Negative Gamer Review: EA Sports Active (Wii)

After 48 days, I have finally completed the EA Sports Active 30 Day Challenge. Not a particularly impressive figure, I’ll grant you, but illness, work and the interference of Real Life’„¢ meant I took far more “rest days” than the schedule suggested. Now that’s all over with, it’s time for the final review.

For those of you who haven’t read my previous posts, a quick recap. EA Sports Active is a fitness game designed to provide regular workouts and get you in shape. You follow the on screen trainer through a range of exercises and sports-based minigames, whilst your motions are tracked by the Wii Remote and nunchuk. Get fit and have fun, says the marketing material. But does it work?

Working it out

Evaluating EA Sports Active has been a constant struggle between two factors; its value as an exercise tool versus its worth as a game. This boils down to “it’s not fun, but…” for the most part. Once the novelty of the first week wore off, I basically hated the game.

Surprisingly, my enjoyment actually went up again during this final week. I realised that skipping exercises I disliked didn’t make me lazy, but was actually more productive because I remained engaged. To the game’s credit, this is very easy to do. Before starting a workout, you are presented with a list of all the exercises in the session. Unticking a box next to, say, those bloody lunges, makes for a more enjoyable workout.

Having fun should be part of EA Sports Active. Whilst they couldn’t hope to compare to great Wii games like Super Mario Galaxy, EA had a great opportunity to make people like exercising. Instead, they blew it.

Throughout this review process, I’ve criticised EA Sports Active for a lack of variety in exercises. Part of the problem is pacing; at the start of the 30 Day Challenge new exercises are introduced every session, but as you progress the novelty is reduced to a trickle. Any additions tend to be mere variations on existing motions; in this final week I was introduced to a new type of squat which requires standing on tip-toes whilst squatting. It’s certainly a good workout, but it feels like I’ve done it all before.

All other issues are minor. The leg strap and resistance band peripherals caused trouble in the beginning, but they get the job done. The music and visuals are bland but inoffensive, and after some initial problems I haven’t been too frustrated by the motion control detection.

Crunching numbers, not abs

Last review I promised some stats, so here they are. During my 20 workout sessions, which lasted a total of 8 hours and 21 minutes, I burned 2711.4 calories, or about 135 calories per session. This resulted in a weightloss of 1.5 kilograms, which is actually pretty good.

I have made no efforts to change my diet throughout the process, so any weightloss is easily attributable to EA Sports Active. Even if I’m not enjoying it, its certainly effective.

Perhaps looking at the results is the fairest way to review the game. After all, I wouldn’t mark down Civilisation for not including headshot support, just as I would be foolish to criticise the lack of taxation management in Halo.

What are the alternatives to EA Sports Active as an exercise tool? Expensive gym membership. Unchanging and dull exercises DVDs. Going for a run. Or just sitting on your fat arse. I’d happily say that EA Sports Active beats them all in terms of value for money, enjoyment, and effectiveness.

This isn’t Negative Exercise Regimes though is it? Whilst we can argue the merits of software versus games on consoles, EA Sports Active must still be compared to the other titles available on the Wii. As I mentioned in Week 3, its not even as good as Wii Sports, a launch title.

A few other points worth mentioning:

• You get out what you put in. Merely walking slowly on the spot is enough to trigger the running animation on the virtual racing track, but why cheat yourself? To get the most out of EA Sports Active, you must be prepared to really work up a sweat.
• I’m pretty sure the calorie counter is based on time spent in each exercise, not your actual motions. Surely it wouldn’t have been too hard to take readings from the controllers and work out the calorie required to make that movement?
• The readers of Negative Gamer are not the target audience for EA Sports Active. It’s actually EA’s best selling Wii title ever, with nearly 2 million copies sold. Most of them probably went to middle-aged women.

I think the final review can be summarised by the header picture at the top of this post. That smile on my face is genuine, a testament to the rush of endorphins I felt on completing the 30 Day Challenge. Stupid as it sounds, getting that garish trophy felt like a real achievement. Microsoft’s “beep-boop” just can’t compare.

My time with EA Sports Active won’t end now that I have completed the 30 Day Challenge. I’ll still be using it regularly by setting up customs workouts to exclude the exercises I don’t like. I may even attempt another 30 Day Challenge that comes in under 30 days. I’m never going to boot it up for a bit of fun, but its certainly got a place in my exercise regime.

You should play this game if…

…you want to get fit and lose weight, and don’t mind not having fun.

Final Score
It’s not a very enjoyable experience, but then exercise generally isn’t. Stick with it though, and you’ll see some good results.

(What does this score mean?)