My Fitness Coach: Cardio Workout (2009) Online

This did not make a positive first impression on me. It was really about something simple and almost silly. You see, when this asked me for height(and weight; why not merely use the Balance Board for that? I can get behind not wanting to limit this product to those who own one, but it could at least have been an option, and along with how little it is utilized in this, it really leads to the inevitable conclusion that including the BB was an afterthought), it stuck to pounds and feet, not allowing me to give the measurements in kilos and CM. I know; it should not bother me. A quick trip to Google granted me the conversion. However, there is no reason, other than pure laziness, why this could not make the calculations. Did I miss something? Doesn't most of the world use the metric system anyway? It makes this feel like a half-hearted piece of work, and sadly, that's probably true. With that said, and here comes the point I've been building up to... once you get past that, this actually is not half bad. All it really promises is to teach you how to box, and that is what it delivers. And with my expertise on the subject, which amounts to not having seen(much less participated in) a single match or tried it outside of playing this, I think they did pretty good schooling us on it. You use either the Nunchuk or, far superior(and the suggested one, if you have two) dual Wii-Motes, and choose(though it will have you using both, anyway) either South Paw or Orthodox(no, you don't have to wear one of this goofy hats). Also, you pick a trainer, albeit they are all apparently shy, communicating entirely in dialog boxes, except for when barking directions at you. They sound and look fairly alike. All the women have hands proportionally the size of the Right Hand of Doom, presumably to make it easier to tell exactly what they're doing with them, since they usually stand in front of you and do everything you're asked to do, like some bizarre sort-of reflection. A couple of them have British accents. Among them, there's Brenda, the Siskel & Ebert fan(well, how else do you explain that ludicrous pose?), and Bob the (Body)Builder... no, I *wish* I was making this up. Voice acting is fine enough; the clips are of reasonable quality, the thing is, you can tell exactly where they begin and end, and clearly, everything was recorded once, in one version, and they don't always mesh well(it doesn't help that they manage to sometimes list what you're supposed to do extra, and *then* say "add", as if they forgot to say that first). They don't comment on how well you do, so it doesn't feel as dynamic or authentic as it could. Once you've done the Basic ones, there are five tiers of six lessons each, so thirty total. It's odd that they do not have a top ten or something, because I think you're meant to do each more than once, unless you immediately master it. While the longest are around twice that, you are never asked to work out for more than ten minutes without a break. Comparisons to Wii Fit and the Plus release are inevitable; this has considerably fewer types of activities(and only one level of difficulty for each) and features(with that said, I'm not sure this really attempts to beat Nintendo's game). A thing or two are essentially the same; in spite of the attractive intro to all three possible arenas, each turns out to be a static and relatively minimalistic background when you're playing in it, to avoid distracting you. Also, the graphics look realistic, if very bright and positive. Where this is the better VG is that you can see Rankings without just having played... it even logs every day, so that you can view any of them that you wish to. And then there's the customization and the unlockables. You earn gold that you can buy new outfits and gloves with, and the self-explanatory Punch Count gradually gives you new stuff, at every 500 or 1000 hits. The exercises are Road Work(where you jog and every so often stop to... I kid you not... smack the bear that jumps out from the tiny patch of grass in front of you, and not accidentally jab the suit who stands up next to it... and no, no one wants to know what kind of weird, end-of-The-Shining thing they were doing down there. The issue is, what if you prefer the grizzly? There are those who would find the dude's tux to be tacky), Jump Rope(quite good), Sandbag(where you knock 10 down in 180 seconds... if you can't do that in a third of that time, you might be in terrible shape), Mitt Work, Punch Dodge, Log Chopping, Push Ups, Abominable...sorry, Abdominal and Back Training and Squats. After the PC reaches 9000, you'll get to "train" in them(as opposed to only the Challenge), anywhere between 1 minute and 99(I hope no one actually tries for that, it can't be healthy), and I'm not certain it saves how well you did. This has no multi-player, and if ever a fitness game was perfect for it, it would be this. You can not "let go" and do whatever you want, not really, at any point in this. There are numerous different pieces of music(thirty total, it seems) in this, if they are similar to one another, all techno with a beat, since you have to follow the rhythm. Prepared Workout gives you a set of activities to do, and you can then, to some extent, do them at your own pace. Ubisoft lets us get in the ring without the risk of losing brain-cells... what next? Wii Drink Beer? Wii Watch C-Span? Wii Fall in Love? Great fun, with relatively few bugs. I recommend this to anyone interested in this kind of title. 7/10