EA Sports Active: More Workouts (Wii)

EA Sports Active: More Workouts is a standalone expansion for EA Sports Active. The workout profiles are interchangeable between the two games. If you do not have the original game, you will need a resistance band and a leg strap for the nunchuck. You can buy these in multiplayer kits that sell for $20. The Wii balance board is supported but not used very often. Working out with a friend is still an option and rewards you with a trophy if you have a workout buddy.

When you fire up the game for the first time you\'ll be setting up your fitness profile or importing it from EA Sports Active. Your weight can be entered in or measured using the Wii balance board. There are goals consisting of the calories you want to burn, and how many hours and workouts you wish to complete. I highly recommend starting off with the six week challenge.

The six week challenge is in a journal format. There are a couple of quick surveys where you can log how many restaurant meals, drinks, and veggies you consumed, how much relaxing you have done, and how much you enjoyed, and the quantity of effort you put into your previous workout. You can also record other activities you have done and get credit for them. It\'s in this journal area that you launch your pre-set workout for that day. Every third day is a rest day...phew! There are three levels of intensity and the highest intensity workout will get you sweating, guaranteed!

Before you begin your workout you will see what exercises are in store for you and how many calories it anticipates you\'ll burn; I typically burned more than it assumed. You\'ll also see what areas of the body will be focused on. The workouts usually go a little more than thirty minutes. The individual exercises are typically pretty quick, the obstacle courses and marathons are a little longer. There are pre-made workouts that you can do in 10 minutes to an hour and they are available in low, medium, and high intensity. Alternatively, you can create your own workout with the activities you enjoy doing, and you can set the intensity and see the estimated calories it will burn for you.

The workouts themselves have a lot of variety and there\'s only so much sugar coating you can do to exercising. Although there are some fun sports activities, the meat and potatoes are the exercises that help tone you up. These exercises will not be fun to do but at least the music is good and they put you in a very relaxing and colorful environment. The first time you do a workout, you\'ll see a video of how it\'s done. Your trainer will also appear on the lower right hand side so you can watch and mimic them. The exercises focus on cardio, upper, core and lower body workouts. The workouts in this game seem more balanced and there is more focus on the core muscles than the original game. I was happy to see the addition of a warm up and cool down phase. For those of you who are left handed, the squash game will left you choose a lefty mode. The exercises utilize both the nun-chuck and wii remote evenly.

The sports related activities include cardio boxing, squash, paddle surfing, and water skiing. Step Aerobics is a fun cardio exercise that will keep you moving; I used my Wii Balance board as my step. There are various races, marathons and obstacle courses to keep you on your toes and burning calories. Upper body workouts will consists of tricep and bicep curls, lateral raises, and upright/bent over rows. The lower body workouts will have you doing numerous squats, lunges and jumps.

Graphically this game does a nice job and has a nice island backdrop. The scenery is very colorful and relaxing. When setting up your profile, you can customize the appearance of your character. There are different hair style and face shapes, clothes and accessories that can be applied. There are many helpful tutorial videos that show you how to do the exercises and you can always watch these videos again if you need a refresher.

The background music variety is pretty good. I liked the techno and dance style music. The music is mostly instrumental so there is nothing to worry about content wise.

Appropriateness wise there is nothing to worry about in the game. There’s a book by Bob Greene that’s bundled in with the game. It has a forward by Oprah and contains some blaspheming.

As much as I enjoyed the original EA Sports Active, the More Workouts edition is far better with its more balanced workouts, warm-up and cool down sessions. It would be nice if they offered some variety on the warm ups and cool downs, a little variety can’t hurt! The journal system will help you hold yourself accountable with your eating and other daily habits. Like many games these days, there are many achievements you can unlock by hitting X number of balls, burning X number of calories, workouts, etc. There are plenty of reasons to keep playing this game.