Customer Reviews

Walk It Out

5 star:		(326)
4 star:		(95)
3 star:		(19)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I have always enjoyed DDR (Dance Dance Revolution) but wanted to find something lower impact. I tried "Outdoor Challenge" and "Wii Active" but as great as they are, they weren't right for me. I wanted something pretty mindless that did not involve a lot of thinking or jumping around trying to keep a nunchuck strapped to my thigh. Happily I found it with "Walk It Out".

Walking is a great exercise and nothing beats a brisk walk outside. But "Walk It Out" offers great indoor entertainment and a fun way to change up your steps. It is walking on steroids. You get to walk along at a steady pace (you can set the difficulty) but it stays interesting as you uncover surprises. The game boasts over 120 songs that get your heart rate up including tunes by The Black Eyed Peas and Jesse McCartney. You can also select and edit playlists.

If you enjoy indoor walking tapes such as Leslie Sansone's you will probably love "Walk It Out". Once you get the hang of the control, there is lots to discover on the Island and the music keeps you grooving. Plus it is fun!

"Walk It Out" can be played by shifting your weight on the Wii Balance Board, using any of the buttons on the DanceDanceRevolution Controller pad or with a Nunchuck. Slipping the Nunchuck over your pants or in your pocket tracks your steps, keeps the game simple and allows for a wide variety of movement. With the Nunchuck you can also wear supportive footwear which you can't with the DDR Controller pad. The record section of the game keeps tabs on steps trekked and other data.

One drawback to the game is you cannot use your regular Mii. You create a character at the start but it is limited in configuration. Also, though I feel this game may be fun for young children and those who enjoy walking, I think many hard core gamers and those looking for intense physical exercise will find "Walk It Out" boring and will want to look elsewhere for entertainment.

If you are looking to vary up your walk and want a fun change of pace, "Walk It Out" is a great way to get fit, motivated and moving!

UPDATE: I am finding the game really keeps me walking. Tonight, I decided to go for a quick fifteen minute walk and ended up walking an hour and ten minutes!

The walking is quick and simple. But the way the event capsules work can be confusing. If you want more information than the booklet with the game provides, there is a link in the customer discussions section to a longer Konami instruction booklet.

~ Lee Mellott

I'd like to add my Walk It Out critique to the many excellent ones that have already been written. This evaluation is intended for other members of the ARRP generation. You know who you are. I should add that I don't consider myself a gamer. I like computer programming and graphics, but not usually games. For years though, I have followed the evolving exergame field. I own several early attempts at the genre. I have owned a Wii since it first arrived on the scene. I also own a good number of Wii "games" that purportedly inspire the human will to exercise. In my case, they don't. When it comes to exercise, I take a lot of inspiring. Wii Fit comes close but like many other reviewers here, I became frustrated with the constant "stop and go" in that "game".

Then, suddenly, Walk It Out walked onto the scene.It caught my interest. Like several reviewers, I found the packaging off putting. The photos of kids and a young adult didn't really scream, "This game is for you." Instead, it said the opposite, "This game isn't for you." However, I like to walk and the more I thought about the game, the better it sounded to me. It wasn't hugely expensive. I somewhat blindly pre-ordered the game. I received it the day that it came out, but waited to play it until the following morning.

Day 1: My first experience with the game made me wonder if I'd made a huge purchasing mistake. I read the documents that came with the game, but found them very lacking (the extended version of the docs is much better). My initial orientation in the stadium was a nightmare. I ended up flailing around for a bunch of extra time before I could escape to the island. In fact, I still have a phobia related to entering the stadium. At any rate, after about .6 miles of walking, I gave up in frustration. For me, trying to select the capsules while walking was also quite difficult. Even trying to figure out the game concept was rough.

Day 2: Thankfully, I don't give up easily. Figuring out this program became a challenge in and of itself. The next walk went much better. Things began to fall into place. It was still a bit confusing, but I was walking around to the music, collecting some chips and managing to hit a few capsules. Wow. Look at that: a palm tree popped up, a car, a deciduous tree. "Now this is kind of fun." I got so involved with working on the area around the stadium that I forgot the time. That NEVER happens to me during exercise. I made it a mile. "Hmmm. I'm too tired to go on, but I WANT to!" (" Unheard of, unthinkable.")

