The Biggest Loser
Based on the popular show and featuring hosts Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels; this game provides workouts and nutrition goals that will help players transform their lives through exercise and focus.
The Biggest Loser video game is a fun and engaging way for players to get in shape and maintain their ideal fitness. Set at The Biggest Loser ranch, players can take The Biggest Loser challenge and compete in 4, 8 or 12 week programs against former contestants from the television show, or workout with a friend to form a support system to see who really is The Biggest Loser. Players will work-out to a series of structured routines with special weekly challenges, weigh-ins and eliminations, or they can even create their own workouts. Workouts include upper, lower and core body exercises, as well as cardio and yoga exercises. Progress is documented on a calendar that keeps track of in-game achievements, upcoming training and weigh-in dates. Players can also receive credit for any progress made while not playing the video game, such as going for a walk or a bike ride.
The video game also features 50 healthy recipes from the BiggestLoserClub.com and The New York Times best-selling book series The Biggest Loser to help users learn how to eat right for optimal weight loss. Throughout the Wii workout program, suggestions and tips from contestants and trainers will also help guide players as they transform their lives via diet and exercise. The video game also features an interactive calorie counter that tracks what players are eating and recommends their daily intake based on individual goals.
User Ratings and Reviews
4 Stars Solid exercise game for the Wii with a focus on “old school” calisthenics
The core of this game is its very comprehensive list of dozens and dozens of “Single Exercises”, which are essentially old-school calisthenic exercises (i.e. exercises that don’t use weights or equipment). Every exercise imaginable is included, including exercises for cardio, upper and lower body, core, and even yoga poses. Each is clearly identified by an icon and color-coded by intensity (light, moderate, challenging, hard, and intense). As you select each exercise, there’s even a diagram telling you exactly what muscle groups you’re working out.
During each exercise, an on-screen figure will demonstrate to you very clearly how to do it, including the correct posture, moves, and timing. The exercises typically use the Wii-mote and/or the Balance Board to passively “check” your progress in different ways. For example, when you choose the jump rope exercise, you hold the Wii-mote like a jump rope and make small circles with it. With “tire drills”, you put your Wii-mote in your pocket and the system registers the vibrations as you run in place rapidly. There are a number of exercises which use the balance board such as the “plank” (where you press both hands against the balance board) and the “T-raise” (where one hand is on the balance board and the other is stretched out). Some exercises will be very familiar (jumping jacks, push ups), but even the ones that aren’t familiar are very intuitive once you watch the on-screen character doing them.
You can do each of the exercises a la carte, but more likely you’ll want to choose “Exercise Routines”, which combine multiple single exercises into comprehensive pre-designed programs. You can also create custom routines.
You can also choose the full “Fitness Program”. You enter your vital information (conveniently, you can use your Balance Board to measure your weight, both your initial weight and in your very own “weigh ins”). Then, you pick your favorite real-life Biggest Loser contestant to play as from a list of eight past contestants. You can pick whether you want Bob Harper or Jillian Michaels as “your trainer”. From there, you can pick a personal goal: whether you want to simply maintain your current weight and improve your health, lose a little weight, or lose a lot of weight. You’ll also pick a skill level and a program length.
Based on what you enter, the system will calculate a specific exercise regimen for you, complete with dates. If you’re really committed, you can also input the number of calories you eat every day, as well as log any additional training you do outside of the program (such as walking, running or biking outside), and the program will adjust itself accordingly.
An interesting part of this title is a menu option called “Health and Lifestyle”. Here, you’ll find a large number of recipes straight out of The Biggest Loser Cookbooks. Under this menu option you’ll also find a large number of “quick tips” from past Biggest Loser participants, including short video clips from Bob and Jillian themselves. Finally, there’s an extremely useful feature called the “Calorie Counter”, which calculates the daily calorie intake recommend specifically for you based on your weight, age, and goals.
The most interesting part of The Biggest Loser for Wii are what they call “Challenge Events”. Here, your on-screen character will compete in a number of interesting events, the types of which you’d see on the show. As on the show, you start out competing with 7 personalities from the show, and after each round one is eliminated. You don’t actually simulate the movements of the character on screen, but instead you perform “single exercises”, and your character does his task only if you do the exercises precisely and timed correctly. I found this by far the most effective part of the game, because my instincts to compete far exceeded any resistance to exercise.
