Review of Zumba Fitness - Kinect - Xbox 360

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I was a little suprised to see so many bad reviews. I actually thought this game was pretty accurate to the classes I had been taking. It definitely gives you a work out. The menu options are a little basic and uneventful but if you are using this game for work out purposes, for me anyway, it worked amazing. I worked up a sweat just doing the 20 minute classes (on easy). Because I've taken Zumba classes before, I knew a majority of the steps. I think the people who are claiming that it doesn't pick up their body movements could be misguided. Even on easy, and with a little experience, I found the dance class to be quite fast and with little instruction. This being said, if you are not a pro, it's not going to pick up every single step you do. it's just too fast, there are too many movements from head to toe. I don't have a problem with this personally. It doens't pick up every move I make but I realize the moves are very complex so most likely it's ME who isn't getting it right and not keeping up the pace. It's a lot harder than Dance Central which I noticed a lot of people are comparing it to. If you want a good work out, this is also a good thing. The harder the dances, the harder you work to keep up, and the better workout you get. If I want to have fun with friends I play Dance Central, if I want a work out, I play Zumba.

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Zumba Fitness Kinect

First, I am a total newbie to the Zumba world. That said, I am having a great deal of fun getting in shape using this title. In trying to reach my fitness goals using my Kinect, I have currently tried out EA Sports and Xbox's Fitness Evolved (neither of which I am a fan of after using the similar title Wii Fit), Kinect Adventures (fun, but not really geared towards fitness), and Dance Central (also fun but also not really geared towards fitness).

The Zumba title comes close to meeting all of my personal high level criteria for a great fitness title:

+ Tiered Cardio Workout (*****)

+ Fun Workout (*****)

+ Multiple Activities (***)

+ Workout Calendar (****)

+ Tracks Weight and Calories Burned (0)

What I love about Zumba:

+ I'm only at the beginner level and I'm (grinning but) SERIOUSLY TIRED within 20mins!!

+ I have a lot to learn and am having fun learning it.

+ I look forward to my workouts.

+ The workouts are varied even within the workout so you don't get bored.

+ The 'trainers' and online indicators of 'success' help but don't hinder your psyche (i.e. FUN is the key factor).

+ If you slow down, the music doesn't stop, so if you get tired you can jump back in at full speed at any time.

+ It follows the overall workout rhythm of warm up, high intensity, cool down without ever sitting down.

+ The music is fantastic and so are the dance moves!!

What needs to be fixed or could be improved:

+ The menus are a catastrophe and need to be fixed, but I have learned to navigate them.

+ It would be great for a weight graph feature to be introduced.

+ An estimated calorie burning feature would also be great to see for the same purposes.

Otherwise, this is a great overall body workout and I would recommend it to anyone who likes dancing. I can't speak for those who already know the Zumba moves, but except for the belly dancing (which I already know fairly well and LOVE to do), I found it very challenging, and I love a challenge.

I know some people have complained about it not tracking body movements enough. Personally, the stuff I'm not good at yet, I can't really tell, but it seemed to be more or less on the mark with the belly dancing.

And, really, I'm looking to get a fun, high intensity dance workout, so that's what I'm really concentrating on, as opposed to being completely exacting regarding the moves of the dance instructor at every single second.

Anyway. I hope this review is helpful to Zumba newbies!! If you are ready for a challenge, you'll get one!!

And word to the wise: If you are using Dance Central as a workout, you ain't seen nothin' yet!! Get ready to SWEAT!! I still love Dance Central...but I now only use it to cool down if I still have energy after my Zumba workout (but not enough for more Zumba LOL) and also to play with friends at parties ;)

IMPORTANT NOTE: There are a lot of negative reviews about this product. I can't say for sure, but I very much suspect that those users either do not have Xbox online memberships, or that they wrote their reviews before the online product update came out. As soon as I put the disc in, Xbox Live asked me to download an update, which I did, and I haven't experienced ANY of the logout issues or serious body tracking issues mentioned in the one star reviews.

