See, I told you I’d give you a Wii Fit Plus review before seven days were out. Don’t say David never did nothing for his readers. Then again, I’m 97% certain my readership has actually dropped below zero. But no matter! On with the review!
Last year, Nintendo released Wii Fit and proceeded to burn 870 calories per hour swimming in money. It was a great product in that it was fun, accessible, and probably the first truly legitimate exercise video game (I tried to love you, Eye Toy Kinetic, I really did). Unfortunately, the fairly cumbersome process of moving between exercises led many, including myself, to give it up. Enter Wii Fit Plus, the stand-alone expansion to the original which addresses this core issue, but really misses some potential.
The big new feature is routines. Everyone’s favorite anthropomorphic abomination, the Wii Balance Board, has put together 36 short routines which string together three Wii Fit activities without pause. You can combine these to create longer routines, or, if you’re so inclined, you can create your own from scratch. You can NOT, however, add balance games or training plus (more on them later) activities to your custom routines. The prepackaged routines contain them, but when building your own you’re limited to strength training and yoga for no perceptible reason. It also pleased the inscrutable will of Nintendo to not let you save more than one routine. Want to alternate between upper body and lower body routines? Sorry, Charlie, you’ll have to rebuild each of them every time. While on the whole, the routines are a fantastic addition, Nintendo seems to have made conscious decisions to limit it.
Why these limitations? I can only assume it’s part of Nintendo’s continued efforts to annoy people. Friend codes, taking forever and a day to fix the fridge, making us listen to Cammie Dunaway… it’s all part of their plot.
Beyond the routines, there are three new strength and yoga activities each and fifteen new “training plus” activities (I told you there’d be more on them!). The training plus games are actually a lot of fun and a great addition to the Wii Fit lineup – even if three of them are essentially old activities with “plus” added to the title. Also, you can keep track of your dog’s weight. Nintendo couldn’t have let us track friends’ workouts online or save multiple routines, but shout it from the rooftops WE CAN FINALLY WEIGH OUR PETS! Nintendo knows what the people want, eh?
But for all my snarky comments and conspiracy theories, overall Wii Fit Plus gets my recommendation. While flawed, the routine system is nevertheless a wonderful addition. The training plus games are truly fun, and there are little tweaks here and there – a quicker body test option and approximations of calories burned displayed after each exercise, for example – that brighten the experience. For twenty bucks, make the upgrade. And pray Nintendo does better next time.
When the Balance Board talks, kitties have nightmares.