There are a couple minor annoyances. If your balance board power goes out, the game is completely hung up until you turn it back on. The controllers are passive, meaning that instead of actively tracking your movements accurately, it’ll just check whether you come close to making the on-screen movements. Sometimes the controllers will not register properly, and in many cases, you’re on the “honor system” as to how closely you follow the on-screen examples (even if you get a little sloppy in your form or don’t do the exercise properly, Bob or Jillian may continue to shout out praise and encouragement). One thing to keep in mind is that you need a LOT of room to move around. And I admit I was a little disappointed that most of the activities didn’t take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Wii and its controllers in the same innovative ways that Wii Fit Plus does–at the end of the day it’s really not much more than a glorified exercise video.
But still the bottom line is, they have an impressive number of fundamental exercises to work out all different areas of your body. When I choose “intense” level in particular, it really does make my heart pound and gives me a great workout that rivaled any kind of workout I’d get at the gym, for a fraction of the price. And fans of the TV show will appreciate the details like the voice talent, the familiar settings, Bob and Jillian’s coaching, and the recipes and tips.
Bottom line, if you’re looking for something along the lines of a more traditional exercise video, or you’re a die-hard fan of the show, you won’t be disappointed. If you’re looking for something that’s a game first and exercise second, try something else like Wii Fit Plus or Dance Dance Revolution.
2 Stars Seriously……
I’ve very disappointed in this game. Setting aside the horrible graphics the calibrations for the Wii equipment aren’t even in sync with what the trainer is doing. I expected more from a $[...] game. The constant repeat of the trainers voice are annoying as well. Someone needs to revamp the entire game.
3 Stars not as big of a fan as others, but
I purchased this game after reading the reviews on amazon and was excited to get started. i’ve been using ea active for a while, and i like it a lot, but thought a change would be nice; plus, i’m a huge fan of the show. there is no question that this game will give you a tough work out. i’ve done exercises on the moderate level (full body) and the light (core) and was sweating my tail off on both. the biggest complaint i have about the game, however, is that there does not seem to be a schedule for you. i like ea active because the challenge sets up a work out schedule for you. the loser just seems to leave you on your own to decide what to work out and how hard to work out. it seems if you are going to input your stats, it could come up with the work outs for you to do for the duration you choose (4, 8 or 12 wks). i feel a bit at a loss and not sure what work out i should do and when. my only other complaint is that, with just the remote, the game does not seem to be picking up all of my movements. i have not received “credit” for exercises i am doing on the loser b/c for some reason, the remote is not picking up that i’m actually working my tail off. i have had a few exercises show that i had zero effort, as if i hadn’t done anything. that’s a bit annoying when sweat is dripping down your nose. if you aren’t worried about what kind of credit they give you for the exercises, then it’s no biggy. definetely a great work out though.
4 Stars Fun & challenging way to sweat but could be better
I just completed my first workout with The Biggest Loser Wii Game. I would consider myself moderately athletic — not new to fitness but not a marathon runner. I did an intermediate level workout and one of the challenges, and I definitely worked up a good sweat.
The good: exercises used definitely elevate the heart rate, balance board option is great to have, upper body workouts are definitely tough, challenges live up to their name.
The mediocre: graphics are less than stellar (especially in comparison to Wii Active & Wii Fit), very few trainer cues — particularly when moving from one exercise to the next, no movement coaching from trainer — I found myself having to look up at the screen a lot to see what was going on when I was doing floor work instead of focusing on the move, directions to put Wii remote “into your pocket” isn’t helpful when you don’t have on shorts with pockets.
Overall, I feel like I got a good, quick workout (about 40 minutes including the challenge). I’ll definitely include this into the rotation of my workouts and I look forward to seeing how the weekly weigh-in works. Personally, I liked the idea of working out with Bob & Jillian, and this game prevents me from having to fly to California to do so. 
2 Stars Just another workout program
I really was hoping for a full weight loss/fitness package. While the exercise routines and the challenges are adequate, there is no menu planning, there are recipes but limited. The program will tell you how many calories you should eat but not when or in what combination. Frankly I find it very lacking, carrying the Biggest Loser name should have more impact on the overall not just another exercise game.
FYI, I saw on Jillian’s Facebook page this not she left on October 7 “I had nothing to do with BL game. They took an old press pic of me and put it on there box. Don’t even know what’s in it or who created it.”
I suggest you just buy a workout program Wii Fit is more fun.
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