Earlier in the summer, I got to spend a good amount of time with some of Ubisoft’s holiday line-up, including Assassin’s Creed II, Avatar, and the now-delayed Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Steel 2. In addition to some of the most anticipated triple-A titles of late 2009 and early 2010, I was also able to see Your Shape in action. While many gamers may not take “exer-games” too seriously, I have found a lot of success from regular use of Wii Fit and EA Sports Active. The exercise gaming genre is still very young, but in just over a year I have already seen it evolve. That said, there is still clearly room for improvement, and Your Shape is ambitiously trying to tackle some of the existing issues with exercise games.

Your Shape will be the first Wii title that utilizes a camera peripheral. The prototype we saw a couple of months ago looked comparable in size to the Xbox Live vision cam. Yes, this means you will have to find room for yet another accessory on your entertainment center if you want to try out Your Shape, but the benefits may outweigh any inconvenience. The camera, you see, eliminates the need for any controllers or other tools while you are working out. You will no longer have to awkwardly hold Wii controllers and be slapped by the nunchuk cord during exercise. This also means that you don’t have to worry about the remote slipping out of your sweaty hands.



Besides offering great hands-free support, Your Shape has made other improvements on the exercise genre as well. One of my biggest problems with EA Sports Active was when my in-game trainer would tell me that I was doing something incorrectly, but not detail exactly what was wrong with my form or movement. We watched as a woman followed the instructions of Jenny McCarthy, the Your Shape workout buddy, moving her arms and legs as she was told to. Then she stopped moving her legs, and her on-screen avatar followed suit. Giant arrows pointed to the character’s legs to let her know what she was doing wrong. It's such a simple feature, but when you're working out on your own, you need something to directly tell you when you're not doing something correctly.

Your Shape also has the capability to use equipment you may already have, like weights or an exercise ball, and insert it into your workouts. The “game” tests you every so often to gauge your fitness level, reevaluating on a regular basis to see if you are improving. Though the presentation is simple and minimal, that has been effective in workout games so far, and I can’t really think of other things I would want on-screen while I’m trying to focus on burning calories.



My biggest questions about Your Shape, however, will likely remain unanswered until I actually get to try it myself. Will it really blur the line between game and exercise, bringing more fun to the genre? I hope so. Both Wii Fit and EA Sports Active had activities that varied as far as how many calories they burned, and usually the more fun choices were also less active. I’m more curious about how long Your Shape will be able to keep me focused before I feel like I have done everything in the game.

I walked away thinking that if Your Shape works like it is supposed to, it will probably be the best exercise game on the market when it launches in November. It seems like the developers have observed many of the good features from previous titles in the genre, while working to improve some of the notable issues. I’m looking forward to using it to help burn off some of the weight I’m sure to gain this holiday season, and hopefully after I have spent enough time with it, the results will speak for themselves.