I'll be honest: at first, I was thinking on naming this blog entry "wii fit u sucks!". But I don't want to sound more negative than it deserves. Or having to defend myself while playing a game that "sucks".
As we all know, wii fit was released in 2008 for the wii. That's five years ago (wii fit u was released at the end of 2013). Or four years, seeing how wii fit plus was released in 2009.
Lemme tell you: Wii fit was fucking awesome. The idea of the balance board was IMO much better than the wiimote gesturing thing, and wii fit made use of that in a whole variety of fun and original games. And that's not taking the yoga or muscle training into account.
Of course the video games market is a totally different market than virtual fitness. But if you do the math, it's really not that bad. A decent home trainer costs pretty much as much as a wii and balance board combined and has far less variety or motivation to use it.
I haven't played many other fitness games or routines, but wii fit really does a good job of motivating you. And honestly: it's not as if video games don't teach you anything, but it's nothing compared to what you get with wii fit.
Of course it had its flaws. Ironically, most of those weren't about the games themselves but on the interface and the meta-concept. I'd think that if you play with a single avatar, the game should understand that you are still you. And while you certainly burn some fat while exersizing, it's not enough to be noticeable.
SO WHY THE FUCK DOES THE DAMN THING INSIST ON WEIGHING YOU AT THE START OF EACH NEW GAME???
This is especially annoying when you're not standing on the balance board to begin with (about half the games don't use it in a direct 'stand on me' approach). To make matters worse, it continues to think I'm a retard. "Please wear the wrist strap". "Do not jump on the balance board". "hold on to object if you feel unsteady".
I know they're kind of important, but c'mon...each and every time you play the exercise? On more than one occasion, I just replayed the same because it would save at least some repetitive clicking the 'A'-button.
Wii fit plus, released a year later, was a step in the right direction. It still had way too much button clicking (fuck...they even added a calorie burner, so you had to watch more animations after each exercise), but at least they gave you shortcuts to go from one game to another. And they weren't locked from the start (seriously? who thought THAT was a good idea?). Still...why the scoreboard had to show up all the way from the bottom to the top every freaking time is beyond me. With so many different games and different scoreboards for each setting, I doubt anyone ever filled each and every one of them. A list of five would have been sufficient.
Now it's been four years since wii fit plus. Surely someone must have mentioned to nintendo that participants are spending more time working through the unskippable text monologues than the actual games?
Unfortunately...that department isn't changed. In fact, it seems even worse. I'll get to the fit meter later, but for now, you can remember that extra mentions are added that you should only know the first couple of times you're playing the game: that the thing isn't needed in the game itself.
In fact...starting out with a yoga practice is getting retarded, as the trainer rambles off all the precautions one by one BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START THE EXERCISE!
I won't say that it's a copy-paste job because it isn't: pretty much all the graphics are reworked and in HD. But the problem of a convoluted interface is still there. The menu where you select an exercise is kind of okay, but it's pretty obvious that all the other new things were slapped on on top of that.
And it may be nitpicking, but...when the game asks you how heavy your clothes are, why do you have to press 'A' before being able to select the answer from the touchpad? It's not needed at all, as you could instead be pointing to 'less than 2 kg' (I don't know about you, but when I'm about to exercise, I tend to make sure I'm not wearing much more than underwear).
Next point: camera usage. I've got to say: it's nice to have mirror mode. I'm sure many people (especially gamers) won't like it, as it kind of shows you in potentially embarrassing poses, ESPECIALLY directly next to a perfect model (palm tree position, anyone?
). But I do like it: it gives far better feedback than that red dot in that yellow circle.
Of course, I'll have to set up the camera correctly for that exercise. And that's kind of the thing. After placing that correctly, I'll also have to rotate miss fitness model to show her from the best position.
I get nintendo likes to watch her from the front each time, but I don't. Stepping forward or backward kind of exercises, a side view is much preferred. And now you can (not sure if that was possible on wii fit plus).
...but it won't remember it. Honestly: why not? Even when repeating an exercise, it goes straight back to the front instead of your carefully selected camera angle. A missed opportunity (and it furthers the frustrating feel that I'm spending more time busyworking my way to the games than in the games themselves).
