Poor little winded Jeremyna.

The software is good in that it creates something called the “30 day Challenge” that allows you to tailor your workout, and change it up over this period of time. We just started doing this, and the results are positve, so far. We will see how the trial period works out.

We also saw that there is a co-operative mode with the game. When we introduced this to Jeremyna, she was all for it. But just one week into our practice, Jeremyna was not hip to it anymore. She said it was too hard, and threw down her Wiimote.

Stubborn little Jeremyna.

We are now back on speaking tems, but Jeremyna is not sure if she wants to continue. I told her, “No playing with her Wii, no Razor Pocket Mod.” That got her attention.

So we are back at it, and I am encouraging Jeremyna every chance we get. Great job, Jeremyna!

And good job EA on this fitness trainer.
Rating: 4 / 5

In a nutshell, a great workout may be had here, but the game is FLAWED.

From the opening moments, I knew it wasn’t going to work.

EA HEARTBEAT.. EA HEARTBEAT (push button to skip) EA HEARTBEAT.. EA HEARTBEAT.. (I GET IT! push push push button to ship) EA HEARTBEAT .. spinny logo HOLD . . . (push button push button) logo HOLD..) and load to the next screen.

SERIOUSLY? We can’t skip that? mkay..

Character create is shallow. Sorry, choosing shoe color doesn’t count.

It wouldn’t have taken programmers long to import a mii and just put EA’s spin on it.

THE TEXT IS TOO SMALL ON THE SCREEN. Holy buckets, I’ve got a 56″ screen and I was squinting from just across the room. Admittedly, I don’t have the best eye-sight, but still.

Typical speed programming problems: little things like there is text on the screen, with a prompt to move down.. so you do.. and find yourself scrolling the text up to find a blank line. Thanks much for nothing!

So, fired up 30 day challenge because creating a workout was really really confusing. It was just a bunch of little pictures, and none of them looked interesting. Where is the hoops? The tennis? Do I have to unlock them? Really? Care to mention that somewhere?

The workout is on, and it’s.. fine. I was getting a good workout. I got crap from the trainer for not running hard enough, but my pace was perfect. Turns out I was wearing the strap-thing too high. Lower it, and it sees more movement. SO, it wasn’t the PACE, it was the intensity. Too bad it didn’t tell me that.

TRAINER COMMENTS! OH, please.

GREAT JOB! YOU’RE REALLY DOING GREAT HERE! WOW, THAT’S SOME INTENSITY! GREAT JOB! YOU’RE REALLY DOING GREAT HERE! WOW, THAT’S SOME INTENSITY!

Really? the same 6 comments repeated in every workout non-stop? Like 1 comment every 3 seconds?

So, I went into the options and turned down the frequency of comments.

SAVING.. (pause pause pause) RESUME GAME

SAME THING EXACTLY. non-stop string of comments.

So, I went into the options and turned them OFF

SAVING.. (pause pause pause) RESUME GAME

SAME THING EXACTLY. Another bug. Crappy unchecked programming really hacks me off.

Back into options, Trainer voice volume, 0%

There, now he’s gone.

So, I got a pretty good workout. The running was .. fine.

They really missed it by doing the running on a TRACK.

HOW BORING IS THAT? Even Wii Fit lets you run around an island.

Ooo.. pink trees, big deal. loop loop loop .. same scenery again and again.

The stretchy cord stuff was .. fine. You can adjust the intensity by stepping on more or less of it.. cool. Seems flimsy and I’ve read the strap is snapping on people already.

The boxing was .. fine, though for the life of me I couldn’t figure out why some targets would break and some wouldn’t.

When using the balance board.. it was just dangerous.

foot up KICK..foot down.. foot up KICK.. foot down.

Repeat that a ton and you’ll find that you’re not putting your foot down in exactly the same spot. You aren’t watching your feet, you’re watching video cues on what to do next. I fell off twice, once rolling an ankle. Thanks EA.

So you’ve heard of all the different stuff in the game, right? I’ve heard of it too, but saw very little on my first workout.

IN FACT (this so hacked me off!) at the end of the workout, we pretty much repeated everything we’d just done. Really?

That’s interesting? That’s motivating? Puh-leaze. I was already bored and couldn’t wait for it to end.

Left lunges wouldn’t register, btw. I had to slap nunchuck for my character to go down with me. Crappy programming for the win.

The fact that your character on-screen takes a serious amount of time to respond to your movements is beyond annoying also.

I got a trophy for completing day one of the 30 day challenge (cool) and read that tomorrow, we’d be doing tennis. (cool!)

Fired it up tonight, heartbeat.. heartbeat.. ARG! ..

loaded the profile it suggested as the last used (the only profile created) and launched the 30 day workout.

ON DAY ONE.

(let me repeat that..)

ON DAY ONE.

Yep, I still had the trophy for completing day one.. but I was stuck back on day one.

I’ve read of this bug on other sites.

Crappy programming for the win. I really wanted to try tennis, so I tried to grin and bear it .. but I couldn’t. To do the same workouts 4 times in two days was just too much, especially since the lunges threw both knees out somehow.

EA SPORTS ACTIVE was pulled from my wii and will probably never be put back in. I can’t trust it.

For a good workout, I highly recommend Personal fitness coach. THAT is a workout. I’ve been doing that a few times a week for months. I took off about 10 pounds and have now been maintaining my body weight. It does something EA sports Active can’t: it gives energy by timing all the music to whatever you are doing, just like at the gym.

You may like it, but I couldn’t get by the bugs and how unpolished it felt. ick.

Rating: 1 / 5