There have been plenty of fitness themed releases on the Nintendo Wii platform recently, but none which have really lived up to the high standards that the original Wii Fit has set. Known amongst gamers as gamersizing, EA Sport Active is the latest title to take on the challenge, and it may just carry it off.

EA Sports Active takes you through a range of physical challenges form the comfort of your lounge room. Unlike the Wii Fit, these activities are not always suited for beginners, if you are a stranger to fitness you may find some of the activities a little strenuous.

The marketing department have labelled this as ‘a gym in a box.’ Well, not quite, but it does do quite a lot more than other fitness games on the market.

Developer, Peter Moore of EA Sports, claimed he wanted to create a game which focussed on the western philosophy of exercise which emphasises high impact cardio fitness, as opposed to the eastern way which looks at low impact exercises, balance and flexibility as demonstrated in the Wii Fit program. High impact is a very apt way of describing the game.

The game comes with a band that wraps around your thigh that holds the nun chuck. This tracks your running and a few other exercises. You also get a large band for resistance exercises such as lunging. It doesn’t sound like a lot but you can actually do quite a lot with these two little pieces of equipment. Spares are available for purchase if your first band gets lost or damaged.

Many of the exercises make use of the nunchuck, sometimes this can be annoying as the cord between the Wii remote and nunchuck is not quite long enough for some actions like bicep curls.

While not a requirement to play, you will get a lot more out of this game if you have the Wii balance board.

Activities are broken up into four categories; cardio, lower body, upper body and sports. There are twenty five exercises all up, which doesn’t sound like a lot but is actually more than adequate. One of the positives of the game is that there is a lot of variety, you may find yourself running, boxing, dancing or even inline skating. When you get sick of one particular exercise there are plenty of others to choose from. The majority of the exercises are aerobic and focus on heart rate. There are less to be found that improve strength and muscle tone. If you are looking to improve your overall fitness and weight loss then this game is ideal for you.

Most of the activities work by following an on screen instructor, like the Wii Fit you have an on screen avatar who mimics your actions. The visuals are quite good when it comes to the workout leaders, it’s pretty easy to see what you are doing. Beyond this the game is a little boring, visually. The audio is nothing out of the ordinary with some run of the mill workout music and the encouraging calls of the instructor making up the soundtrack.

You can choose your own difficulty based on your fitness level, and of course you can increase this as you grow accustomed to the exercises. The workout runs for twenty minutes, and if you haven’t been hitting the gym regularly, expect a real challenge even on the easy setting. You’ll certainly be short of breath by the end of it. The game really addresses the complaint many made about Wii Fit which was that the activities were just too easy for anyone with a moderate level of fitness.

Your fitness regiment is easily customizable. You can simply pick up the Wii remote anytime and have a workout. You can also structure a program which is tailored around your own goals, focusing on nine exercises which lasts for however long you like. There is a thirty day program which can be set on easy, medium or hard difficulties. Over the thirty days you can either set out to burn a certain amount of calories, or fit in a number of training sessions. You can also choose a particular body part you would like to focus on, and your sessions will be tailored around that. A graph can be viewed which illustrates the percentage of the training session which is dedicated to a particular body part. There are some similarities here with My Fitness Coach, which also had a facility which allowed you to focus your workouts on specific goals such as upper body strength or weight loss. The program will even go so far as to ask you what you are the day before. Whatever your goals are you will find an option that will help you reach them.