I ordered Gold’s Gym Dance Workout two weeks ago, and had hoped to have spent some quality time with it before writing a review. So far, however, I’ve only managed to do the three introductory training workouts with it, so please take this review with a grain of salt.
Bottom line up front – Gold’s Gym Dance Workout could be better. It’s not at all like Just Dance or DDR. Instead, it’s set up like a gym style workout. When you first load the game, you’re asked to set up preferences and input personal info to create an avatar for yourself (which you will rarely ever see). Then you’re asked to pick out a personal trainer and set a long term goal like weight loss, fitness, etc. Once all the introductory stuff is set up, you’re given the option of choosing to do a routine set up by the personal trainer, based on your goals; do a quick workout where you select what you want to do as you go; or set up a routine of your own to work through.
For my first full week with the game, I opted to go with the personal trainer’s workouts. These workouts have been very short, consisting of 4-5 segments of warm-up, dancing, cardio boxing, and mini-games mixed together. And when I say short, I do mean short. So far the longest workout has lasted 15 minutes. I do work up a light sweat in that amount of time, but that may be because it’s been so dang humid here lately. I’m certainly not getting my heart rate up.
For the dance segments of the workout, players try to mimic the steps the personal trainer performs as she goes through a routine. I’ve only ended up doing Latin dance moves so far – salsa, meringue, etc. The dance sections have been hard to follow along, in spite of the fact that she does a slow version first before going through them at a faster speed. I’d read some complaints about that on line from other users. It’s honestly not something that deters me, since I figure with practice I’ll get better.
Intermixed with the all these dance routines are the other segments – the mini-games and the cardio boxing. I’ve only played one of the mini-games so far, the matador game where players have to shift suddenly left or right to avoid being run over by a raging bull. It’s… okay. Not particularly fun, kind of annoying, and I can’t quite figure out how to move to get my avatar on the screen to respond. Just when I think I’ve figured it out, I get trampled to death by three bulls in a row. There are other mini-games that I have not tried yet. I’m hoping they’re better.
The cardio boxing is nothing big. Basically, you follow along to the moves, just like in the dancing, only this time you’re throwing punches. Honestly, you’d be better off getting Gold’s Gym Cardio Workout if you like boxing. It’s much more energetic and will definitely make you sweat. While Cardio Workout doesn’t have all the popular songs on it that Dance Workout does, it’s still a much better game for cardio boxing.
Over all, I’m still in a wait-and-see mode on this game. I’d like to spend at least another week with it before I give it a final thumbs up or thumbs down. And of course, I’d really like to see how it will compare to Just Dance 2, which comes out sometime in October I believe. The original Just Dance really makes me sweat and it’s a lot of fun. Plus it has the added advantage that the kids can play along with me, so I don’t have to listen to anyone whine when I put the game in to workout. We can all dance together. Gold’s Gym Dance Workout will let 2 people play, but I’ve got 2 kids, so that doesn’t work nearly as well.
So give me another week with Gold’s Gym Dance Workout. It may be something I decide I can add to the mix of Wii workout games, or it may end up on the shelf collecting dust. I’ll let you know after I’ve spent more time with it.