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My husband and I just bought the Kinect and Zumba Fitness game today and I have to say I love the game! I don't usually review products but I felt compelled to do so since the Kinect version of this game got so many bad reviews on Amazon and I didn't want people to get turned off by that. I didn't have the problem of the game signing me off when I did turns as other reviewers did nor did I have an issue with the game not recognizing my movements, the feedback (red circles that appear around your shoulders, knees, etc.) seemed right on. I had a blast playing this game, the dance moves are sexy and fun, the music is great and on top of it all you get a great workout (I was pretty sweaty at the end and I'm fairly athletic). There was an X-Box update on the game that took place the moment I popped it into my console so perhaps the issues others had with the game have been resolved? I skipped over the tutorial and went straight to the game, starting at the beginner party level, yes the moves start to get more challenging as you keep going through the routine but the moves are repeated and I found that I was able to catch on pretty quickly. I'm looking forward to using Zumba as my morning workout on mornings I don't go to the gym and seeing what the results are! (Plus I may even be able to get the hubbie to join in, get him learning some new dance moves!) ;-)

Honest reviews on Zumba Fitness - Kinect - Xbox 360

I would rate this lower if the scale would allow it. This game does not, I repeat does not recognize your movements. Avoid this game like the plague. I also have Fighters Uncaged and it is 100% better than this title. I am very very disappointed in this title and I can't believe they actually released it in this buggy state. The game repeatedly locked up, and then would sign you out during moves that it instructed you to do. This game did not recognize body movements, and the menu system was incredibly hard to navigate. I took this game back after only having it for 1 hour. I even argued with the pimple-faced Game store idiot to take it back. The game is too buggy to even play. For all the game studios Please create other Zumba games because we want them! Fellow consumers, trust me, this game is terrible. Please save your money as it doesn't work.

We have Kinect Adventures, Kinect Sports, Fighters Uncaged, Dance Central, and Your Shape fitness and they are all better games than this one. I will give you an example of the buggy activity.

The game will ask you to do a spin maneuver, but because you stop facing the camera for a second the game signs you out. Since it signed you out, you then have to go through 5 or 6 menus to get back to where you are.

Here is another example, you will start like we did by going through a little tutorial, but after being on turtle speed for 5 seconds she (the virtual instructor) ramps up to Dancing with the stars speed. What's worse she expects you to try to follow along without providing you any instructions besides "Let's go". To make matters worse, the game then completely stops recognizing your movement. In fact, I just started doing whatever I wanted to do (knee lifts, jumping jacks, punches, hip shakes) and the game thought it was great.

I'm sure that some people will post negative feedback about my review, but honestly avoid this game. I love Kinect and this is the crappiest title on Kinect or any other system that I have every tried. Contact me on Amazon and I can tell you about the other much better Kinect games!

Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Zumba Fitness - Kinect - Xbox 360

I really like the workout and the music. I had read all the bad reviews and was hoping that they were maybe just user error but the game is glitchy. I found that if anyone walked behind me or around me during play the game would sign me out. Which is difficult with young children. I could just sign in and hit continue but it was really frustrating and disappointing because the game itself seemed great. I have only played it once so far and did the 20 minute routine. I have never done Zumba but have always been interested in trying it. So far I am impressed, the music was great and the moves are so fun. They don't give instruction, it is more of a watch and learn type of thing. I read reviews for the dvds and they said pretty much the same thing and it is not as hard as I thought it would be to catch on. Plus, the game gives you a little feedback I am not sure how accurate it is since like I said the game did have some glitches. I read there might be an update coming to fix the bugs I hope it's true because then it would be a five star rating for me. I might also try to use the calibration card before my next use

Update: December 20I did the update that fixes the bugs when it came out. I put the game in and the option to download the update pop up first thing which was cool. I saw major improvement right away. I can definitely tell when I am not hitting the moves right. The instructor lights up yellow and green when your doing good. Orange and red when you are off. Also it doesn't sign me out if one of the kids walks into the sensors view anymore, sometimes it picks them up and will say Guest 2 or 3 but it doesn't affect the game play at all. The only time I get signed out now is if I leave the area for a minute, like to go get a drink of water or something. Then all I have to do it hit "Done" on the sign in screen and "Continue Game" on the next and it picks up right where it left off. Basically it takes the same amount of time as hitting pause on the remote. So all in all I think that it is a great game and fun. It's a good way to try Zumba if you already have an XBOX 360 and Kinect, since the DVDs can be pricey and this game is only about $40.