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I bought this game for myself after I bought an Xbox 360 Kinect for my son. I am a 47 year old male, and I lead an entirely sedentary lifestyle -I sit in front of a computer all day at work, then come home and sit in front of a computer all evening doing Web programming and digital photography. I have always suffered from a sore back and often-sore muscles from my poor fitness. I am not exactly the type to go to a gym and be intimidated by all the muscle guys and muscle women, so I decided to get this game to try to get myself moving.
I can say that Your Shape has been successful at getting me moving again. It's a lot of fun, and there's a large variety of exercises to choose from. I started with the exercies disguised as gym games, which for us sedentary types is a good and fun way to start moving again. I then ventured to the Personal Training mode, and started following a routine for cardio and toning.
There are several things I like about Your Shape (besides being able to exercise in my own home). First, the games and exercises vary from very easy and good for beginners, to very advanced for people in good shape (most of which I haven't tried yet). Second, there is a wide variety of games and exercies to choose from at each level. Third, I like how it tracks your progress over time (by way of total calories burned, and by way of which levels you have passed and which levels you have unlocked by mastering easier levels). Fourth, it does a pretty good job of making sure you are doing the exercises correctly (or at least not horribly incorrectly) by virtue of the Kinect. And lastly, the graphics are pretty nice and clean.
I gave it 4 stars overall instead of 5 for fairly minor issues. One, it's not as easy as I would like to get back to exactly where I stopped the last time I played. For example, I would like the ability for it to return directly to the exact point in my Personal Training session where I last left off. Also, I have noticed that a small fraction of the exercises fail to recognize when I am in synch with the trainer, even though I am as in synch as humanly possible. This makes me do more repetitions, because it won't count my out-of-synch reps as valid. Maybe that's a sneaky way to make me exercise more?
Overall, I'm very happy with Your Shape, and can recommend it, at least for people like me with previously low levels of activity. It may be great for much more advanced fitness buffs too, but that I cannot attest to. I can tell you that after my daily 40 minute evening sessions, I definitely feel like I got some serious exercise, and my tired muscles the next morning are a constant (but good) reminder that my body is indeed getting a workout. By the way, a good addition to this game is a pair of 5-lb weights (or some spare water bottles), which give you a little more of a workout if you use them while playing some of the fitness routines and games. This tip came from the game itself, and I concur.
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I was ready to be very skeptical of the Kinect and motion tracking in general (concerned about lag and accuracy). After playing this for 45 minutes this morning, I was very happy with it. I have used EA Sports Active and More Workouts on the Wii for the past year and have gotten in much better shape with it, but having to hold the controllers and the leg strap gets in the way for me. I was hoping that with this I would be able to consign the controllers to the dust bin of history and so far so good!I did the initial training, some of the toning exercises, and the first Zen class and can report that everything worked beautifully. And it kicked my butt today, so the intensity is definitely there. I like the feedback given by the motion detection much more immediate and accurate than the Wii controllers seemed to be. As you move you see your image on screen moving and if there is any lag I don't see it. Doing the lunges for instance, it told me I was getting out of rhythm and was not doing the lunges completely. Using the onscreen trainer and my feedback I was able to correct quickly and see that if I dropped my knees a little bit more the onscreen trainer was happy with what I was doing.
I haven't gone very deep into the program, as I said before, but the range of exercises and number of different programs seems to put it will ahead of the Wii games I have played, and I have to admit I was getting VERY bored with the other programs, so also very glad to have something different to use.
Best Deals for Your Shape Fitness Evolved - Xbox 360
Awesome game! I burned 500 calories the first night of playing on it!I can't see myself breaking a sweat restricted to a Wii fitness board or while holding any foreign objects in my hand. This game seems to be a lot different from the competitors. Nothing in your hands to drop and real workouts from Women's Health and Men's Health magazines.
This game, using the Kinect sensor watches you like a hawk. Which makes it sound like it is going to scream at you for every little mistake, but it is for your own good to improve your workout. Their is no frustration when using the Kinect sensor. The Kinect sensor is accurate about 99% of the time and tracks much better than my experiences with the Wii. (losses 1% because you have to be near the center of the play space before exercises or you'll end up moving arms and legs out)
It is constantly watching your form during exercises and verbally telling you how to correct your form to get the most out of it. It even tells you what exercises you need to work on to correct your form and what exercises you have the best form in. It tracks calories burned over time and builds workout routines custom to your individual fitness goals.
