Better than going to the gym?
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is the first exercise orientated game for Kinect. Now there will be loads of these games coming out in the coming weeks and months, but can Ubisoft set the standards high for the other competitors?
Indeed it can. First of all, the game puts you through a scan to detect height and mass, while asking you questions regarding your age, how much you weigh and what you want the game to focus on. It is incredibly exhausting…especially if you aren’t the exercise type, like me. Of course, I plan to change all that with Kinect and Your Shape seems to be the game to do it, at least for now.
There are quite a number of different exercises, but each one has to be done in sync with your trainer to earn a maximum percentage rating. The problem with this is that you can be trying as hard as you can and still be out of sync, plus it’s not 100% accurate. Add in some exercises that are difficult to pull off anyway and you’ll find yourself frustrated from time to time. Luckily though, everything you do equals to your total of calories lost, which in turn unlocks achievements when you reach certain milestones all the way up to losing 10,000 calories.
You can also challenge your friends at losing weight, plus look at your stats online to keep track of your progress out of game. It could do with some work, but it’s a step in the right direction. There are also a handful of exercise games like smashing blocks with your fists and feet, balancing blocks on a board and dropping them into holes that open at specific points, a DDR-type game and hula-hooping, which is my biggest failure playing Kinect thus far.
The games are fun, but they are hard and doing well proves insanely difficult. I know I won’t be getting 1000 gamerpoints out Your Shape, as much as I want to…I know I’ll never master the hula hoop. But I will attempt to earn as much of them as I can, just as each time I play gets me closer to reaching the calorie milestones. Your Shape has personal workouts that are suited for each player, but be prepared for a lengthy workout…especially if you aren’t used to it. All those years of non-exercise games have finally caught up with me…
The interface is easy to use, although doing something simple like selecting the number of players for a game proved tricky as you need to stand on the number itself, but it usually means stretching the leg out to reach it. That aside, the rest of the game works very well and I can easily recommend it to anyone looking to shed a few pounds playing Kinect. Maybe the likes of EA Sports Active 2 and The Biggest Loser can improve things and make training more user-friendly than this, but it’s still a good workout.
The Verdict
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved will test you to the very point of your physical limits. The exercises are great, but utterly exhausting. Luckily, losing weight equals achievements and that’s a good enough incentive, even for me. Time will tell if this is the ultimate fitness game and if the rivals can perfect upon it, but for now…Your Shape is a damn good start.
