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If the screens for Get Fit with Mel B look familiar, it's for good reason. The game was developed by a company called Lightning Fish, which also happened to develop a game for the Wii called "New U Fitness" in the UK, where it was pretty well received (in a boneheaded marketing move, the same game was re-released in the US under the name "My Fitness Coach 2: Exercise and Nutrition"--you can read about why this was a boneheaded move under my review for that product).
The Wii game was not as bad as the reviews would indicate. It had a snazzy, three-dimensional opening menu, and you could choose on-screen instructors to lead you through a variety of basic calisthenics exercises (sit-ups, lunges, etc.). You could choose either individual exercises or have the system prepare a daily workout that combined different exercises based on your fitness goals. It had the typical bells and whistles of a Wii workout game such as allowing you to change your background scenery.
My initial impression of Get Fit with Mel B is that it's pretty much the same game as New U Fitness, just updated for the PS3. The premise of the game is more or less identical to My Fitness Coach 2 and in fact, so are the menu options:
The opening menu options are:
Today's Workout:
When you set up your profile, you can identify up to two fitness goals under the categories of General Health (weight loss, detox, lower cholesterol), Lifestyle (e.g. "Destress"), Special Occasions (e.g., new mom/dad, getting ready for the holidays), Sports and Activity training, and working on specific parts of your body. The system will automatically put together a daily 30-minute regimen of exercises that will target these goals.
Choose Workout:
Here, you can drill down to the specific exercises that you want. Exercises are broken into two categories: Fitness and Aerobics. Fitness exercises include things like crunches, squats, lunges, etc. You typically do them in reps of 10-20 before going onto the next exercise. For aerobics exercises, you can choose from a series of dance moves, boxing moves, or cardio moves.
There's also a "custom workout" option which lets you put together your own string of exercises (selecting exercises and defining the number of reps for each), a "practice" option which lets you practice certain exercises as many times as you like (anywhere from 4 to 96 reps), and a neat "challenges" option where you're pushed to complete a series of themed exercises (dance exercises, abs exercises, leg exercises, boxing exercises, and cardio exercises) within a certain amount of time.
Your Progress:
This section allows you to track your workout progress. One thing the Wii has that the PS3 doesn't is a balance board which will automatically chart your weight. So it's time to dust off that bathroom scale.
Nutrition:
I never quite understood the concept of having recipes on a video game. I get that they want to provide a "holistic workout regimen" that involves proper diet, but on the other hand, not many people have their TVs set up in their kitchen or a printer hooked up to their video game console.
There were a couple things about Get Fit with Mel B, that I really liked:
1) The game makes excellent use of video. You first get a hint of this when you seeing a video image of yourself under "Your Progress" in the opening menu options. To start, you first calibrate your video image (basically stand in front of the camera and let it scan you). As you start your exercises you'll see two exercise mats, the left one with a video image of Mel B (it's really her, not a creepy cartoon rendering), and the right one with--you! Your video image is actually superimposed on the screen! As Mel B does the exercises, you can match her movements and timing exactly, step by step, arm movement by arm movement. It's a vast improvement over the "do the mirror image of my movements" you find in Wii exercise games.
2) The scenery is breathtaking. Granted, when compared to other PS3 games it's probably not that impressive, and it's really just used as a backdrop (there's no interaction with the scenery). But for someone used to enduring choppy and cartoony Wii background scenery I was impressed. The first scene I chose was the "City Apartment", which was a window overlooking a city skyline. You can also choose to work out in a park, on a dock by the bay, at a poolside, in a forest meadow, and on a luxury yacht.
3) The array of individual exercises is impressive. There are 22 basic fitness exercises, but 15 dance exercises, 20 boxing exercises, 14 cardio exercises, and 14 advanced cardio exercises. Put them together in different orders with different amounts of reps, and you'll have a pretty good variety of workouts.
4) You can choose to work out using your own equipment, including an aerobics step, a fitball, a resistance band, wrist weights, and ankle weights.
Annoyances:
1) While other games say that you need to be at least 8 feet from the camera, most of the time you can get away with being 5-6 feet away. Not so with this game. Anything less than 8 feet and your video image will not appear on the screen properly.
