bofnyc's Full Review: EA Sports Active for Nintendo Wii
This is such a great concept and I really had high hopes for this "game". The whole idea of making exercise fun is obviously appealing to everyone. But EA Sports Active has some really serious flaws that ultimately make it more frustrating than anything else. Still, I do think there is potential here, but you'll need to customize your workouts quite a bit.
The basic concept is that you follow the exercises as shown on your tv screen. The Wii remote and the Wii Nunchuck controllers will "track" what you are doing on screen, and will give feedback as to how well you are doing (that's the concept anyway). There are 2 pieces of equipment that come with the game--the elastic band stretch thing (this is horrible!), and the holder for the Nunchuck which straps to your thigh (also not very good). There are a number of different workouts to choose from--this is a good thing. Some are very basic, no frills workouts, like lunges, squats, etc. But, there are some really interesting and fun workouts, like boxing, tennis, basketball, etc. Some of these are really great but some totally do not translate. Basketball is horrible, for example.
The game comes with many, many pre-programmed workouts, which is great. And you can keep a diary of your workouts, do the "30 day challenge", etc. Basically, it will track what you've done. Also, very good.
So, it all sounds good. But here are the problems. First, the elastic band that comes with the game is absolutely horrible. It feels flimsy, constantly gets tangled up in its self, but most importantly, it's difficult to really adjust this properly. As a result, most of the exercises I do which incorporate this piece of equipment or either way too hard or not hard enough. Very annoying. Also, as you go through a workout, the game will take you from one exercise to the next. The exercises usually last a couple of minutes each. What is annoying about this is that you will go from an exercise that incorporates the elastic band to one that does not, and then 5 exercises later, the band is back into play. More on that later.
As I said above, the workouts will lead you from one exercise to the next, sort of like circuit training. This is nice and you get some good variety, so you're not just doing the same thing over and over. However, each exercise will require different equipment or different use of the Nunchuck. For example, as I mentioned above, you'll need to use the strap for one exercise, but not for another. So before a new exercise starts, you need to look at the screen to determine if you need the strap. Not a huge deal, but annoying (and I hate that strap!). The bigger problem is the Nunchuck. For some exercises, you hold it in your hand. For others, it goes into the leg brace. Again, as each exercise starts, you need to watch to see what you are supposed to do with it. It's not easy to get into the leg brace, so you wind up losing momentum by training to cram it in there. Grrr...
About the leg brace...I'd highly advise you strap this to your bare skin on your thigh. If you strap it to clothing, it will definitely, always, 100% of the time fall off by the end of the workout. Can I tell you how annoying that is? It's really annoying!
One last point about the different exercises that come up throughout your workout. The concept behind this is great--you won't get bored by doing the same thing over and over. That's awesome. But again, you lose your momentum significantly because you have to stop to figure out what you are doing next. And in some cases, if it's something you haven't done before, you need to actually watch a video that sometimes lasts for a full minute to figure out what you are supposed to do. So in the middle of your workout you are basically standing there watching tv!
In addition to all of this, the game has some bugs that just wind up making the experiences almost not worth doing. First, the feedback you get is helpful, but sometimes it just seems to want to annoy you. If you're doing something wrong, the game will tell you what it is and will try and help you. However, sometimes it just freezes on you and will tell you to keep still and follow the prompts. The clock is still ticking and you're supposed to be working out, but the game is totally unresponsive to your movements. If that doesn't make you want to never use the game again, I don't know what will. Also, the game does NOT replicate exactly what you are doing. In some cases, it does a decent job of this--in running, for example, the faster you run, the faster you will run on screen. That's great. However, in boxing, your "character" will throw a punch before you've even done anything. I had this happen to me last night multiple times. And what's really bad is that it punched with the different hand that I used (I was supposed to punch with my right, but accidentally punched with my left, but my character punched with the right hand). It's very important to know that your motions will not be exactly captured by the character on screen. In some cases, they won't be the same at all.
I think the key to making this game work for you is to find the workouts you enjoy and create a custom program for yourself. I haven't done that yet, but I'm hoping that will really make this a good experience. Despite all of the problems I mention above, you do get a good workout from this and you will sweat. And that's a good thing. But for $60, I find the quirks to be really frustrating and annoying!
Keep going on your journey towards better health with EA SPORTS Active More Workouts, the next iteration from the EA SPORTS Active franchise, the prov...More at J&R Music and Computer World
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