When I heard about Adidas miCoach I was sceptical at what this would offer that so many “fitness” video games try to but usually don’t hit the mark. Developed by Lightning Fish who have had a few attempts at this genre and published by 505 Games, it was up to me to put this Xbox 360 Kinect game through its paces and see how it does.
I shall start by detailing what you can do in the game; basically you design your own workout plan using a variety of different exercise styles, helping you work towards whichever sport you choose. What exercises these contain are dependent on the sport, these include running, tennis, football and basketball just to name a few. Alongside this you are provided with a coach to help you with motivation and showing you how the moves are done. Now they’ve gone all out on this part, Adidas miCoach’s most high profile stars are footballer Gareth Bale, Olympian Jessica Ennis and Tennis sensation Ana Ivanovic. Each sport has specific routines that will help train you to get yourself into the right shape for your chosen sport.
Luckily they also have a “getting started” plan which is ideal for those who aren’t athletically gifted or fit at all. Consisting of only two workouts per week or more if you’re feeling particular energetic, even this gives you a torrid time. A gentle 20 minute session has you stretching your shoulder muscles, works on the quadriceps and torso in many exercises that seem simple but really take their toll on you. Seamless transfer between each exercise keeps the flow going and various comments from your coach gives you little tips on where it’s going wrong when it notices you haven’t completed your task yet. One thing that got on my nerves a little was repetition on the voiceovers, after one session you could pretty much predict what they were going to say, more variety was needed.
A nice feature is the link between the game and an online account which you can create to set up your schedule using a pc or a phone app. This is simpler to do than attempting to change it in the actual game as the menus were rather horrendous for recognising hand gestures during all navigation. It also means you can check your plans on the go, which in today’s busy climate it’ll suit most people no matter their time constraints.
If you feel like letting loose and actually having fun with no strings attached then the training games will certainly allow you to do that. Consisting of only three games, I can imagine it’d get monotonous rather quick but for now I feel they are rather enjoyable. Football has you volleying, heading and chest then volleying balls into a net until the timer runs out, the more you score, the more bonus time earned. Basketball is throwing balls into the hoop and tennis involves smashing the balls into coloured bricks.
Last but not least is the conditioning mode to truly test your endurance; they are almost like challenges with the early ones having plenty of rest time and lower exercise time. The more you complete, the less rest time you get and it would get so tough you’d have to be a fine physical specimen to finish. The only issue I have with this and the sports specific routines is the necessity for additional equipment such as a balance ball and dumbbells to be able to attempt some of the workouts within these packages. If you have already bought a Kinect and this game then that’s more money to shed out, but if you’re really serious about this then it will be worth it in the long term.
Now onto the actual responsiveness which as noted earlier is poor on the navigation menus, seems spot on during the exercises. Picking up your body movements to as near perfection as possible, as long as you have plenty of room that is. I’d also recommend no furniture in whichever room you workout in, ideally I’d say you need to be positioned an extra foot away from your normal Kinect play zone.
Overall I cannot fault the science behind this game and I have to say with time, effort and determination it really can do the business, transforming you into peak physical condition. The only major drawback being that it’s incredibly intense and most people will be put off from even the starter plans. Add to that the need to purchase extra equipment which unfortunately knocks my final rating down a bit. Only buy this if you’re convinced that you want to work towards a higher fitness level from the luxury of your own home and are ready for some massive effort and mental strength.
7/10