Zumba Fitness World Party - Nintendo Wii

So I'm not a kid let's just say i was born in the 50s as that great poet Sting once wrote. I finally kicked down and bought a wii mainly to get Just Dance and did get more than one of those games and love them as well but also really like Zumba just as much. I do think I like this World Party the best. For one thing, and it may sound weird, the dancers are nicer to look at. It's not just that they are real people instead of what looks like more computer generated people in the other Zumba games but although all the Zumbas are quite good and varied the dancers in the other ones are just more annoying for lack of a better word. I mean one of the girls in one of the other Zumbas always seems to be giving strange hand signals like I fell I'm in the barrio or something at the end of the dance. Still, I overall do like and enjoy both Zuma 2 and Core. What I like about World Party as well as the other Zumbas is the ability to make custom playlists. That way you can make up classes of just the songs you like. They give you quite a few slots to make custom lists so you could even for instance make up a list/class where you could go back and repeat a song you liked again in the same setlist. This is also good for avoiding some songs or routines you may not like that much. I'm not so crazy about the hawaiin dances for instance and although the one dance, i think it might be Clarity, is good enough routine-wise, it kind of bugs me hearing it so I'd rather skip it. So the custom list feature is great.The belt can be a little annoying; for one thing after the class or if you just do one song, youpretty much have to take the remote out of the belt to aim it at the screen to navigate to the next song or whatever. I ended up taking the strap right off the remote because having it on made it a hassle to get it into the belt's holder in time for the beginning of the song. I don't miss having the strap on there even for other games like just Dance. Just be careful i guess not to fling it at the tv like was happening when the wii first came out! With it in the belt of course this isn't even a worry.The other thing i did was get some Dancesocks. I wasn't sure which of these kind of socks to get...you see zumba sliders and other ones but the Dancesocks get the best reviews so i went with those and they are fantastic. Let me explain; I never have had any knee problems and am quite active but the moves in zumba require some spinning and just plain lurching and jerking form side to side and if your feet are supposed to go thataway and your legs and body then have to follow it can do a number on your knees...and that was happening. These type of socks slip over your running or cross trainers and allow you to spin and move from side to side effortlessly. As soon as i started using them all knee issues ceased. Also the company selling them, the makers, ship priority so i got mine in just a couple of days. By the way these are for hard surfaces, wood or concrete and will not work on carpet. I'm using them with some filas i recently got from costco on a concrete floor and believe me they were a life...knee-saver.But i really am digging zumba world party. The one girl from brazil is my favorite dancer/instructor and i love also the Irish dance and the Indian ones as well...Great blend of dance and exercise overall.

First off, my game came with a belt but if you buy used as I did you will need to read carefully whether or not they are including one.I got this game in an effort to exercise more, it worked! I love that it truly is a game+workout. However that did get me in trouble the first weekend as I had it as I tried to unlock all that I could in one weekend! Warning--if you are not already used to the exercise don't do that! I was really sore from playing song after song for a couple hours and then couldn't play anymore for a day.So with that said, this game is very good exercise as long as you are actively moving along with the dancer. Just doing a couple songs can break me into a sweat so it works for me(fyi i'm out of shape) but it also does the same to those more active than myself(maybe cause they haven't done Zumba/dance workouts)A friend was bored and didn't want to join me so she just waved the wii remote around for the duration of the song and tied with me! So yes, you can also cheat this game and somewhat easily to. That makes no difference to me as I want to earn my own score but be careful if you are getting this for anyone who will go the easier path.The game play is pretty nice, maybe not in line with newer games but is still a great game. I plan on getting other zumba games so that I can have some more variety though as after awhile I do get bored doing the set of songs I like the best. To be honest I have actually moved on from this game(I get bored of my games within months) but it did take awhile for this to happen and I actually plan to switch back to this game after playing a Just Dance game for a couple months. Having more than one of these games in rotation can definetly help prevent boredom in your exercise routine but if you like to just do one set of exercises this can work for you on it's own.My only complaint about this game is that it's not too helpful in teaching you the steps, it's more of a learn as you go thing. Luckily I work fine with that and hardly look at instructions but it would still be a nice thing to be able to fall back on.All in all this game is a fun and exciting way to get or stay in shape(depending on your activity level-great for beginners to intermediate I would think)and trick yourself into actually wanting to exercise(who doesn't like games!?)