Well, now that I’ve had a few more workouts with Gold’s Gym Dance Workout, I think I’m ready to say I like it. Not absolutely-wholeheartedly-I’ll-never-play-any-other-Wii-fitness-game love it, but it’s a pretty good game and I’ll certainly throw it into the rotation.
Which brings me to the term polywiidelity. Gold’s Gym Dance Workout has a lot of things I like, such as calorie-burn estimations, pre-set workouts based on the user’s goals, a heart rate check (that’s something I’d like to see in EVERY game), and lots of sweat-inducing cardio activities so I won’t get bored. However, GGDW seems to assume that since I purchased it, it must be the only fitness game in my life. Wrong!! While I do like GGDW, I also still enjoy Wii Fit Plus, EA Sports Active, Gold’s Gym Cardio, and of course, Just Dance. Yet for some reason, GGDW seems to think I should spend a little time every day playing with it. In fact, just about all those games (with the exception of Just Dance) seem to have this expectation that I will commit to them so regularly, I might as well be married to them.
Well, it ain’t happening. First, I like to mix things up too much to stick with just one game. I’m not always in the mood to do Latin dance or rhythm boxing. Sometimes I want circuit training. Sometimes I want to jog in place and pretend I’m running laps around a little digital island with all my friends. And other times, I’d like to engage in physical activities in the real world, by doing things like taking karate classes and swimming. And yet, every game I’ve picked up (again, except for Just Dance), seems to think I’m going to turn them on every day and sweat with them.
I will admit that EASA and GGDW do at least allow me the option of not using the personal trainer aspect, thereby allowing me to avoid the annoying demand of prescheduled participation. Wii Fit Plus, on the other hand, gets a little pissy if I don’t show up every day, and that’s down right annoying.
I wish someone would come up with a master program that would tie all these different games together so that I could play them on a rotating basis and not have to deal with the nagging from each individual game. And I also wish that master program would allow me to make note of the fact that when I don’t use it, it’s because I was actually doing some exercise in the real world. Sadly, no such program exists, and thus I’m stuck with a bunch of persnickety workout programs that all whine to compete for my undivided attention.
But back to GGDW. Now that I’m past the tutorials, I’ve moved into workouts that do make me sweat. The game estimates I’ve been burning around 95+ calories a workout, with each workout so far lasting 25-30 minutes or so. That’s not bad, in my opinion, and I know from poking around in the game that the intensity is definitely going to go up if I stick with the personal trainer workout. But I probably won’t in the long run, because I can’t devote time every day to it and I hate to be nagged. Which is a shame, because I’m betting the other feature I like, the heart rate check, is probably only available when I use the personal trainer portion of the game.
Anyway, I say give Gold’s Gym Dance Workout a try. It’s certainly growing on me, even if I don’t plan to marry it like it wants.