So, the days have walked by. I've been using the game for several weeks now. I rarely miss a day of walking. I feel like the island is taking shape. Maybe I am too. Yesterday I walked 3.9 miles which isn't bad for me. I have unlocked most of the routes on the island. I've gotten a couple of areas of vegetation completed. I've collected some music. I've even collected quite a few medals. I have never enjoyed exergaming so much. This game allows me to make progress. I've logged around 30 miles! The music isn't really my "thing", but as others have said, most of it is pleasant, fast, and great for mood elevation. Finishing a session on the island leaves me humming away and smiling. The little Wii figure that I follow around the island is filled with positive energy and joy.

This game offers so many options for input devices that most individuals could find something that works for them. I actually like the nun chuck the best, but it leaves me very sore because I like to walk, dance and jog around while using it. In my case, it is also less accurate than the balance board. I don't use it every day. I offset it with the balance board which gives a less robust workout, but still helps me use some different muscle groups. I walk without problems on the balance board. I even use my sneakers. I find that heel walking does work best to match the beat, but I have not found any issue using light steps or even marching while while on the board. I've also tried the dance pad. That was fun, but I could not get it to work well. There was too much sliding around and the mat wasn't accurate enough. It became frustrating. My guess is that regardless of the input device that you use, you will feel your muscles talking to you the next day.

I do suggest changing the game setting to "easy "so that you won't be penalized for missing beats. I worked with the penalty for a week or so. It wasn't bad that way, but I found it somewhat frustrating because NONE of the input options (nun chucks, balance board, or mat) recognize my steps properly. Turning off the penalty, helps relieve that frustration.

That brings me to my primary "gripe" about the program. It is still rough around the edges. That is, the input devises don't always work well. That interrupts the fantastic feeling of being a part of this game. When the devices are working, it is as though you have stepped into another world. The island is a happy place. You want to be there. You forget that you are exercising. However, when the input devices don't register your steps, it sometimes goes beyond frustrating.

Several reviewers have also mentioned the difficulty of using the Wiimote to select the capsules, CDs, clocks, etc. The hand bounces all over the screen as you are walking and trying to hit the capsule. That can be maddening. However, as one reviewer stated, it adds another dimension to the game. I now tend to look at it as a part of the game challenge. In fact, I felt very proud of myself yesterday when I finally managed to snag a CD that hovers above Spirit Mountain.

There is such a diversity of input options for this game that they offer a gentle way to start exercising for some of us, but also offer levels far beyond easy. The game takes some getting used to. My guess is that the people who have given it poor reviews didn't stick with it long enough to get a real feel for it. That is the primary reason that I waited quite a while before offering an opinion. That said, Walk It Out isn't going to be the game for everyone. People, who are very fit, might not enjoy it. A traditionalist who loves "real" workouts in a gym might also want to look elsewhere. For older people, like me, I highly recommend it (after talking to your doctor if you have any medical issues).

If Amazon had a rating of 4.5, I'd give it that. I'm rounding up to 5 because I find this game is close to what I've always wanted to find. It isn't perfect yet. I wish it had a way to record your weight. I REALLY wish the input devices worked more accurately. I wish there were more choices in the types of songs. It would be great to have sections of choice. Like, 40s,50s, 60s, 70s,....2010 etc. That way, everyone could choose the songs that appealed most to them. I'd love to be able to walk to "Zippity Do Da lyrics". I warned you that I was old. LOL.

All in all, I'm happy with Walk It Out, and like so many others here, I am looking forward to more of this type of game genre. It is refreshingly different and addictive. Anyone, young to old, can find a level that fits. It is the closest thing to the Holodeck that I've found yet.

I just received this game last night, and have only played it for about an hour, so these are my initial impressions.

