**Note: I was selected by Ubisoft and Clever Girls Collective to be part of the Ubisoft Champions social media program. While Ubisoft provided me with this game to review, the opinions I’ve expressed here are solely my own and represent my honest viewpoint. Ubisoft and Clever Girls Collective promote Blog With Integrity.**
So, via Ubisoft and Clever Girls Collective, I got my hot little hands on a copy of Gold’s Gym Dance Workout for the Wii. I brought the game over to my brother and sister-in-law’s house to play with my SIL. She and I like to play Wii together every now and then, particularly dance or music games. I figured she’d be game to try out GGDW with me since she’s always looking for ways to stay active and help burn off the last little bit of baby Weight since having my adorable niece eight months ago. Adding to the fun, my SIL’s sister also came over to play along and laugh at our attempts.
I say attempts, because the dance sequences were actually kind of hard to follow. There are several different settings you can play – latin and pop dance workouts, mini-games that have you bouncing around doing different activities to burn calories, and cardio boxing. The dance workouts were a lot like attending a real dance class at the gym – there’s an instructor on screen demonstrating and shouting out the moves. And, a lot like a real dance class, they don’t stop or slow down to help you catch up if you get lost. Which I did. Frequently. My SIL was better at mimicking the steps, but I kept getting confused as to whether I should be mirroring the instructor or following their moves. We all agreed that there should be an option to turn the instructor around so that you can watch their movements in the same way that you should be doing them.
(This is a screen shot of the warm-up Exercises, led by my “personal trainer” avatar.)
During the dance parts, there’s a chart on the side of the screen that shows how well you’re doing (or not doing), and you can go back and play back the individual moves to help you practice them separately. You can do two-player dance workouts, which is nice if you do best when motivated by working out with someone else. Or if you want to get the person laughing at you from the couch to put their moneymaker where their mouth is.
My favorite part of the game is definitely the mini-games. They’re fast paced and fun – you can do karate chops, ride bulls, canoe, jump rope, etc. (I think I like the sword practice best. I am not so good at the matador moves – good to learn in case I ever decide to go to Pamplona.) They’re probably not the focus of the overall game, but certainly the highlight for me.
I think with a little practice, I could probably get better at the actual dance workouts. Even off-step, we could tell that they are a good workout, they got our heart rates up and got us moving. Plus, my niece loved watching our dance steps and bouncing along to the music, getting her own little workout while we danced away.
(Notice the slight blur? That’s because Eva is bouncing out her dance moves!)
Have you tried Gold’s Gym Dance Workout? What did you think? What’s your favorite workout game?
