Nike Kinect+ Training Review: Keeping fit with Xbox 360 and Windows Phone

While the Kinect'south suitability for gaming is sometimes a discipline of debate, nobody can deny that the Xbox 360's movement peripheral is perfectly matched for workout games. Of all the consoles, only the Xbox 360 with Kinect can track a user'south unabridged body positioning with whatever existent degree of accuracy. Gamers who aspire to get into better shape without leaving the home take many options thanks to these Kinect conditioning games.

Microsoft has thrown its chapeau in with Nike and developer Sumo Digital (makers of the awesome Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed) to produce the nearly definitive fitness game to appointment: Nike+ Kinect Training. We know they're serious well-nigh it because they appear it on-stage at E3 (to a generally Kinect-apathetic crowd) and produced a terrific Windows Phone companion app to go along with information technology.

Live-action meets digital

A central area in which Nike+ Kinect Training stands out is production values. The game starts out with a alive-action introduction starring real-life fitness trainers, and similar sequences precede sure parts of the game every bit well. These segments look like something you'd encounter on an actual Telly fitness channel and should help non-gamers warm up to working out with a videogame.

Once the actual training begins however, players will be face-to-face with one of two digital trainers. Well, they're real trainers who vocalization and presumably provide motion capture for 3D representations of themselves. The game offers both a male and female trainer, and so users can choose whichever makes them most comfortable. The 3D models generally expect great, other than their robotic centre and facial movements.

Getting started

The offset thing yous'll want to do with the Xbox 360 game is connect information technology to your Nike+ account. You tin create information technology directly from the panel or just make life easier by doing and so from the Nike+ website. By linking your business relationship, all Nike Fuel Points earned will be trackable through the website. Unfortunately, Fuel Points earned outside of the game tin't be shared or viewed inside the game – a missed opportunity to make the game even more useful.

Next yous'll need to become through an in-game physical fitness test. The game doesn't warn you beforehand, but it's a lengthy and strenuous test lasting around 45 minutes. I wasn't actually planning to spend and so much fourth dimension with it my first time out, but Nike+ Kinect Training demanded it. Notably absent is any input about the user's physical condition before the session starts. Fit or fat, immature or erstwhile, you're thrown into a high-intensity test with no say in the matter. Anyone who spends too much time sitting (like me) might merely observe themselves exhausted and feeling sore the next day.

Work information technology out

During Nike+ Kinect Training workouts, you'll meet the digital preparation on the left side of the screen and a solid colored version of yourself on the right. You lot'll generally go through ane specific exercise for a set duration of time, followed by a short rest menstruation, so information technology's on to the next exercise. As the trainer performs the target practise, your job is to mimic information technology as closely as possible. The trainer will let you know if your positioning is off and things like that. Successfully performing the various moves fills upwards a meter and gets yous Fuel Points.

Now, one of the Kinect's weak points is tracking users while on the floor. As a outcome, early fitness games similar YourShape: Fitness Evolved often excluded traditional exercises similar push-ups and crunches. My own Kinect generally has a tough time tracking my feet due to the style it's mounted, just I'm not moving it someday soon. Luckily, the game makers developed new tools to aid the game track users in positions close to the ground. This game can rail my push-ups and such without problems – a remarkable achievement compared to my previous Kinect experiences.

Fit and friendly

The game has some cool cooperative and competitive elements to please those of us who dare non do things alone. If you lot need some company, try working out with another person online and communicating via Kinect video chat (pictured above). On the competitive forepart, the Weekly Challenge lets friends endeavor to outdo each other at a single timed exercise. The Have on the World mode has players perform a new drill every minute as their progress is matched confronting a global leaderboard . Too, this game is compatible with the Kinect PlayFit app for Xbox 360 so information technology contributes to that app's overall social calorie-burning goals.

Ups and downs

Nike+ Kinect Grooming is a very well-made game, but I do take some complaints. The menus are styled after Trip the light fantastic toe Central's crawly menus but acquit more finicky in exercise. The menus also back up regular controllers (always appreciated), merely the controller doesn't piece of work with certain screens like the title screen for some reason.

Also, like YourShape before information technology, this game doesn't have any actual stretches to perform prior to exercising. Stretching is super of import and I don't see why fettle games leave it out of their regimens. I would likewise like more control over the length of my workout. There are two options: a quick 5-minute workout and a full workout which lasts about 24 minutes. Why non allow us choose something in between also?

Companion App

The game keeps track of a great many stats, and the app's master function is to allow users to cheque those stats exterior of the game. The app's interface is super slick and closely follows traditional Windows Phone pattern principles. The main menu page links to a agenda of the user's activity; a leaderboard comparing weekly and best progress among friends; a defended friend feed, the user's profile; and settings.

You lot tin also pivot left or right from the main carte du jour to admission tiles dedicated to various other aspects of the game. These Live tile-like icons display your about contempo session progress, progress towards the fitness programme you lot selected in the game; a link to a friend'south profile; your progress in the game'due south Weekly Challenge; and your Fuel Print. Annotation that for friends to show upwards in the app'southward features, they must be manually added to your Nike+ friends list via website. Xbox Live friends don't automatically get tracked.

The Fuel print is a graph representing a user'south fitness and athleticism. Borer on the Fuel Print opens upwards a detailed breakdown of your ratings and how they compare to people of the same age group. Fuel Prints tin be shared directly to social networks like Facebook and Twitter from inside the app.

Overall Impression

Nike+ Kinect Grooming for Xbox 360 is easily the best workout game I've ever played. The production values give this championship a visual authenticity that budget fitness games typically lack. The integration with the Nike+ system should appeal to Nike enthusiasts everywhere, although I wish the advice between the game and website was ii-fashion instead of just ane-way. And the co-op and competitive workouts are perfect for socially-minded gamers. I merely wish the game offered stretches and more workout customization.

The Nike+ Kinect Training companion app for Windows Phone is practically essential for anyone who plays the game and too rocks the coolest smartphone platform around. The app's interface and layout are both super smooth and functional. It does exactly what a companion app should by letting you analyze your progress and that of your friends at whatever time, basically linking you to the game in a meaningful mode. Information technology's too bad you lot can merely view the progress of friends linked directly from your Nike+ business relationship though.

Nike Kinect+ Training for Xbox 360 is available at retail or via Games on Demand for $49.99. The Windows Phone companion app is free and you tin can get it here from the Store.

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