ZUMBA with Christine!

I was super-excited to try this game out!  Inside the box is the game and a cool belt to hold the Wii remote.  The belt is really comfortable and made for all sizes.  Having the remote in the belt doesn’t get in the way of dancing.

There are a few game modes to choose from, you can start dancing right away or create a profile to go through the routines and classes.   You can choose beginner, intermediate or advanced songs and routines but I was a bit disappointed you didn’t hear a preview of the music for that routine because you don’t really know if it’s a fast song or if you want to dance along to that song.   If you don’t like the song once you start, you have to exit out and start all over again.

I started with a quick warmup song with Beto as the instructor I had to follow.  The game shows an outline of an instructor and dancers behind them.  The outlines change colour and turn green when you’re following along to the routine.   I found it hard to follow the outline of the instructor initially, especially Beto!

The moves were easy and repetitive, just like in class but sometimes the movement on screen wasn’t synced up with the music so it made it hard to score extra points.  I found myself working harder to copy the exact movements on screen to get extra points.  There are 4 levels and a progress meter at the bottom, the better you follow the routine, the faster you make it through each level.

It’s a really fun game, extremely addictive and a fantastic workout!  I haven’t gone through all the song choices yet but I’ll post more about the songs when I post the full review of the game.  If you’re not familiar with the names of the ZUMBA songs, it might be a bit frustrating at first but they do list the type of rhythm it is (cumbia, salsa etc).

Overall I’d give it an 7 out of 10 because sometimes the movement and music is out of sync but most importantly, it doesn’t give you the real feeling and energy that being in a class does.  It definitely gives you the workout you’re looking for, not necessarily the party atmosphere!