I'm going to start off this preview by pointing out that my family is Nintendo's target audience defined perfectly. Both my parents have never been interested in games, and yet when the Brain Age games were released my mum got hooked. She even ended up asking for a DS two Christmas' ago and when the Wii arrived, was totally taken in by the whole motion control idea and Wii Sports (FYI: My Dad kicks my ass every time we play the darts game in Wario Ware).
So when I told my parents about Wii Fit last E3, it was clear that they were really intrigued by the idea. Problems arrived when Nintendo announced the game's pricing. Theoretically an extra £30 for a quality peripheral isn't that much (it's the same price as Guitar Hero III on Wii), however the full £70 price point was very off putting for my causal gaming family and it was decided that perhaps they would wait a while.
This all changed come launch day when a long time friend of mine came round holding a glistening Wii Fit box in his hand, informing me that him and his girlfriend had just brought a Wii. My parents were more than eager to try Wii Fit out upon seeing it, and to cut a long story short, a day later we now own our own £70 Wii board. If that's not Nintendo's marketing plan in full action, I don't know what is.
So Wii Fit, what is it? In short it can be described as Wii Sports 2. This is Nintendo's answer to the casual gamers that brought Wii Sports and Play with their machine, and have since found little in the shovel ware market that make them want to buy more. It has very much the Wii Sports feel to it, however instead of having five solid, but not deep games; Wii Fit has forty micro games.
Most are played with the Wii board, however a couple two player games also seem to be included into the package, such as a game where each player puts a wiimote in their back pocket, and jogs on the spot. The aim of this game is to keep a steady jog through a nicely designed environment, however its more than possible to turn this into a race as you compete to be the first one across the line. Seeing my parents try out this game was a hilarious group moment, with both of them being very out of breath by the end of the run. Wii Fit certainly seems to have the ability to make you more aware off your fitness, even if it’s not going to turn you into a body builder over night.
Other micro games included in the package include hola-hoop spinning, a mix of performing step ups and dancing, type roap walking and skiing, just to name a few. All these games are pretty well implemented with the Wii board and have multiple difficulty settings so that you can ramp them up once you start to master them.
The whole game is about leader boards and getting the highest score on the micro games, which brings me to my biggest complaint thus far. Playing Wii Fit is best with a group of people, which is why its so infuriating that you have to go right out to the main menu to switch Mii every time its someone else’s turn.
Overall though, from a casual prospective this game is a huge success (every local store is apparently sold out of the £70 game and from what I've heard some of the most non-gaming people you can imagine were seen buying it) and the Wii Fit board is a solid, quality product. What Wii Fit won’t do is appeal to a lot of hardcore gamers (its also not that much fun alone), and as I've expressed several times before, this game is really not designed for you.
However, I have to admit to enjoying Wii Fit with my family (its not often they take interest in a lot of the stuff I do), and so I wont say that this is a must avoid for the all hardcore. Wii Fit is one of those lifestyle games that is very much personal preference, however it is defiantly a nice, well made, quality product that does work.
Is it for you? Maybe.
Is it going to be huge? Oh yes.
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