Why You Can Trust CNET My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout review: My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout
My Fitness Coach delivers a strong workout package — as long as you can dance.
There are precious few products that really do sum themselves up in their titles, but My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout delivers precisely what it says on the box. It's a workout game for the Nintendo Wii with particular focus on dance routines, for better or worse.
My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout
The Good
The Bad
The Bottom Line
When we reviewed the original My Fitness Coach title we bemoaned the fact that for a Wii title, it had precious little to do with the Wii at all, not using the Wii Balance board or even the Wiimotes to track what you're doing. Dance Workout doesn't fall into this trap, and instead goes in an entirely opposite direction. You can opt to hold a single Wiimote in either your right or left hand — it's nice to see southpaws accommodated for — or as the game prompts, use a Wiimote in both hands as though they were exercise weights. The balance board is also supported, but it's an optional extra.
As with most fitness titles, your first action involves setting up a profile and a rough-looking personal avatar. There's not a lot of visual choice here, and what there is looks pretty rudimentary. We would also have preferred the option of putting height and weight measurements in metric terms, instead of the imperial-only option. Once that's done you can launch yourself into quick workouts, custom workouts, work with a personal trainer or take part in some multiplayer fitness training with a friend.
Unlike most fitness games that rely on generic keyboard music for their workouts, Dance Workout also features a smattering of licensed tracks, including Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" and Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" among them.
Each of the workouts offers a mix of mini-games, from dodging bulls to punching kangaroos. The latter is surely a criminal offence, as they're a protected species, but that's a minor quibble. The mini-games sit alongside more regular dance-themed workouts. These are quite high energy and we will say that if you're not a natural dancer, they're fairly tough to master, with scant on-screen demonstration given.
You get a very brief bit of on-screen warning for a new move — typically while you're still doing the previous move — and then you're in to a new gyration, and often quickly into a double-tempo variation of the same. If you can already dance the relevant styles it's fine, but those with two left feet will feel a little clumsy.
One of our clumsier testers also spotted that while the game uses two remotes, it's only registering the broadest of movements, so while the dance steps are complex, you can "cheat" your way to a good report if you so wish. As with any fitness product, you'll get out of it what you put in. We were impressed with the warm-up and cool-down routines, which are both a necessary addition and pleasantly relaxing after a tough dance workout.
As with any fitness product, you'll only see results from My Fitness Coach: Dance Workout through repeated use of its routines, and like most other fitness games, you can stamp your progress on a calendar to keep track of your workout routines. It's fair to say that we liked Dance Workout a lot more than the original Fitness Coach, but it's solidly a title best suited for those with a natural affinity for dance. Those with less natural rhythm are likely to become disheartened more quickly with this, and may want to consider other titles such as Wii Fit Plus or EA Sports Active.