Exerbeat Gym Class Workout (Nintendo Wii)

***ABOUT THE GAME***
The Exerbeat Gym Blass Workout game is only available to play on the wii. Using the wii remote to complete dance routines and a range of different exercises, this gives you a fantastic workout and a good fitness experience. You can use the Wii board for some of the exercises or you can use one or 2 remotes to play the games and complete the exercises on screen. The game encourages you to do an ongoing fitness routine will helps to tone and strengthen your muscles and to get you in shape. You can track your progress every time you play the game, which enables you to see if you are getting better or worse at the exercises and routines.

***PRICE/AVALIABILITY***
I purchased this game from Amazon and it cost me £17.94 brand new, which I thought was reasonable. This may also be available to buy from other websites and some shops such as Game or Game station.

***STARTING THE GAME***
If you have created a Mii character already you can select to use this character where it will save all your information. If you don’t already have a Mii character you have the chance to create one, before you start the game. This is quite important to do as you want the game to save your progress as you go along.

***THE EXERCISES***
There is a large selection of exercises to choose from which are in 4 different categories on the main screen, where you can choose which exercise you would like to do. These are as follows:

• Dance Exercises – Includes Aerobics, Hip Hop & Latin Dance
• Martial Arts Exercises – Boxing, Karate and Karate Forms
• Body Condition – Yoga, Pilates and Stretching
• Party Games – Swimming, Dance Fever, Pizza Toss, Wall Smasher and Pirate Attack.

For each category there are a total of about 20 different exercises, how-ever you will only start off with having about 2 of each; the more you play the game the more exercises you can unlock.

If you hover the remote over the selected exercise this will tell you how long the exercise lasts for and a burn rating which is from 1-5, this gives you an idea of how hard the exercise is. Obviously the higher the burn rating the more energy you will use as this will be very active.

***CONTROLLING THE GAMES***
You can use a wii fit board with some of the exercises in this game, how-ever most of the exercises require you not to use it so you have the option of using 1 or 2 wii remotes. You need to put the main remote in your prominent hand which in my case was my right hand. It will show you on the screen how to hold the remote, and don’t forget to tighten the strap around your wrist to ensure you don’t drop or accidentally through the remote across the room. It will tell you on screen which colour represents which remote, this makes it easier when following the on screen instructions.

***DOING THE EXERCISES***
Each time you select an exercise you will be asked to press both the A + B button on both remotes, to verify that you are using both of the remotes and that they synched with the wii console. When selecting the exercises there is a different character for each category, which will teach you the exercises. The characters are often put in a scene with other characters, and everyone does the same exercise/moves as the instructor. I have played a few of the different exercises so I will write a small bit about each one below:

Aerobics – This has the easiest exercises to follow. This may be because I haven’t unlocked the harder exercises for this category; how-ever these seem to be more relaxed and slower than the other dance exercises. Some exercises will focus on just one part of your body such as your arms. The instructor is easy to follow and she explains things as she does the exercises. Because the exercises are quite slow, they are easy to pick up and are quite simple.

Hip-Hop – The instructor for this category is male, and the exercises look easy but I find them quite hard to follow. These are obviously more upbeat and faster than in the aerobics exercises. It takes me a while to pick up on some of the exercises, and I think it would have been an advantage if the instructor talked you through the exercises before he actually does them as you just have to follow his lead. It took me a few goes to get used to the exercises in here.

Latin Dance – These are fun exercises and you need to have a good rhythm for this. Most of these exercises require you to move your whole body at the same time. This includes some Salsa moves, which requires you to wiggle and move you arms and legs at the same time. Although these are a little hard to pick up straight away, I find these really fun moves and really enjoyed doing the exercises in here.

Martial Arts Exercise – These include a number of different moves including different punches, leg kicks and defence moves. These are quite easy to learn at first, but you will notice that your arms may ache the following day due to the boxing moves in this section.

Body Condition – Yoga, Pilates & Stretching. All of the exercises in these sections are quite simple and fairly easy to learn. I found them a little difficulty at first but once you have completed the exercises a few times, you will get used to them and then find that you perform better each time you try the exercise. These are more relaxing that the dance categories and you will find that they use a lot less energy. These exercises are how-ever good for stretching and toning up your body.

Party Games – These games are really fun and you can play some of them one or two player. The swimming game is really good as you really get to use your arms, and after doing this is feels as though you’ve had a really good work out. Some of these games can be played 2 players which make them even more fun, as you get to compete against others. For some of the games in this category such as the Pirate Attack, you do need to have the Wii Motion Plus.

Every time you chose an exercise you will be awarded points, this rates you on how good you are and how accurate your moves are in time with the computer. You may also be rewarded medals as well. Of course the main idea is to score as many points as you can, which means you will be better at the exercises and you can also use the points to get more exercises as well. You will find that you need a fair amount of floor space to enable to do these exercises as they all get you moving about quite a bit.

***OTHER FEATURES***
The more you play the game the more things you can unlock such as progress graphs and daily exercises that they recommend for you. Each day is recorded and you will get a stamp on the calendar. You can use the energy and points you score for each game, to travel around the world which helps to unlock new exercises for each category, this is quite fun to do, how-ever you need to use this a lot in order to actually get to different places across the world, which is a good incentive to use the game every day, which will help you to get fit.

***GRAPHICS/SOUND/GAME-PLAY***
The graphics are pretty standard, the instructors do look very human and the graphics are overall quite good. The different dance categories have different styles of music to match the exercises and so you can pick up the beat and rhythm which makes is easier when doing the dance exercises. The graphics are clear and you can clearly follow the directions which are displayed on the screen, to tell you which way to move the wii remotes. Playing the game and doing the exercises are quite easy and are really fun. I love playing this game and often find myself playing it for at least an hour, before I feel too tired to play anymore. The menu’s are really easy to follow and it’s really good that you can pick and choose the exercises you want to do, especially if you want to work on one section at a time when playing the game before moving onto a different exercise/section. The party games are a good way to get everyone involved in the game, and this section is really fun to play and can get quite competitive.

***GOOD POINTS***
• Great range of exercises
• You can pick & choose exercises you want to do
• Track your progress
• Get fit & burn calories
• Unlock new exercises

***BAD POINTS***
• The instructor can be a little hard to follow at times as they don’t show you the exercises before hand.
• Instructor voices can get a little annoying.

***OVERALL OPINION***
I really enjoy playing this game and I get a real buzz out of playing it as its fun and it helps you to get fit at the same time. Some of the exercises/routines can be hard to pick up at first, how-ever if you keep practising the exercises you will get used to the routines and be able to pick them up quite easily. I don’t play this game every day as I never have the time, how-ever I do play it at least 3-4 times a week and I feel as though it gives me a good work out. The party games are quite fun to play with another player, how-ever I don’t use this section much. If I tend to play the party games I play them on my own as a more fun way to get fit. If you enjoy the wii fit and wii fit plus then I would highly recommend this game to others. Not all the routines and exercises are hard and as you can choose which one’s you want to complete, you can start off at an easy level and work your way up to more detailed routines. I will continue to play this and will be recommending it to my sister.

(review may also appear on dooyoo)