2) For a lot of exercises, it simply doesn't make sense to have the Move controller tracking your moves. For standing exercises like squats, lunges, and jumping jacks it's great. But for exercises like push-ups and crunches it just doesn't make sense.
3) The game doesn't use the Playstation Move XMB navigation. I'll chalk this up to the developers not knowing about it, being an early release title. Still, it gets annoying having to point a cursor and click when every other Move game lets you hold down the trigger button and move the controller to navigate. Worse, you can't even use an available Dualshock or Sixaxis controller to control menu options.
4) This is an annoyance I don't think the game developers could have done anything about, but when performing exercises that require you to be on the floor, it's very tough on the neck to look up at the TV screen to follow the moves. Perhaps a little more audio guidance during these exercises would help.
5) In general, while the motion controls were a step above what you could find on the Wii, I didn't get the sense that they made full use of the Move's capabilities (generally, as long as there was ANY motion, it registered on the screen).
6) Tiny annoyance, but it seems the game developers forgot to convert certain screens for an American audience. When you first input your birthday, it took me a while to figure out that it was in "day-month-year" format versus "month-day-year". And what the heck is a "gram" or "milliliter" in the recipes section? :)
This has all the bearings of a game which is pretty well made for a first-generation title, but may not stand the test of time as newer and more innovative games come out. Still, for someone looking for a "pure" exercise game, it's not a bad choice. The ability to see your own actual video image next to Mel B is not just cool--there's no better way to help you visualize and time the exercise, particular for aerobics exercises. And the scenery is definitely beautiful and head-and-shoulders improved over what you'd see on a Wii. That, plus the fact that this is the first attempt at any fitness game for the PS3, gets it a solid 4 stars from me.
For "fun", I'll give it 2 stars, as at the end of the day it's still just a glorified exercise DVD, which I don't find particularly fun. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I hope as game developers produce more fitness titles for the PS3, that they can introduce more "gaming" elements to make workouts a lot more immersive and fun.
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Today was my first workout so i don't have TOO much experience with this game but here's what i think so far:
Pros:
-you definitely feel like you're working out (i was sweaty at the end)
-you can set the amount of time you want to work out for
-there's no pauses between workouts
-the workouts are fun, for the most part
-you can set up the game to use certain workout equipment (if you have any)
-you can specify one or two goals you want (like slimming down, improving health, etc)
Cons:
-i live in an apartment building and the game requires lots of jumping
-some of the workouts were confusing and there's no real explanation of what to do
-sometimes, the image on the screen of you doesn't show up properly
-you really need the full 8 feet (or maybe even more) to use this. I have almost exactly 8 feet and the move camera didn't "see" me at times
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I was super excited to get the game, after 4 workouts I am not so thrilled about it. It is getting frustrating really fast. Here are the issues I have encountered so far:
1. Each set of exercises is limited to 15 min and then you repeat the set for the total of 30 min. To me this is kind of annoying, because you go through standing exercises, ball, weights, floor and then all over again, so certain amount of time is lost and you cool down while getting weights on and off and so on.
2. The move controler is impossible to calibrate correctly or there is a bug in the software. If it is fine for one exercise it is not calibrated for the next one. I've contacted Deep Silver and was told that it is an issue with my set up and that they've never heard of a problem with the controller not registering the exercise. It will register movements completely randomly. When I press select button to calibrate it, it will show that the controller is not calibrated and recalibrate it again. Honestly, that happens around 10 times during 45 min workout that has a lot of movement in (dance, kickboxing) and it is very frustrating. Very. After working out for over a week, I am thinking that maybe it is related to me jumping and so on, which makes the floor vibrate and somehow shifts the eye? That is the only reason I can come up with, but I will keep trying to solve this.
3. It won't allow to make up reps. For example, if I miss a move for whatever reason (the controller doesn't register) I am still a move or two (or more) behind Mel, even though I am doing 2 reps for one of hers, so impossible to catch up.
4. The custom workout is limited to 15 exercises only. I haven't been able to save my custom workouts, so I have to choose the exercises every time not really helpful when you are trying to vary and cover all muscle groups.
5. The time limit supercedes the reps. On two occassions at the end of the active workout it cut the last exercise half way (right side only). I'd rather finish the rep than be in the exact 30 min.
