Everything is heavily structured to keep you on course and following a regimen. So though you can simply fire up the game and pick a single exercise to mess around with, the design focuses on choosing a predesigned workout plan with easy, medium, or hard difficulty; setting up a custom exercise program that incorporates up to nine exercises of your choice; or taking on the 30-Day Challenge administered by Oprah Winfrey's aerobics guru, Bob Greene. There is even an option to work out with a friend, which provides an extra little bit of motivation. You can make EA Sports Active be nearly whatever you want it to be. Want a pick-up-and-sweat program for occasional exercise? You got it. Want a "whole life" journal that pushes you on a daily basis, keeps you fixed to a workout calendar, tracks calorie losses over long periods, and even asks questions about what you had to eat yesterday? You've got that, too.
Although the resistance bands aren't strong enough to allow for serious strength training, they're more than suitable to use in a rigorous aerobic workout.
About the only thing you don't have here is first-rate production values. The visuals are cartoonish, and the audio effects are restricted to a pretty limited selection of generic workout music. At least the workout leader is well animated, which makes it easy to follow along, and she also calls out lots of encouragement and instructions to keep you motivated. There are also a few minor issues with controllers. The cord between the Wii Remote and Nunchuk is probably the most serious annoyance. It is a bit small for some of the curls, forcing you to stretch it to its limits to register the movement successfully, and on other exercises you can easily flip the cord right over your head when moving forward. The leg strap could also be a little bit bigger to accommodate larger thighs.
Although it remains debatable how effective EA Sports Active--or any other video game-based workout program--will be at getting the masses into serious shape, the game's combination of exercises and motivational programs is undeniably catchy. It will get your heart pumping, help you lose a few pounds, and is certainly a lot more healthy than indulging in the usual, more sedentary video game alternatives.
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