Review by: Danielle Riendeau

Back when “EA Sports Active: Personal Trainer” arrived on the Wii scene last summer, I was ecstatic. Finally, someone had taken the Wii Fit gimmick and made a real, bona-fide workout product, one with adequate controls, excellent stat tracking and a serious sweat quotient.

Now, EA has launched “More Workouts”, a new and improved version of an already-awesome package. It has everything the first game was lacking, along with a dippy recipe book (a throwaway for real fitness buffs, though it may be useful for the intended audience here) and a much more robust challenge mode.

As with the original, players are greeted by a flashy, clean interface (the presentation, as usual, is fantastic) and given the choice to pick any given workout or exercise, or to work on their “6 Week Challenge”. You can also check out your journal or play around with any of the other stat-tracking options.

To begin actual “gameplay” that is, the workout sessions – you put the leg strap (included with the first game, or available in an accessory pack) onto your thigh, tuck the nunchuck in it, and hold the Wii Remote at the ready. You’ll be engaging in anything from step aerobics to lunges to squats and curls and such, so you’ll need plenty of room to move around. You may also look like a lunatic, but the core exercises are all rock-solid and control beautifully.

The real meat of the game (much like last time) is in the 6 Week Challenge. Expanded from the 30 Day Challenge, (The box quote should have said “Now with 30 more days!), you select an intensity (easy, medium or hard), and the game gives you workouts for two months. The challenge steadily increases as you go on – and later activities (especially on the hardest intensity) will surely kick your butt. The whole idea is to burn calories and work those muscles until you have the stature of a Greek god(dess) – or at least, lose a few pounds and be able to stick with an exercise routine.

Again, the presentation works beautifully. While the graphics are clean and relatively simple, the use of video (to demonstrate each activity) is effective, and the music is that high-beat-per-minute stuff that you can’t help but want to move to. It’s all very high gloss “fitness video”, but then again, that’s the idea.