It is the first exercise game I know of that a die hard fitness magazine will get behind and improve with their own input. Do you think any other consoles are going to have fitness industry backed games? Enough said...
(I don't consider "The Biggest Loser" in the fitness industry due to the fact that they are a TV show. Do you think they really want you off the couch and not watching their show?)
I'm in no way connected to Ubisoft or Microsoft. I'm actually a die hard FPS fan (MW2, BF:BC2, and soon Black Ops) who just wanted a little extra energy from an in home workout routine. Yes I could do this without the game, but the game makes sure I do the exercises right and doesn't let me cheat on them. I'm shooting for the 10,000 calorie burned achievement in the first month.
Wish me luck!
My rating: 4.5/5
(It would have been 4/5, but they have the ability to add more workouts over Xbox live)
Honest reviews on Your Shape Fitness Evolved - Xbox 360
It's important to note that I have reviewed this product previously, and gave it five (5) stars. Unfortunately, after some more time with the title, I have to come back here and change my rating to three (3) stars. The reason being similar stated as other reviewers.Yesterday, I decided to try something different as suggested by vocal prompt. I left my current routine, tried a new one; then decided to continue my old one. Low and behold: all my progress was gone! I had already completed 8 sessions in that routine and had only 4 to go, but now they've been erased to the outskirts of a blackhole and I'm left with 12 new sessions to start afresh. I felt like crying and my motivation dropped significantly. It is this small thing that is costing Your Shape its 5 star rating and going down to 3.
After this, I went and checked the very scarce manual in the cover and found nothing to guide me. This IS frustrating.
So, bottom line. After you choose a program like Cardio, Toning, Nice and Easy, etc...stick with it. Even if the routines get boring after a while, you change it once, all progress is lost and you'll have to start all over again. I hope Ubisoft can clear this up and give better instructions, but my fear is that from experience when game developers stay quiet or neglect to mention these kinds of things, it's because they know that there is a glitch. Most reviews on this page are from people just beginning or having the program just for one or two days, but I'm sure that given a few weeks of working with the title all will come back and change their point of view. Yet, my previous review still stands, so I leave it below for you to read.
Nonetheless, I'm tackling it again tomorrow and will bite through to see what happens when I finish my first 12 sessions. Hopefully after that I get some clarity on what exactly is going on within Your Shape.
====PREVIOUS REVIEW FOLLOWS====
As a gamer and 9-5 office goer, I have decided at my age I do need some serious exercise. Gyms just don't work as it takes more time than it seems. That was one of the reasons I got excited when they announced Kinect.
The game as a debut title is great. Nothing more should be expected for now. It gives you great workouts and feedback.
Though I give it a 5, I still need to point out a few "concerns":
1 Your avatar on screen DOES lag. But it shouldn't matter, as you should not really be looking at yourself, bur rather your trainer's avatar. When you do exercises, focus on the trainer and keep in step with him/her. This will ensure you stay in rhythm and get good feedback.
2 The workout programs at points are a bit unclear. They are broken into type, levels and then sessions. Then there is a "Start My Training" which seems to do all the sessions at once. This part is a little confusing and the manual onscreen and in the booklet does little to give more clarity. Hopefully for future releases they will make this set up easier.
3 Too many submenus. To get to your activity, you may need to go through as many as 6 menus from inserting the disc in your Xbox to actually starting the exercise. The idea of immediate exercise should be incorporated somehow and should be accessible from the start up menu.
4 The so-called Zen part is still in its baby shoes. There is much room for improvement in this area, and hopefully they can even consider a future game just based on yoga/tai-chi/pilates. For now, what they give is sufficient, but I hope to see more focused choices in the future.
5 If you have a small screen TV, you're going to have a hard time reading the menus. My big screen TV is in our "game room" which does not have enough clear space, so I had to set the Kinect up in our living room area with more space, but super small TV. I end up walking to the TV every menu to go and read what the hey is written there. Characters are a little too small and crammed. I'm sure on big screen TVs it should suffice.
Final remarks.
If you want to get fit, this title will surely help you get there. From what I've seen, it can easily last you for a year or two, before you need to get something else. I've had it now for 2 weeks, and I've been stiff and sore since then, but feeling satisfied and energetic too. It gives you freedom in your own house, as you can start the cooking, go for a 15 minute routine and even step away from the game while quickly doing something else. The game will automatically pause and when you return it'll pick up from where you left. Those are conveniences that no aerobic class can offer. I'm sure hardliners can even plug in their bluetooth headsets and chat with friends while exercising.
Definitely to be recommended, even with its short-comings.
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