6. The "encouragement/guidance?" part gets annoying fast. If you are doing 16 lunges, during the last 5-6 you hear "get your legs wider" or something to that effect at every single lunge. Or during the dance part :Now you are getting it :)
7. There is a gauge that measures your accuracy or how well you are performing the exercise and it affects your score at the end. From my experience so far I have no idea how to works. I can do the exercise really well and get 50% or I can just wave the controller and get 97%. The visual and verbal cues are completely off. For example on the chest fly when you hear "down" her arms are actually up so if you follow the verbal cues you will be off.
8. The warm up and cool down are the same every time. I am ok with the warm up, but with the cool down more stretches and variety would be great.
9. The challenges section: you get one of each (dance, legs of steel, cardio) I was hoping that it will be challenges, like in the other games, you pass one and there is a harder one waiting for you, at least couple of different levels would be nice.
This is what I've noticed so far. The only positive I can see right now is that despite all the issues I am exercising, which is obviously better than doing nothing. I wish the developers have spent more time on the exercise portion I don't see any point in the recipe part. As another reviewer mentioned, probably no one has a PS3 in the kitchen.
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Every gamers have different tastes. I just want to say this game is not as complicated as you think it is. I has been a body-builder for 12 years. This game is very easy to get use to it if you has experienced in fitness with personal trainer. My wife loves the game, at first, she was having rough time it is all because she never experience fitness with personal trainer in her life but things have changed she truly enjoys it. When I gave my first try, it was easy for me but what impressed me the most, I can feel muscles and body cooling. This game is some serious workout! I been testing this game for while, I been having this game for at least a month before I made my personal honest review.
Pros:
* It is very easy to create a profile.
* It is very easy to follow instructions, if you need help or explanation, you can always use a guides or tutorials that will show you how to work out the right way in the game! If you don't understand the trainer, you can always use subtitle as an option which I am hard of hearing myself.
* Calibrating the camera and the move is not really that hard like everyone experienced, like I said every gamers have their own tastes.
* It is fun, electrifying, it entertaining, and wonderful piece of game for anyone who wants to workout for shapes, healthy body, energy, stress relieve and making lifestyle better.
*Dance Mode
* Nice Musics
* Good Picture Quality
* Serious workout
Cons:
There aren't no cons in the game, it just people doesn't spend enough time to go through the whole game and settings to figure everything out.
Why skip a manual book and straight to gaming after feeling there was a con?
* Meal plan option was not as confusing it is, all it saying what we can eat for a day.
Things you need to know:
*Avoid Bright Light/Light Windows in the background because it will make the PS Eye will see it as overexposures.
* Tracking the body perfectly done in about 6-9 feet.
* You do not always have to hold the move for the whole time when you work out, you can place the Move anyway near you for the camera can show your body on the screen just like the Kinect. The Move's light ball will keep the camera tracking your body.
"People, Don't be afraid to buy this game if you are looking for a decent game to help your fitness! Buy it and Enjoy it! Trust in Me, it worth the Pennies!!"
I would rated this game 4.5 out of 5
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My few complaints: i needed more time than she did to get down and up off the floor, so i had to pause the game for that (getting faster now). Also, I have to move the camera to point down and see me do floor work, to get a good score and keep progressing in difficulty. Lastly, I wish there were more background scenery options.
What I love: The variety. The main challenge with exercise is to keep things interesting. After changing around the personal goal settings, I finally settled on 50% overall body toning / 50% thighs/abs/tummy. This gives me great toning workouts which i do M,W,F, with intervals on the treadmill on the alternating days. I just turn on the game in the morning and she's got a new lineup for me to try.
The PS3 Move: I really like the camera putting you up there on the screen. I've got felt-footed furniture and a hard floor, I just scoot everything out of the way, learned how to adjust the camera just right, and I usually get great feedback for most of the game.
I've been on a buying spree with workout games lately, and, once I narrowed down the personal goal settings that worked for me, this one is my favorite, more than EA Active 2, Zumba, Gold's Gym Dance... Just Dance and Just Dance 2 are in a league of their own for really fun (and sweaty!) cardio IF i can get both my daughters playing with/against me.
I don't use the Nutrition thing on this or any of my games. I follow South Beach.
