I Play Zumba Fitness for the Wii to Try and Lose Weight (is THIS the WORST Fitness game EVER?) - FGR

Channel:

Jack Jenkins

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802

Published on June 2, 2023 11:00:44 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4z0RMURhWI

Game:

Zumba Fitness (2010)

Category:

Tutorial

Duration: 17:03

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I Play Zumba Fitness for the Wii to Try and Lose Weight (is THIS the WORST Fitness game EVER?) - FGR

Script:

There are times when I play a game to review for thirty days that I can't bring myself to complete. Either its controls have broken a la "Taiko No Tasujen: Drum' N Fun," or it shows so little care for the IP that it's not worth the time. Enter Zumba Fitness, the first fitness video game by the dance company available for PS3, Xbox, and Wii. The developer, Pipeworks Studio, could only do this one game before being pushed off the IP. Let's see how well their efforts lasted with this review of Zumba Fitness!

First, I want to give my background on the series. My mom taught Zumba when I was in high school, so I did maybe one or two classes with her before throwing it off as stupid. However, after playing Zumba: Burn It Up! On the switch, my appreciation for the series went up. It's one of the games that I rank on my top ten fitness games and is one that I highly recommend for those sick of just dancing. I am saying this because I like Zumba, the dancing, the music, the choreography.

And the game Zumba Fitness handles these aspects well but falls apart in other ways. A win in my book is its main accessory. This Zumba belt is very well made. It's tough enough to last almost fifteen years without many marks or frays with use. Seriously, I can pop this thing in the washing machine, and it'll look brand new. I can't say the same with the Ring Fit leg strap. The belt is a thick material that wraps around your waist or hips. It has a very tight older for the Wii Remote to slide in without its jacket. Let me put it on:


[Put on belt]


See! It's as simple as that. You can then feel the D-pad and A buttons to control the select screen. I like the accessory, but I don't like that the game doesn't tell you how to use it. Usually, games have a little blurb on where it should go or how it works, but the developer made no effort. I read online that you put it at your hips like so and have the remote on your side so it can detect the shakes. Don't have the manual still, so hopefully, that is accurate.

With the belt on, it's time to begin the game. When you think of Zumba, you think of colorful backgrounds with people dancing. Well, its selection screen is as orange as my video background. This puppy hurts my eyes. It needs a bit more contrast with some blues and greens up in there. There are absolutely no descriptions of what anything does, so you have to figure it out on your own. From what I gathered, you first create your character name and then head to the workout. This tells you what you should be doing each day. You can adjust the workout to your liking or change the days. Doing this doesn't unlock the levels or other playlists, so I got stuck with a different game mode.

Selecting the play option takes you to the main area. Here you can select tutorials to learn the routines, play and unlock classes, engage in the multiplayer mode, and more. Pretty much all the footage I captured is from playing the game, mostly with my Wife. You get to unlock classes through Zumba Party and play through the class, and I think you need to get a certain rank in order to unlock the next level. I have no idea because, again, there are no instructions.

Before I get into the controls, let's talk about some of the good stuff in this game. The overall choreography is excellent. Sure, its move set is less varied than the Nintendo Switch game, but it's expected, seeing how much newer it is. I burned about two hundred and thirty calories per twenty minutes of gameplay, giving it a lead on Ring Fit Adventure. As you can see on the screen, you move intensely, so it's no surprise there. Another positive is the music. I am a big fan of Spanish music styles, even though I have absolutely zero ideas about anyone in the genre. All of the music was at least serviceable to great and have been added to my workout music. Here's just a clip of my favorite song, Tu Boquita

[Encode_1080P_128 10:19]

Great song, but the dance was a little repetitive with the limited move set of the game. Also, this song has seven hundred thousand views on YouTube, so I guess some people like this too. Besides the choreography and the music, the visuals aren't that bad as well. As you dance, you fill-up the bottom bar from dark red to green. As you do so, you will level up, and the environment around the character changes. There are just four backgrounds which are a bit disappointing, but each of them definitely fits the Zumba vibes.

Now it's time to become mister grumpy pants. The reason I hate this game has nothing to do with the Zumba or dancing or graphics apart from the lazy menu design. What hurts this game most is its gameplay. You dance, which ranks you from good to okay to bad, changing from green, yellow, and red. Simple stuff, right?...

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