Oh...but I DO have to give props to the gamepad controller here. Though I'm not sure why it insists on taking a picture of me while it weighs me (my face isn't going to change, nintendo. Unlike my belly...maybe ), it IS a very handfull thing to switch cameras in some games. Downward-facing dog or plank are the kind of games where you need eyes where you don't have them (you can't put your television on the ground). But with the camera, you can watch your balance shift (and react to that) while watching the gamepad. So...yeey for that!
I wish I could say the same for the fit meter. But I can't. The only really nice thing I can say about it is that it allowed me to buy the game for 25€ (at the time of writing, you can try wii fit u for free for 31 days. and if you buy a fit meter, that trial ends).
Does it work? Yes...in a way. It doesn't quite like my wiiu, so I usually have to restart the syncing process four or five times before it actually transmits what I've been doing.
And what have I been doing? Well...it tracks my movement and height difference and can even show that in a graph on the display. And for some reason, it also has a thermometer in it which I don't trust at all (not that it's wrong, but since you wear it in your pocket, it pretty much tells you the temperature of your pocket). You know what would be nice, nintendo? A freaking chronometer and a timer!
What? Well, of course it's a luxury problem. I have those things on my digital watch, smartphone and - thanks to rockbox - even on my MP3-player. but I bet both of these are at least ten times as easy to program into that device than that graphical representation of your height difference was (Christ...any programmer worth anything could do these in less than an afternoon!).
The worst thing about it is that it screws up the calorie meter. Yes, I know that a calorie is supposed to be a measurement of energy (1 calorie is the amount it takes to boil 1 gram of water 1 degree of Kelvin/Celcius), but it was always completely out of whack to the point that I never even considered it to have anything to do with the real measurement. It used to be all relatively. Balance games gave you a relative low score to the yoga or muscle exercises so that everyone was happy. It doesn't take 3 calories to ski down a mountain. Well...okay, perhaps it DOES take only three if you only move the muscles you're supposed to, but I bet that with all the swaying and wild gesturing, I'm above that low amount.
I'm not sure if the fit meter is a more realistic indication of calorie usage, but I can tell you that it totally makes the wii fit u games look failed in comparison. A few days ago, I went to the shop and back wearing the thing. On a bike. While I was gone for...say an hour, I most certainly did NOT spend as much effort as the half hour on my wii fit u games that day (which included rhythm boxing and push-ups & side stands). Let alone four times as much.
It's kind of sad, really. The comparisons to the calories in food are pretty nice, but they further the effect that it's all skewed. Say you work out for a complete hour (an hour of practice, that is...which is probably twice that amount with all the interface handling). You're pretty exhausted and you're curious as to what kind of snack you deserved. It's probably in the area of "a sandwich with cheese" by then. Honestly: if you think you can lose weight by only eating what the wii fit u tells you has the same amount of calories...then you're on a pretty dangerous diet (perhaps unless you have all the water you want. But I wouldn't risk it).
This situation in itself would get the wii fit u a "meh, it's okay" rating. They've honestly put some effort into the thing and tweaked some settings. Not the best expansion pack ever, but certainly no complaints. And if you're looking into getting in shape and have a wiiu, it's certainly a good investment even with the most important hindrance.
However, this is an expansion pack. A fresh layer of paint won't hide the fact that most is directly copy-pasted from the previous entry. Up and to pretty much all the sound effects (I swear those voice actors were told to add the extra safety measures in the exact same neutral-friendly kind of voice as before). So if all the previous games are there, then...
Wait...where's lotus focus? Or penguin balance? Or the majority of wii fit plus's games? Wait...fuck that! Where the hell is snowboard slalom!!??
This part is what gets me the most...why aren't all the minigames there? It's not like much effort has to be put into it, right?
