Active Life: Explorer With Mat

by Namco

• Tons to explore: Play themed tours or take on individual challenges in freeplay mode for plenty of replayability
• Two modes of gameplay: 24 action-packed mini-adventures that will get the whole family moving with jungle, western, underwater, flying and snow themes
• Fun for the Whole Family: Play with up to 4 players with lots of co-operative and competitive challenges
• Mii Support: Import your Nintendo Mii character or create your own character and customize them with unlockable costumes and treasures
• The Active Life Mat: The specially-designed mat is bundled with the game so you can jump straight into the action (game also available standalone)

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B003LDKH2E
• Product Dimensions: 12.9 x 11.6 x 4.4 inches ; 2.2 pounds
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: October 19, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (134 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,193 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

Get up and dive into the world of treasure hunting, adventure and exploration! View larger.

Run, Jump, Play… Explore!
It’s time to explore with Active Life Explorer, the latest game in the ACTIVE LIFE series. Get up off the couch into the action in this all new Active Life experience. Take on a bold new adventure and use the Wii Remote™ and the ACTIVE LIFE Mat Controller to take on the role of a treasure hunter and explore exotic locales. Stop a getaway train, catch a bandit on horseback, run across a falling bridge, explore a dark mine cart, and more! Active Life Explorer is a fun way to get everyone active and their hearts pumping!

Key Game Features

• Multiple modes of gameplay – Play themed tours in the story based Treasure Adventure mode, or take on individual challenges in the Free Play mode for tons of replayability
• Tons to explore – 24 action-packed activities that will get the whole family moving with jungle, western, underwater, flying and snow themes
• Fun for the Whole Family – Play with up to 4 players simultaneously with fun co-operative and competitive challenges, or take turns exploring with up to 8 players with party mode
• The Active Life Mat – The specially-designed mat controller is bundled with the game so you can jump straight into the action (game also available standalone)

Additional Screenshots:

Exciting 4-Player Action! View larger.

Competitive 2-player fun! View larger.

Jump, lift and pedal to victory! View larger.

Use teamwork to win! View larger.

Product Description

It’s time to explore with Active Life: Explorer, the latest game in the Active Life series. Get up off the couch into the action in this all new Active Life experience. Take on a bold new adventure and use the Wii Remote and the Active Life Mat to take on the role of a treasure hunter and explore exotic locales. Stop a getaway train, catch a bandit on horseback, run across a falling bridge, explore a dark mine cart, and more! Active Life: Explorer is a fun way to get everyone active and their hearts pumping! This game is compatible only with the Nintendo Wii with the GameCube controller ports (RVL-001).

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

190 of 194 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Active Life Series is Back October 20, 2010

By Nutwiisystem.Com TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

Back in 2008, Namco Bandai released Active Life Outdoor Challenge. The game was a collection of 15 fun activities, and the game came with its own proprietary mat which had a clever layout of four buttons in blue and four buttons in orange, which could be used by one player or by two players standing next to each other. It was a well-designed and highly successful game.

In 2009, they followed it up with the less successful Active Life Extreme Challenge. This was not a great follow-up to the original. The graphics were subpar to the original, and the activities seemed uninspired.

So the question became: after a sophomore slump, would Namco return the series to its former glory with Active Life Explorer, its third installment?

The answer is a resounding YES.

Active Life Explorer is a game which captures the fun and whimsy of the original, while also introducing enough improvements and innovations to breathe fresh new life into the series.

The game has an "Indiana Jones" theme. All of the activities center around an adventurer as he goes around the world looking for treasure. What I like about this game is that the developers didn't just use this theme as a mere backdrop--they very thoughtfully designed each game so it captured all the drama and excitement of the adventure. Here are just a few examples:

Runaway Train: This is a load of fun. Your mission is to stop a train travelling at breakneck speeds towards a cliff. You start by running as fast as you can on top of the train (running in place on the mat) , ducking (bending down and putting your hands on the mat) as the train goes under obstacles, and jumping to get from car to car.... When you get to the front car, you need to move your feet as fast as you can to pull the brake lever and shut the train down. There's real drama as the frantic music plays in the background and you see the speeding train on the tracks heading towards its doom!

Mummy's Tomb: This is one of the more clever games that incorporates both running and video game skill. Your mission is to run away from mummies while lugging all your treasure out of the tomb. After running a while you'll encounter some gates, which you'll need to close (by alternating your feet) and lock (by pressing the correct button sequence shown on the screen). While all this is going on, the mummies encroach. You then come to a locked gate, which you'll need to unlock by pressing the correct buttons in a spinning roulette.

Jungle Vine Ruins: Remember that old arcade game "Jungle Hunt" where your character would have to swing from vine to vine, like Tarzan? This is the same idea, except you're seeing things from the character's point of view! Run as fast as you can by alternating your feet, jump off a cliff to reach a vine, and then time it so that you jump to the next vine. This one is a blast.

I don't have the space here to review the other 21 games, but suffice it to say the vast majority of them provide both great fun and great exercise. You'll experience everything from trying to stay ahead of a collapsing bridge, leading a dog pack in the snow, and avoiding attacks in shark-infested waters.

Here are some of the things I liked most about this game:

1) There are 24 different games on the disc. On the Wii this is ordinarily a warning sign, as many Wii game publishers who do this end up pushing "shovelware" to the public. Not so with Active Life Explorer. What is impressive about this title is that every single one of the games seems well thought-out and well-designed. There is not a dud in the bunch.

