EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer Game Review
New Electronic Arts Wii Game Offers Aerobic and Muscle Exercise
May 23, 2009
Wii Fit is great fun, at least at the start, but it has some downsides, like a very limited number of exercises, which one can grow bored of. It is focused on yoga and balance games, but does not offer much aerobic or cardio exercise.
Wii Fit Equipment List
EA Sports Active comes with a resistance band and a leg pouch, where the Nunchuck (the knob-like Wii controller) is placed to measure leg movement. The Wii Fit balance board is supported by some exercises, but not required because of the Nunchuck pouch.
The resistance band is just a long, wide rubber band with two handles. It does not seem very sturdy, but could always be replaced in case it breaks. The leg pouch is built better, though it can slip off, especially if wearing shorts. It is somewhat annoying to constantly have to remove the Nunchuck from the pouch and to stick it back again, depending on the exercise.
EA Sports Active Exercises with Wii
EA Sports Active offers a wide variety of different exercises, such as running, dancing, basketball, tennis, boxing, inline skating and "gym" workouts like bicep curls and lunges. Each comes with several different variations and difficulty/intensity levels. The dancing is interesting in that the focus is on hand movements, not on legs, as with most dance games.
For initial setup one has to provide some personal information, but that is quickly handled. The player also builds a realistic character (not a Mii!) all down to choice of sunglasses and sports shoes. Like with Wii Fit there is a journal where for logging exercise done outside of the game. There is also a nutrition/lifestyle survey, but it is very simplistic.
The exercises take place in a semi-realistic 3D world where the player can watch their "character" work out. The interface and graphics are alright, though nothing spectacular. The music is OK even on a default setting, though there is a choice to only to play tracks of a select music genre.
Each exercise is preceded by a good introduction video, which can obviously be skipped (or watched again). The virtual trainer gives the player plenty of feedback, though most of it is just encouraging "Oh yeah!" and "You look so motivated!" and tends to gets slightly annoying with time. There are also "trophies" and "medals" for meeting the goals.
Workouts with EA Sports & the Wii
EA Sports Active contains a massive amount of different workouts, which combine a number of different exercises. For each the total amount of time (15-60 minutes) and projected amount of burned calories are listed. Most start and end with walking and/or running.
If a 30-day challenge is chosen, the game automatically picks a suitable workout for each day (recommending a few rest days a few week), e.g. upper body workouts one day and lower body training the next. It is also possible to create custom workouts and skip exercises from a preset workout.
The number of exercises is vast, but still some of the workouts are quite repetitive, e.g. many contain several different types of lunges and often the same exercise comes up twice in a single workout.
Differences between Wii Fit and EA Sports Active
While Wii Fit focuses on minutes of gameplay and only lets the player set weight goals,. The goals in EA Sports Active include hours of exercise, number of workouts and burned calories. The burned calories are calculated in real-time based on the player's gender, weight and body type.
EA Sports Active is not really a game as a such, it is a virtual trainer. Even the exercises like tennis and basketball are not really game-like - whether it's a hit or miss depends only on strength and sometimes timing, not the aim. It is possible to exercise with a friend, but for many exercises it is necessary to buy an extra Nunchuck pouch.
What is certain is that it is possible to get exercise with EA Sports Active. Obviously it is not as good for building muscles as a gym, but it would work well for losing weight and improving one's fitness level. Some of the exercises follow the ideas of interval training, which is a highly effective form of exercise.
EA Sports Active could be recommended for everyone of decent health who likes to exercise more (but may not have the time or money to do that often as they would like), whether they are novices or already work out a lot. It is not really something for small children though, especially as the focus is so heavily on burning calories.
See Also
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