And I can get why some games may have been skipped for lack of popularity (I'll admit that tightrope walk was kind of stupid...and I'm probably the only one who thought that sitting perfectly still on a balance board was an awesome challenge), the snowboard one baffles me. Honestly: that was what made me buy the wii fit in the first place! And with skiing in it, the levels had to be remade in HD anyway. So I honestly don't get it. That was what drew me in and was almost worth the large price in itself. In fact, I'm honestly thinking to just keep playing it on the wii (or vwii). The added extras don't quite make up for the loss of this gem of a game.
But wait...there are new games, aren't there? Yes. Though I would almost say "unfortunate enough". I haven't played them all, but there's quite some...not-that-great games with it. That dessert course and climbing the wall have painfully bad movement controls. Puzzle squash is halfhearted (it requires a wiimote plus but nevertheless handles worse than wii sports). Orientering is just boring (yes, even compared to regular jogging). And what's with all the dance games? Nintendo sure is trying to mimic just dance here, but it lacks two obvious things: "just" and "dance". Those games are played with no less than two wiimotes plus and the balance board, though the need of the plus accessory is totally lost on me. And after becoming half a cyborg, it's follow the tutorial for half the freakin' exercise. Even on medium setting, it's "do you remember the basic moves?".
I'm not getting the entire just dance craze, but the fact that it has a known track list undoubtedly helps. And I think that the "just follow this silhouette" is also more natural than all that "now let's try this. and then this. and then this" over the same basic medly.
Finally: I've followed some salsa dance lessons in the past. The exercise is just NOT the same thing. Not even remotely. In fact, aside from the rhythm, I think you just need to literally UNlearn everything from those exercises when you want to actually learn to salsa. Can't speak on behalf of the other dances (I haven't played all of them either), but I suspect similar behaviour (though flamenco is unintentionally hilarious if you imagine holding castanets instead of wiimotes).
That said...there are some good new games as well (hosedown needs some practicing, but is reasonably enjoyable, that diving game is okay, as is rowing squat). And a couple really great ones (trampoline and bob sleighing...though I have to mention that that latter is a pretty tough muscle exercise).
Anyhow...end result: it's not that good of a game. The effort is sort of there, but it needs much better feedback from beta testers. And perhaps some marketing (I honestly have no idea if some people bought all the gizmo's required for the dancing experience, but I doubt they'll find it satisfying).
As we all know, wii fit was released in 2008 for the wii. That's five years ago (wii fit u was released at the end of 2013). Or four years, seeing how wii fit plus was released in 2009.
Lemme tell you: Wii fit was fucking awesome. The idea of the balance board was IMO much better than the wiimote gesturing thing, and wii fit made use of that in a whole variety of fun and original games. And that's not taking the yoga or muscle training into account.
Of course the video games market is a totally different market than virtual fitness. But if you do the math, it's really not that bad. A decent home trainer costs pretty much as much as a wii and balance board combined and has far less variety or motivation to use it.
I haven't played many other fitness games or routines, but wii fit really does a good job of motivating you. And honestly: it's not as if video games don't teach you anything, but it's nothing compared to what you get with wii fit.
Of course it had its flaws. Ironically, most of those weren't about the games themselves but on the interface and the meta-concept. I'd think that if you play with a single avatar, the game should understand that you are still you. And while you certainly burn some fat while exersizing, it's not enough to be noticeable.
SO WHY THE FUCK DOES THE DAMN THING INSIST ON WEIGHING YOU AT THE START OF EACH NEW GAME???
This is especially annoying when you're not standing on the balance board to begin with (about half the games don't use it in a direct 'stand on me' approach). To make matters worse, it continues to think I'm a retard. "Please wear the wrist strap". "Do not jump on the balance board". "hold on to object if you feel unsteady".
I know they're kind of important, but c'mon...each and every time you play the exercise? On more than one occasion, I just replayed the same because it would save at least some repetitive clicking the 'A'-button.
Wii fit plus, released a year later, was a step in the right direction. It still had way too much button clicking (fuck...they even added a calorie burner, so you had to watch more animations after each exercise), but at least they gave you shortcuts to go from one game to another. And they weren't locked from the start (seriously? who thought THAT was a good idea?). Still...why the scoreboard had to show up all the way from the bottom to the top every freaking time is beyond me. With so many different games and different scoreboards for each setting, I doubt anyone ever filled each and every one of them. A list of five would have been sufficient.
