Hey! This Isn't Dodgeball!

Wii Fit is the most fun I have had with a crazy game peripheral since DDR.

The novelty and quality of the balance board makes Wii Fit a title I think anyone can enjoy.

I bought mine for approximately 8800 yen, more or less $80. And even if I considered the cost of the game to be barely $10, the balance board feels so sturdy and well-made that I easily feel like it's worth $50. This thing is hefty, weighty, and very sturdy. It sits on a nice wooden floor in our apartment, but I think it would be just as comfortable on carpet. The surface of the board seems to be divided into four quadrants (this is only a theory on how the board works), and is able to detect a persons center of balance with impressive accuracy. It seems to be able to detect a body leaning in pretty much any direction and the weight/force of the exertion.

So far the game works like thus; you register your name, height, and weight, you get a BMI rating which you can use as a guideline to either gain or lose weight, and then you can jump into any of activities in the following four categories, yoga, muscle training, cardio, and balance games. Like the rest of Nintendo's various “training games,” Wii Fit also keeps a tight record off all your activities and scores and such.

As you play games and train in activities, you accumulate minutes in a timer of sorts, this seems to regulate when new activities get unlocked. It reminds me of the way Brain Age works, as you spend more time with Wii Fit, more options become open to you.

Although there are four categories of activities in Wii Fit, I generally think of only two. The ones that are designed for exercise, and the kind that are designed for fun. All the yoga positions and muscle training exercises belong to the former. They are for people who really want to test their body, do the activity and try to improve their balance or their strength. In this regard, I think Wii Fit really works. It's a very hi-tech-feeling piece of equipment coupled with software that records and monitors your progress. It makes me feel like I have a gym membership without having to pay $100 a month. The cardio exercises are somewhat a mixed bag. The step exercises consist of the game playing a little tune and having you follow steps shown on the screen. Since you get graded on your performance, it's essentially a step-aerobics “game.” The jogging is different because it doesn't use the board, but instead just the wiimote. You tuck the wiimote into one of your pockets and start jogging in place. The game then translates the motion of the wiimote as your mii running inside the game. Your mii gets a “trainer” on-screen that is basically a guideline for how fast and hard you should be running, and you also get a backdrop where you can see other miis jogging, various scenery, and things like people walking their dogs. It's cheesy, but you can't say the game isn't funny. I found the approximation of your jogging through the motion of the wiimote to be surprisingly accurate. When I was taking it easy, I tended to lose sight of my trainer mii, and when I really moved my legs, I would speed up accordingly. And yes, if you just take the wiimote out of your pocket and shake it up and down, it makes your mii sprint on-screen like a madman, but that is not important because there is no scoring for jogging, you either do it because you want the exercise, or you don't. Does jogging with Wii Fit make it fun? I think some people will say yes, but just as many will say no. However, I think most people will agree that it is hilarious to watch.

This leaves the activities that are more “game” than exercise. Ski jump, skiing, soccer ball heading, tightrope walking, and the one where you have to tilt a board to get balls into holes. These games are all REALLY SIMPLE, but very replayable for one very important reason, this balance board REALLY WORKS. When I play the balance games on the board, I feel like I am in total control, I feel like the board really responds to my body, in very minute ways, and this makes simple games infinitely challenging and engaging. I am especially impressed with the slalom skiing game, they could easily make a game for the board just about skiing.

I want to wrap this up by saying that Wii Fit is not really a game, though it has games in it. Many game players nowadays think of games as the form that they have currently evolved into, a type of media like a book or movie. Thus, just as a director crafts a movie for the viewers to experience, a game maker can also “craft” an experience for the player. Wii Fit is not really this type of title. It really goes back to the roots of gaming, the basics of fun, Wii Fit is more a toy than a game, but that doesn't make it any less interesting or fun than any of the games I have played. At times I feel like certain exercises are too simplistic, but there shouldn't be any doubt that Wii Fit is meant to be an entry into the world of the Wii balance board and a really good one at that.