Zumba Fitness 2 for Wii

Get ready to burn those extra calories as Zumba once again lets you salsa, meringue, and grind your way to a slim body.

The original Zumba Fitness was a sweat-laden dance fest that involved following the moves of an onscreen, animated dance instructor who consistently yelled various words of encouragement to keep your body moving as you did a variety of dance routines from different genres. Due the commercial success of the title, Majesco Entertainment decided to release it sequel Zumba Fitness 2.

The first thing you’ll notice about Zumba Fitness 2 is the neat Zumba Fitness belt that comes with the game. The belt goes around your waist and can be adjusted using its Velcro straps. Once it’s snugly in place, you then fit the Wii remote into a compartment in the belt, allowing you to dance hands-free. This is a nice addition if you hate carrying the Wii controller in your hand every time you let loose.

The Wii Zumba Fitness 2 game is much improved from its predecessor. It now contains crisper animation so that you can follow the moves quite clearly. The game also has licensed tracks from various artists such as Pitbull and Nicole Scherzinger. The types of dance routines you can gyrate to include meringue, pasodoble, cumbia, samba, axe, Indian, Latin pop, and belly dance.

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Mostly, you won’t care about the names of the dance routines as long as they’re cool to perform. Thankfully, they are. The Zumba Fitness 2 Wii game was created with the help of various professional dance instructors who provided choreography and direction to the steps. You’ll find yourself really digging the routines. Add to that the constant encouragement from the virtual coaches and you’ll soon find that it’s hard to stop dancing.

In case you need some practice, Zumba Fitness 2 has a tutorial mode where you can learn the steps before you do a full routine. There are a total of 32 routines across the various dance genres, and most of them are designed to make you lose fat as quickly as possible. Other modes include Single Song where you can select any track you like and dance along, Zumba Class where you dance nonstop in 20, 45, or 60 minute chunks, and Zumba Party which involves cooperative dancing with up to 3 other players. There are also some minor health statistics and metrics within the game like the number of calories burned and the total number of hours played.

Cons:
Graphicswise, the game doesn’t really have any breathtaking visuals. Other than the dance instructors, the locales are backdrops are quite limited and are not much too look at.

The main problem with Zumba Fitness 2, however, is the inaccurate motion sensing. The addition of the belt is a nice touch to keep your hands free, but the Wii doesn’t properly register your movements. This wouldn’t really matter if you’re only interested in dancing, but it gets annoying when you don’t receive the appropriate response even though you performed the steps correctly. Furthermore, there are some moves that involve bending over which could lead to the Wii remote dislodging from the belt and clattering loudly on the floor. A cracked Wii remote is never a good thing, but it will stay attached to your person as long as you don’t over gyrate.

Features:
Zumba Fitness 2 can be played on the Wii console using the standard Wii remote. The game comes with a Zumba Fitness belt that is used to hold the Wii controller and leave your hands free during gameplay. There are also multiplayer modes available.

Conclusion:
Zumba Fitness 2 plays more like a virtual fitness class than a dance game. It’s primarily meant to help you lose weight, and this goal is delivered solidly through various dance workouts that will make you sweat buckets of perspiration as long as you perform them seriously. However, if you’re looking for a party game for some group laughs, the Just Dance franchise is the thing for you. Those who want a more serious game that teaches some heavy dance moves you can bust out in a club might prefer Dance Central instead. For the rest of you fitness buffs, you’ll find what you’re looking for in Zumba Fitness 2.