Now it's been four years since wii fit plus. Surely someone must have mentioned to nintendo that participants are spending more time working through the unskippable text monologues than the actual games?
Unfortunately...that department isn't changed. In fact, it seems even worse. I'll get to the fit meter later, but for now, you can remember that extra mentions are added that you should only know the first couple of times you're playing the game: that the thing isn't needed in the game itself.
In fact...starting out with a yoga practice is getting retarded, as the trainer rambles off all the precautions one by one BEFORE YOU CAN EVEN START THE EXERCISE!
I won't say that it's a copy-paste job because it isn't: pretty much all the graphics are reworked and in HD. But the problem of a convoluted interface is still there. The menu where you select an exercise is kind of okay, but it's pretty obvious that all the other new things were slapped on on top of that.
And it may be nitpicking, but...when the game asks you how heavy your clothes are, why do you have to press 'A' before being able to select the answer from the touchpad? It's not needed at all, as you could instead be pointing to 'less than 2 kg' (I don't know about you, but when I'm about to exercise, I tend to make sure I'm not wearing much more than underwear).
Next point: camera usage. I've got to say: it's nice to have mirror mode. I'm sure many people (especially gamers) won't like it, as it kind of shows you in potentially embarrassing poses, ESPECIALLY directly next to a perfect model (palm tree position, anyone?
). But I do like it: it gives far better feedback than that red dot in that yellow circle.Of course, I'll have to set up the camera correctly for that exercise. And that's kind of the thing. After placing that correctly, I'll also have to rotate miss fitness model to show her from the best position.
I get nintendo likes to watch her from the front each time, but I don't. Stepping forward or backward kind of exercises, a side view is much preferred. And now you can (not sure if that was possible on wii fit plus).
...but it won't remember it. Honestly: why not? Even when repeating an exercise, it goes straight back to the front instead of your carefully selected camera angle. A missed opportunity (and it furthers the frustrating feel that I'm spending more time busyworking my way to the games than in the games themselves).
Oh...but I DO have to give props to the gamepad controller here. Though I'm not sure why it insists on taking a picture of me while it weighs me (my face isn't going to change, nintendo. Unlike my belly...maybe
), it IS a very handfull thing to switch cameras in some games. Downward-facing dog or plank are the kind of games where you need eyes where you don't have them (you can't put your television on the ground). But with the camera, you can watch your balance shift (and react to that) while watching the gamepad. So...yeey for that! I wish I could say the same for the fit meter. But I can't. The only really nice thing I can say about it is that it allowed me to buy the game for 25€ (at the time of writing, you can try wii fit u for free for 31 days. and if you buy a fit meter, that trial ends).
Does it work? Yes...in a way. It doesn't quite like my wiiu, so I usually have to restart the syncing process four or five times before it actually transmits what I've been doing.
And what have I been doing? Well...it tracks my movement and height difference and can even show that in a graph on the display. And for some reason, it also has a thermometer in it which I don't trust at all (not that it's wrong, but since you wear it in your pocket, it pretty much tells you the temperature of your pocket). You know what would be nice, nintendo? A freaking chronometer and a timer!
What? Well, of course it's a luxury problem. I have those things on my digital watch, smartphone and - thanks to rockbox - even on my MP3-player. but I bet both of these are at least ten times as easy to program into that device than that graphical representation of your height difference was (Christ...any programmer worth anything could do these in less than an afternoon!).
The worst thing about it is that it screws up the calorie meter. Yes, I know that a calorie is supposed to be a measurement of energy (1 calorie is the amount it takes to boil 1 gram of water 1 degree of Kelvin/Celcius), but it was always completely out of whack to the point that I never even considered it to have anything to do with the real measurement. It used to be all relatively. Balance games gave you a relative low score to the yoga or muscle exercises so that everyone was happy. It doesn't take 3 calories to ski down a mountain. Well...okay, perhaps it DOES take only three if you only move the muscles you're supposed to, but I bet that with all the swaying and wild gesturing, I'm above that low amount.
