Platform: Nintendo Wii
OFLC: G
Genre: Simulation
Number of Players: 1
Developer: Lightning Fish
Release Date: September 17th 2009 (PAL)

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NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer Official Website – Australia

We all know the stigma that is floating around cyberspace when it comes to fitness “games” and the Wii – that the Wii is being marketed to women, and using fitness as bait is the way they are doing it. While this may be true, the added opinion that the console itself is for women is something I highly disagree with. Besides, both genders need to stay fit somehow, and people seem to have forgotten that the other consoles have had a stab at it at some point.

NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer is one of the most recent productions for the Wii. It has been developed in conjunction with trainers and dieticians, and the gym franchise Fitness First. While it is another fitness release, there are significant and impressive differences that helps it stand out from the pack.

When you first start it up, you need to enter your name, build, how active you are, Date of Birth, unit of measurement preference, height, whether you’re left or right handed, Dietary Preferences, Primary Goal, Secondary Goal, Trainer, Location, and then you confirm the details.

When you get to choose how active you are, your choices include no exercise, moderate exercise, and exercise is my life (my words, not theirs). A word of advice when it comes to entering your height – get it right the first time because you can’t edit it later!

With the Dietary Preferences you choose what you can or can’t eat, and this helps the game tailor eating plans for you. So since you’re only able to choose between Pork, Beef, Lamb, Poultry, Fish, Shellfish, Eggs, Dairy, Gluten and Nuts, if you were allergic to any of these (or a vegetarian) you would deselect those you couldn’t eat.

Straight after that you need to pick goals for your fitness mission – your Primary Goals and Secondary Goals. There are 5 groups from which you can pick your Primary Goal – General Health, Flexibility, Occasions, Sports, and Shape. Some examples from within those groups include Weight Loss, Yoga, New Mum, Golf Fit and Bums Legs Tums.

For your Secondary Goal the choices are the same, so if you wanted to choose Weight Loss as your Primary but you also wanted to be Golf Fit then you could choose it at this point. If you change your mind later down the track, or if you feel you’ve accomplished your goal, you can change the choices you originally made.

Next you get to pick your Drill Sergeant, or “Trainer”. You choose 1 out of 4 trainers  (2 men and 2 women) who will show you how to perform your exercises and give you encouragement along the way. You also get to change your choice of trainer if you so wish. Once you’ve done that, you need to pick a Location – choose between a Tropical Beach, Alpine Mountains, Forest Meadows, or the Health Club.

After you’ve confirmed your details it will then ask you to turn on your Wii Balance Board so that it can weigh you. If you don’t have a Balance Board you can select cancel and you will then be asked to manually enter your weight. Once that’s done, you’re right to get started on the new you!

You are now met with a menu that allows you to get straight into your workout. Your choices are My Plan, Express Workout, Challenges, Profiles and Options.

My Plan is shown in the picture above. You can view the workout exercises which you will be doing today, or have a look at tomorrows. You can also view your meals for the whole week, as well as today and tomorrow, and it will even produce a shopping list for you. It also includes recipes so that you can follow the eating plan to the letter, and you can download and/or print them from the NewU website. You can also access your progress, and read some informative Lifestyle Tips.

In the Express Workout menu, you have 4 choices: Quick Workout, Before Work, Lunch Break, Evening. This just gives you quick access to a workout session – there doesn’t appear to be anything different about these workouts compared to those you find in the My Plan menu. The other thing in this menu is the access to a recipe in the last 3 choices where you will get a Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner meal to look at. These recipes are not the same as the ones in your meal plan though.

Challenges allows you to test yourself if you think you’re up to it. You can choose from Dance, Cardio Test, Army, Boxing or Football. I personally haven’t given these a proper go but they appear to be pretty tough. I would suggest that you give these a go if you have plenty of time, and if you think you are able to attempt the more advanced exercises.

In the Profile menu you are able to select another profile (if there is another set up), edit your profile, create a new profile, or delete a profile. As I mentioned earlier, you can’t edit your height, but you can edit your dietary choices as well as a few other details.

The Options menu allows you to access Settings, Workout Location, Trainer, My Weight and Credits. If you use your Wii Balance Board to weigh yourself when you first create your profile then the My Weight option is known as Diagnostics instead. With the Workout Location and Trainer options you are able to change your original choices. Be aware that the trainers may irritate you, and if they do you can go to the Settings menu and turn the voice volume down and the subtitles on instead.

Time for my final verdict! Having tried both Wii Fit and EA Sports Active already, my expectations weren’t exactly set high. I was pleasantly surprised, and I was happy to have found something that covered diet as well as exercise the way NewU Fitness First Personal Trainer has. I was also happy to start an exercise program that eased you into working out, instead of one that left you breathless and feeling like you were Goldie Hawn in Private Benjamin.

I think this is a worthwhile addition to your fitness collection, whether you have or haven’t started one yet. Be prepared to discover some yummy recipes that you will want to try right now, and exercises that are suited to whatever it is that you are aiming for.

Review product was provided by All Interactive Entertainment, and does not affect the outcome of this review.