especially if you play some of the "balance games" that round out the disc. "Table Tilt" is a fun little game where you're trying to tip a surface back and forth to get marbles to fall down holes, but your body movements control the tipping of the surface. Ski jumping and slaloms are two more fun things to do (though I totally suck at the latter).

And it's that kind of nice, easy fun in very "bite sized increments," if you will, that would keep someone coming back to play every day -- which is I suppose exactly what you'd be looking for if you were looking to use it as a low-intensity "workout" routine. (Or probably better still, a fun little "reward" supplementing a more... call it "legitimate" workout plan.)

Really though, whether you're actually trying to exercise with it or just fooling around, it's a fun little time burner, like Wii Sports, or Brain Age, or other similar games. I'd rate it at probably a B.

That said, I'm not entirely sure it's worth the $90 price tag. (Assuming you can even find one at that price.) Sure, they can totally get away with charging that in an age where people spend $170 for fake guitars and drum sets, or $100-$300 on quality DDR mats. But I'm hoping for more games to come out that make good use of the Balance Board to further justify the purchase. (Yes, I'm aware of We Ski. More than that.)