I'm not sure if the fit meter is a more realistic indication of calorie usage, but I can tell you that it totally makes the wii fit u games look failed in comparison. A few days ago, I went to the shop and back wearing the thing. On a bike. While I was gone for...say an hour, I most certainly did NOT spend as much effort as the half hour on my wii fit u games that day (which included rhythm boxing and push-ups & side stands). Let alone four times as much.
It's kind of sad, really. The comparisons to the calories in food are pretty nice, but they further the effect that it's all skewed. Say you work out for a complete hour (an hour of practice, that is...which is probably twice that amount with all the interface handling). You're pretty exhausted and you're curious as to what kind of snack you deserved. It's probably in the area of "a sandwich with cheese" by then. Honestly: if you think you can lose weight by only eating what the wii fit u tells you has the same amount of calories...then you're on a pretty dangerous diet (perhaps unless you have all the water you want. But I wouldn't risk it).
This situation in itself would get the wii fit u a "meh, it's okay" rating. They've honestly put some effort into the thing and tweaked some settings. Not the best expansion pack ever, but certainly no complaints. And if you're looking into getting in shape and have a wiiu, it's certainly a good investment even with the most important hindrance.
However, this is an expansion pack. A fresh layer of paint won't hide the fact that most is directly copy-pasted from the previous entry. Up and to pretty much all the sound effects (I swear those voice actors were told to add the extra safety measures in the exact same neutral-friendly kind of voice as before). So if all the previous games are there, then...
Wait...where's lotus focus? Or penguin balance? Or the majority of wii fit plus's games? Wait...fuck that! Where the hell is snowboard slalom!!??
This part is what gets me the most...why aren't all the minigames there? It's not like much effort has to be put into it, right?
And I can get why some games may have been skipped for lack of popularity (I'll admit that tightrope walk was kind of stupid...and I'm probably the only one who thought that sitting perfectly still on a balance board was an awesome challenge), the snowboard one baffles me. Honestly: that was what made me buy the wii fit in the first place! And with skiing in it, the levels had to be remade in HD anyway. So I honestly don't get it. That was what drew me in and was almost worth the large price in itself. In fact, I'm honestly thinking to just keep playing it on the wii (or vwii). The added extras don't quite make up for the loss of this gem of a game.
But wait...there are new games, aren't there? Yes. Though I would almost say "unfortunate enough". I haven't played them all, but there's quite some...not-that-great games with it. That dessert course and climbing the wall have painfully bad movement controls. Puzzle squash is halfhearted (it requires a wiimote plus but nevertheless handles worse than wii sports). Orientering is just boring (yes, even compared to regular jogging). And what's with all the dance games? Nintendo sure is trying to mimic just dance here, but it lacks two obvious things: "just" and "dance". Those games are played with no less than two wiimotes plus and the balance board, though the need of the plus accessory is totally lost on me. And after becoming half a cyborg, it's follow the tutorial for half the freakin' exercise. Even on medium setting, it's "do you remember the basic moves?".
I'm not getting the entire just dance craze, but the fact that it has a known track list undoubtedly helps. And I think that the "just follow this silhouette" is also more natural than all that "now let's try this. and then this. and then this" over the same basic medly.
Finally: I've followed some salsa dance lessons in the past. The exercise is just NOT the same thing. Not even remotely. In fact, aside from the rhythm, I think you just need to literally UNlearn everything from those exercises when you want to actually learn to salsa. Can't speak on behalf of the other dances (I haven't played all of them either), but I suspect similar behaviour (though flamenco is unintentionally hilarious if you imagine holding castanets instead of wiimotes).
That said...there are some good new games as well (hosedown needs some practicing, but is reasonably enjoyable, that diving game is okay, as is rowing squat). And a couple really great ones (trampoline and bob sleighing...though I have to mention that that latter is a pretty tough muscle exercise).
Anyhow...end result: it's not that good of a game. The effort is sort of there, but it needs much better feedback from beta testers. And perhaps some marketing (I honestly have no idea if some people bought all the gizmo's required for the dancing experience, but I doubt they'll find it satisfying).
