If you are looking for a fun way to work out without breaking the bank, you should definitely check out the Wii game, Walk It Out, by Konami. Don't be fooled: while Walk It Out definitely looks like a kid's game, it's definitely more well-suited for teens and adults. I suspect that most kids would get bored easily with this game. Some adults, too, I suppose. Still, at $20, it's a steal! You don't need any special controllers either, just a Wii console, controller, and nun-chuck. The game is compatible with both the Wii Balance Board and DDR Dance Mat, but neither is required. In fact, I don't recommend using the balance board with this game.
The premise of the game is that you are on an island (Rhythm Island, to be precise). The island needs your help in its development. In order to help, you need to earn points to unlock event capsules around the island. For every step that you make on the beat with the music, you earn a point. But, be careful, because if you don't have rhythm, you'll lose points for missing the steps.* Events include such things as "building" a palm tree for 100 steps, a potted plant for 10 steps, or a streetlight for 70 steps. You can build a car for 200 steps, an apartment complex for 600 steps, or a suspension bridge for 1000 steps. You also unlock routes around the island with your stepping. 300 points get you a trip to Fountain Park, 400 takes you to the beach, and 20 points unlocks a residential street. (*I recommend changing the settings so that you don't get a miss penalty!)
In addition to the event capsules scattered around the island, you'll find special event capsules, like song capsules, which look like CDs with green borders, magic clock pieces, zodiac capsules, and rainbow spheres. Unlike the event capsules which always stay in the same place on the island, no matter what time of the day you are playing, the special events appear at different times of the day and in different locations, too. The constellations only show up at night, and I suspect you can only get all the rainbow spheres during the day, but I'm not positive. The magic clock pieces, once you've collected them all, allow you to change the time of the day on the island, so that, for example, you don't have to walk at 3 AM in order to unlock the special events available at that time. That's the other thing I like about the island: the time that you play influences what's going on at the island. If it's daylight for you, it'll be daylight on the island. If it's dark, it will be dark there, too.
I've played this game every day since I got in the the mail about two weeks ago. I play anywhere from 20 minutes to 50 minutes, depending on how I'm feeling, how into it I get, and my mood. The best part is that by "playing" I mean "exercising." It might not be the most strenuous exercise out there, but it gets my heart racing and I'm always super sweaty when I'm done, which is a good thing! Sweating equals weightloss, and if the Wii Balance Board is to be believed, I've lost 10 pounds in the last 25 days. (I'll write more about that in a few days when I detail my 30 day Wii Fit challenge.)
Sometimes I focus on just collecting and unlocking song capsules, other days, I focus on getting a suspension bridge. Sometimes I don't think about anything at all and just walk wherever the game takes me. I'll use my points later, when I've amassed a bunch. I've probably unlocked about 25 songs of the 105 songs available, which means I still have a lot to go! I've unlocked probably 90% of the routes available on the island and completed maybe 20% of the town building. Which means I still have lots of walking to go before I've finished everything on the island. And when I finish the island? Word is that I can either create a new profile and start over or just keep walking the completed island and not spend those points. I'll probably start the island over and come up with a strategy for unlocking it, just to add a new challenge. Or maybe I'll put that miss penalty back on?
I'd write more about how much I love this game, but I just found this Walk It Out Guide and I'm busy reading it. Also, if I haven't convinced you to cough up $20 for this game, check out the Walk It Out Facebook page to connect with over 2000 fans.
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