EyeToy: Kinetic (PlayStation 2)

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After you answer a few questions about your current level of fitness, age, and weight, the game will assign you one of three difficulty levels for personal training. From there, it will generate a 12-week program consisting of a well-balanced workout routine three times a week. The game gives you some flexibility for your workout days, allowing you to choose between a couple of days for each. If you miss your workout on Tuesday, though, be sure to catch it on Wednesday, or you'll risk getting reprimanded by your personal trainer for your absence. Of course, you can always adjust the internal clock on the PS2, but that would be cheating.

There are 22 games in EyeToy: Kinetic, which fall into four zones: cardio, combat, toning, and mind and body. The cardio zone activities are aerobic exercises that, when done properly, get your heart rate pumping. Ricochet, one of four games in the cardio zone, places blue orbs on opposite sides of the screen, which you must get to and touch while avoiding red orbs bouncing up and down around you. You'll be able to do this by ducking and side-stepping, as well as by contorting your body around the bouncing balls. For games in the cardio zone, a trainer silhouette can appear on the screen to show you the best way to do the exercise. Games in the combat zone are based on moves and stances from martial art disciplines such as karate and tae kwon do. In Protector, you must guard a moving red ball from an onslaught of yellow balls coming from the different corners of the screen. The most effective way to do this is to use your four limbs to punch at the balls without moving your midsection, lest you disrupt the red ball. Toning lets you do exercises that focus on specific muscle groups, and mind and body involves a range of activities, including tai chi and yoga routines. Each series includes a warm-up at the beginning and a stretch at the end, giving you a well-rounded and safe workout experience. At the end of the routines, you'll be able to check your heart rate to see if you're working hard enough, and at the end of each week, your performance will be measured on easy-to-read visual graphs.

The variety of workouts, the way they're assembled, and the guidance of the personal trainers create as good of a workout experience as you can expect outside the gym. The personal trainers offer encouragement during the game, as well as helpful tips such as "If you think your shoulders are tensing up, stick your tongue on the roof of your mouth, which will release your jaw, and your shoulders will relax." Aside from these tips, they'll also offer warnings about common errors made during certain exercises--such as arching your lower back during some Pilates floor routines--and provide more intensive ways to do the exercise if you aren't getting enough of a stretch. You'll have the option to select between a few different songs to accompany the trainer's helpful words, and in most cases, the music does a good job of contributing to the game, although being able to select your own tunes or from a more diverse catalog would have been nice.

Despite the potential flaws of the setup, EyeToy: Kinetic is a nice and logical next step for the camera peripheral. Having a virtual personal trainer at home will never be as useful as having a live one to accurately gauge and correct your movements, but Kinetic is the next best thing, and at a fraction of the cost. The games are entertaining, but not really enough of a diversion to make you forget that you're exercising. If you're motivated enough, then that won't really matter, but there are certainly other, more fun alternatives to a home workout--fun being the operative word. EyeToy: Kinetic is an exercise program first and a game second, and it does a very good job at that. If you are looking for a way to shed a few pounds or just increase your personal fitness, then Kinetic is a solid and well-put-together workout experience.

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Sony PlayStation 2

Where to buy

EyeToy: Kinetic (PlayStation 2): $48.82 - $60.08

store	price	in stock?	rating
Walmart.com	$48.82	No
Target	$49.99	No
eBay	$54.46	Yes
Unbeatablesale.com	$60.08	No

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Compare prices for EyeToy: Kinetic

	Walmart.com	$48.82
	Target	$49.99
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	Unbeatablesale.com	$60.08