Reviews Surfing - Wii Fit Plus (Wii)

Is your Balance Board gathering dust? Considering that there aren’t too many games that support the Wii peripheral, it’s entirely possible. If you own a Balance Board and you’re looking to bring it out of the closet, then you’re in luck—Wii Fit Plus is out.

What exactly is Wii Fit Plus, you ask? It’s an enhanced version of Wii Fit. It comes with all the Wii Fit exercises, plus the following:

• 3 yoga and 3 strength-training activities
• 15 balance/aerobic exercises.

The best part: all normal exercises are unlocked from the get go. So how exactly is Wii Fit Plus doing ratings wise? Find out after the jump:

1UP: (91%) “Wii Fit Plus is a better product, but keep in mind that it’s not a sequel. Like the second edition of a book, it looks and feels exactly the same as before, but the additions effectively make the previous version obsolete. And it’s $20 by itself, which helps even more if you still have a Balance Board lying around. Still, things have changed in the year since the first Wii Fit, with multiple exercise games that just keep coming, and are more targeted at people who want nothing but to lose weight. Games like EA Sports Active are made by Americans and likely with Americans in mind, whereas Wii Fit Plus tries to go for a culturally-neutral — though still Japanese-leaning — approach, where traditional ideas of exercise seemingly clash with the practical (not that flapping away like a chicken to land on targets isn’t appealing). In short, there still isn’t much more focus or guidance in Wii Fit Plus, but the ease of use and greater number of enjoyable, not so “exercisey” games within, make it worth it. Personally, I can see myself putting another year in.”

IGN: (82%) “Whether you already own Wii Fit or find yourself completely new to Nintendo’s best-selling phenomenon, Plus is great way to burn some calories while having fun. Every last feature of Wii Fit is copied over to Plus, and Nintendo has also added in six new exercises and 15 new balance board games on top of a calorie tracker, customized workout programs, a local multiplayer mode and, of course, the ability to weigh your pets. There’s still some issues — BMI is inaccurate as a measurement system, the lack of online leaderboards or challenges is a major oversight at this point, some of the added exercises and games fail to compare to the others, and the virtual trainers’ dialogs repeat too often. Still, Plus is much cheaper than a gym membership and if you use it right, with proper diet, you can lose weight or tone muscle and have a good time while you do.”

Cheat Code Central: (84%) “To sum it all up, Wii Fit Plus is worth the cash. If you never owned the game before, you can buy it with the Balance Board for 100 bucks. On the other hand, if you already have the other game, you can just buy the new disc for $20, which is not a lot to pay for these valuable improvements. Sure, your old Wii Fit game will become a mere drink coaster when you grab the new one, but you can also just trade it in or give it to that niece who just bought a used Balance Board. It’s all about being creative, right? My only gripe is that this game is everything the first Wii Fit should have been, and it took a second try to make things right, taking a toll on our pockets. If you’re not too mad about that and are willing to shell out the extra money, you should definitely go ahead and improve your Wii Fit experience right now.”

If you somehow missed out on the original, then Wii Fit Plus is the version you should get. However, at Wii Fit Plus’ $20 price tag, it’s still pretty tempting even if you already own Wii Fit and a Balance Board. If you’re not decided, do try out Wii Fit Plus and tell us what you think.

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