Review: Zumba Fitness 2 for Nintendo Wii
Dec. 17, 2011— -- The trend of Zumba fitness dancing has reached critical mass in towns across the country, popping up at gyms, karate centers and dance studios the nation over. With Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii, the official creators behind the craze bring an authentic experience to Nintendo.
Unlike other dancing games, Zumba Fitness 2 asks you to slip your controller into a belt designed to fit all sizes and not get in the way of your moves. I had no problem moving with the belt on and I found that attaching my Wiimote to my hip provided enough of a bodily connection to the game to make it fun.
I brought the game to my wife, who took Zumba classes this summer, for a proper review. She lauded the songs and dance moves as authentic, offering many of the same she would dance to in class. She appreciated that she could unlock interviews with the creators of the movement. Soon after we put the game away, she was already planning her next dance session.
She conceded that the accuracy of the Wiimote picking up her movements was far less than a Kinect game like Dance Central, but she found the game a lot more fun because of its consistent high energy and focus on aerobic moves over dance moves.
The game keeps track of how many calories you have burned while playing, a handy metric, though we found that if we stopped a workout session halfway through, the calories burned in that session wouldn't be added to the total calories burned using the game. Controls for choosing weight weren't perfect either, I had to click a button with an odd sound effect some 35 times to enter my weight. A keypad would have been better.
For a Zumba fan who owns a Wii, this title is an easy gift to recommend. It might not replace a true Zumba studio session, but it comes close and is an affordable alternative for when classes aren't an option.