2) The controls are all extremely intuitive from game to game. A clear tutorial is provided for you before you start each game, but in most cases you'll pick up on what you need to do quickly. This is critical for a game that kids will be playing.

3) Overall, I found the accuracy of the controls to be improved over Active Life Outdoor and Extreme Challenges. And get this--you can actually jump on the mat! (This is a pet peeve of mine with the Wii Balance Board).

4) This is a fantastic family game where multiple people can play together. Some of the games have "co-op" mode where two players have to work together to accomplish a goal. In other games, anywhere from 2 to 4 players can compete head-to-head (they each take a different side or corner of the mat).

5) It really is great exercise. After I played through all 24 games I was out of breath. I can only imagine when families and friends play together and the competition gets intense, that families will get exercise without even realizing it.

6) The graphics are beautiful. It's still a Wii, so the graphics are still cartoony. But the game developers did a great job of design, from the bright red molten metal in Mine Cart Mayhem to the beautiful colors of the coral reef you scuba dive through in Pirate's Treasure.

7) Most importantly, the activities are FUN. Clearly a lot of thought was put into designing these games. If you enjoyed the "Obstacle Course" in Wii Fit but found it much too short or too easy, you should find many of the activities in this game rival that.

8) There's a "Treasure Adventure" mode which combines all the various activities together in the form of a story. As you play through this you experience increasingly challenging activities and earn different "treasures". Makes for a fun and interesting exercise regimen.

I honestly don't have many negative things to say. The only things I would think to improve are:

1) The game only supports use of one mat. With four players sharing one mat it becomes pretty crowded. It would have been nice for them to support at least two mats.

2) Some of the activities are quite short. I would have liked to see some "extended" versions of the activities for those who want to have longer exercise time.

3) After each event you earn "Exercise Points". It's unclear to me what this means. I think a simple calorie count would have been best.

Overall, I am very impressed with Active Life Explorer. It is currently the king of the hill as far as fun and effective titles where the whole family can play together and maybe get a little exercise in the process. Read more ›

38 of 39 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great fun November 12, 2010

By Sarah Carpenter

Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

I got this game for my 5 year old daughter for her birthday, and it's been a big hit. She and her 8 year old cousin--and the parents!--had a blast playing it, very intuitive controls and you should see their little legs moving! She does get frustrated with not being the best at every game, but a lot of the games are cooperative in play (3 legged race, everyone pedal a car, both move feet at the right time to steer one cart, etc.), and if anyone clears a level both avatars celebrate. Each segment is very short, but it keeps it fast paced and fun, and you run a bit then rest, then run some more. I love the amount of exercise she is getting off it. A couple of the different things have been too hard for her (timing your jumps to avoid fire breathing statues, press buttons on the mat in order or three at a time), but I figure she will grow into that & it will be challenging for older kids and adults. Plus the avatars on the three legged race literally had me rolling on the floor laughing as they stumbled and tried to run and fell. The chasing mummies etc. are very cartoonish, and when they catch you there is just a big cloud of dust till you get free ... a little scary, but not overly so.

The other fun thing is the Miis. This time around you get to use your mii, and you earn costumes for it. Yay, fun for a five year old for sure! Very nice. Overall I highly recommend for 5 years and up, this is a visually appealing and very fun game, alone and especially with a friend or two.... Lots of great upgrades from the earlier versions, lots of very nicely thought out and fun challenges, and easy to play the quest (unlock different challenges at increasinly difficult levels) or free mode, where you can play or practice any of the different games with 1 to 4 people (we just chose 2 player and switched off, but it worked out very nicely). Lots of fun! Read more ›

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOVE IT! November 26, 2010

By Mistifaery

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

My kids play this game everyday! I have a 3.5, 7 & 9. They can all play it together (with us the parents at the same time as well) or by themselves. It is a fabulous work out! I've done it and I feel like I just went to the gym! It has over 25 games in one mode and I believe there are three modes. My girlie girl loves all the costumes she wins! My youngest loves the train game. It's the most played Wii game we have ever purchased. A MUST PURCHASE!!!

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Per the company, this game does NOT work with the new Wii February 9, 2012

By Patricia Brady

Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

There seem to be mixed messages here: some people claim that the game won't work on their new Wii, while other people claim that the game will work, if only people would open the little door and hook the mat up to the right port!

I have official news from both the Active Life Explorer company and Nintendo: This game will NOT work on the new Wii.

Any Wii that is NOT Gamecube compatible will not work with this game. You need to plug it into the Gamecube port. Here is the LiveText I exchanged with an Active Life Explorer company representative, Brian:

Brian: What color is your Nintendo Wii system and what game came included in the box?
Patricia: The Wii is black and it came with "New Super Mario Brothers"
Brian: Unfortunately, this means that you would have one of the newer Nintendo Wii models. Unfortunately, Active Life is not compatible with the newer Nintendo Wii models as they do not have the Gamecube ports required in order to connect the mat to the system. The Active Life Floor Mat requires the Gamecube inputs in order to be able to connect the floor mat to the system. The newer Wii models do not have these inputs available. If you have an older Wii model with the Gamecube ports included, you'll be able to connect the floor mat to your Nintendo Wii system. You can check for these ports by going to your Nintendo Wii (in the upright vertical position) and opening the plastic flaps on the top of the system to reveal these additional ports.

I then phoned Nintendo to find out if they had a converter I could use. The answer is no. When Nintendo reconfigured the Wii, they removed not only the Gamecube port but also Gamecube functionality. This means that the newer Wii is cheaper--and that it won't play what seems like a very cool game.