There are four categories of mini-games: strength, yoga, aerobics, and balance, and the first two are clearly geared towards those interested in fitness. The strength and yoga exercises are more about increasing your fitness, rather than having fun, so I will discuss those in detail later when I evaluate Wii Fit’s performance as a fitness tool. Doing push-ups and performing stretches on one leg isn’t what most people consider fun (unless you are sadistic), so I’ll leave that part out of the gameplay evaluation.
The balance and aerobics games are the meat and potatoes of the Wii Fit gaming experience. I had the most fun with the balancing games. One of them, which I played over and over until I got it right, had me rolling a ball (or multiple balls), into a hole by shifting my body weight in different directions. The game played like a new-age version of Marble Madness, and was highly entertaining. Once you complete eight stages of this challenging game, an advanced mode opens up that makes the beginner mode look easy. It is highly addictive, and it actually makes you feel like you’re improving your balance and control of your body. Other modes I’d like to highlight are snowboarding, skiing, guiding a bubble through a river, and grabbing fish on a tilting iceberg with a penguin. The snowboarding game feels like actual snowboarding without the risk of breaking bones and dealing with ski-lifts. You swerve in an out of posts by leaning back-and-forth, much like you would on a real snowboard. The skiing mini-games are similar, but I felt that the snowboarding was a more authentic experience. Guiding a bubble through a river is pure fantasy, but it makes great use of the Wii Balance Board. You have to shift your weight carefully to avoid running into walls and bees which bring about instant death. Besides avoiding obstacles, you have to deal with various currents, so you have to be extremely careful with your movements. At times, it was frustrating when I couldn’t pass a certain point, but I kept on playing, which reveals the addictive nature of the game. Moving side-to-side with a penguin on an iceberg to grab fish was also a short, but fun experience. For these balance games, I suggest bringing a friend or two over to your place to see who can get the highest score, or who can get the farthest on those free pc games download mini-games that are online.
I covered the balance games in detail, but how do the aerobics games measure up? Some of them are fun, like the infamous hula-hoop experience that was made famous via a youtube video. Others are a good workout, but are disappointing from a gamers perspective. The stepping mini-game is somewhat like DDR, but it is actually closer to a simple aerobics tape infomercial you’d see on TV. Likewise, the running mini-games are good for your health, but don’t translate into a creative game experience. You basically jog in place and watch your on-screen avatar move, which you could just as easily do without the balance board. Still, since this is a game where you can see how you perform, people might be more motivated to partake in these cardiovascular activities.
So now that you’ve heard about the Wii Fit game experience, you’re probably wondering how it stacks up as a fitness tool. Well, it delivers to some extent, but you could probably get better results by lifting weights, doing simple exercises such as push-ups and crunches on your own, or by running. I work out a few times a week, and I found the strength exercises to be easy for the most part. If you do them enough, you can unlock modes that allow you to do higher repetitions, which feels closer to a real workout. Still, some of the strength exercises were new to me, so it was useful as a learning tool.
The yoga poses were all new to me, so I felt that the Wii Fit system did a decent job of explaining how to do them. For those who practice yoga regularly however, this system probably isn’t that useful. You could just as easily do these exercises without a Wii Balance Board. For those of us who don’t stretch enough however, this game just may be the motivation we need; just don’t expect a great gaming experience.