Can The Biggest Loser take the crown from Your Shape?
Just a few weeks into launch and Kinect has already seen its fair share of exercise games. First there was Your Shape, EA Sports Active 2 and now, The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout. Your Shape has definitely been the better game, but can The Biggest Loser come out on top?
It almost manages to, but doesn’t quite feel as polished or enjoyable as Your Shape does. It also lacks the same kind of accuracy when it comes to your movements. It feels just like the TV show and seems to assume that you are overweight since all contestants have a few extra pounds. You do get good workout regimes, but the mini-games are pretty poor in comparison and make you do silly moves to replicate the action that you are meant to do.
It’s more exhausting to play than Your Shape, but not in a good way. It too requires you to be in sync with your trainer or it wont give you credit for trying. Surely they would make it work so they can detect that you are trying and give you some acknowledgement towards your calorie counter…It also oddly comes with healthy recipes to try out, why it is in a game is beyond me…surely you can find this kind of information on health shows and the internet?
Fans of the show will appreciate all the little tips you get from former contestants during the loading screens as well as the expertise of personal trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels along with the encouragement of Alison Sweeney. I don’t watch the show so I can’t compare what they do in-game to their show counterparts, but what I did see felt very fake and insincere. Maybe that’s a bit harsh, but it’s just the way they came across to me.
I’m not saying that The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout is a bad game, not by any stretch of the imagination. It’s good and will definitely keep you in shape, but the activities aren’t as strong as they are in Your Shape and it shows. Of course, if you didn’t pick up Your Shape and are a fan of the show…then you’ll really enjoy what the game has to offer in terms of exercises and feedback from the trainers. Otherwise, it’s pretty hard to recommend to those who already own an exercise game for Kinect.
It’s a bit basic in the graphics department, but does the job nonetheless. Character models are mixed but look nice. Voice-acting is average and the menus are fairly easy to navigate.
The Verdict
The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout is a decent exercise game for Kinect, but it’s not the best out there. Fans of the show may appreciate it more and will enjoy what it has to offer, but the rest of us will be better off with the other games for Kinect.