First, obviously, this is not a 'gamer' game. This is a way to get your daily walk in that is a little more interesting than just walking on a treadmill. It has gaming elements, but those who are looking for a purely gaming experience will not find it in this genre :-)

As exercise, this is pretty darned good. I did a 45 minutes stretch last night to learn the game and get a feel for it. The time flew by and I burned about 275 calories. ***EDIT - actually, after doing an hour today, I realize I must have done about an hour last night - I guess the time really DID fly by! :-) *** I am very much a Wii exerciser, I do EA Sports Active and have been looking for a light to moderate cardio option for my scheduled rest days, and Walk It Out looks like it will work very well for this. I did my session last night on the normal setting and I would call it light cardio. I did not feel like I was working terribly hard, probably could have sang through most of it, but by the end of the 45 minutes I was sweating lightly. There are ways in the settings to change the intensity up or down, too, but I doubt you could really crank this up to a high intensity level, where you were having to pant to breathe. You could probably get it to where you could not sing though.

The game starts with a profile creation section in which you enter your stats and create your little person to walk around Rhythm Island. Sorry, you can't use your Mii :-( And the little people are fairly generic - the main difference between boys and girls, for example, seems to be that girls wear shorts and boys wear long pants. And everyone is wearing the same outfit, just you get to pick what colors you want your outfit to be. Obviously, however, I have not unlocked all the game, so possibly there are unlockables that change this up later - if not, hey, Konami, think about it for Walk It Out II! ;-)

After you create your profile, you choose your controller options for that session. The three options are controller with nunchuk (tuck the nunchuk in a pocket or your waistband, just like Wii running on Wii Fit), dance mat, or balance board. The game auto-highlights whatever you have plugged in, so if you have your balance board out and turned on, it will select that, if your DDR mat (or Active Life mat, it works fine with that one too!) if plugged in, it will choose that. You still get to select a different option if you like.

A couple notes about the balance board option. It is a little odd. The instructions say not to lift your feet all the way off the balance board, just lift your heels in turn, and if you forget and lift your feet, you can get an error message. They say this is to prevent falls, but it's not how I use the balance board for Wii Fit, so it's hard to remember at first. Also, not lifting your entire foot is obviously not as intense as regular walking, so that may be part of why this game seems light. However, learning the hand controls was a bit tricky at first, so I would definitely recommend using the balance board option so you are doing something light while you try to learn - once you get up the learning curve, just do whatever you like.

The first time you play, the game starts with a brief tutorial section. This is valuable, and I would go through it carefully, but it does tend to break off rather abruptly in spots, which is a little weird. Basically you walk in place. There is a step counter and gauge in the upper left corner that shows you what beats you should be stepping on, just like DDR, and when you step on the beat, you get a point, called a chip, that you will later spend to unlock items. If you miss a step, however, not only do you not gain a chip, but you LOSE one too (this can be turned off in the settings for beginners or children, because it's really hard to click on an event capsule without losing the beat!). If you are very close to the beat, you get a great, and if you are exactly on the beat you get a perfect, although I haven't noticed anything extra that you get for these, the game does keep track and gives you little messages like 'Wow! You've got 500 Greats so far!'

As you walk around the island, you will see little bubbles. These are called event capsules, and if you point your remote at these when you are close enough to them, they will get larger and have words in them like 'Palm Tree 100'. The number is the number of chips you need to 'buy' that item. When you look at the bubble, it will show up in either black or red text. Black means you currently have enough chips in your 'bank' to buy it, red means you don't. If you have enough chips to buy it, just click on it and it will poof into being before your eyes. You can buy everything from scenery to new song tracks to new areas of the map - IF you can manage to get the cursor pointed at the right bubble while you are clicking without missing a beat on your walking!!! For the less coordinated among us (myself included), this is the challenging part! It will definitely take some practice. There were also some event capsules that I am not sure what they are for, some rainbow ones you collect, some brown ones with times on them, etc. I'm looking forward to figuring these out as I play, but I don't know yet what they do. Although I like that there are these longer term goals built in! There are also some minigames, but I haven't done any yet - I think many of them are locked at first.

Now here is the part I am not 100% sure how it works, but this is what I THINK. If an event capsule is still red, you can still click on it, and it will go into your queue. You have a queue of three circles right next to your step counter at the top of the screen. You can fill these circles up with event capsules that you cannot afford and then as you collect the chips to unlock those events, they become available. BUT they don't seem to poof into being as soon as you earn the chips, just the next time you are in that part of the island, that event capsule will be black text with no number under it - you can click on it and it will appear immediately. This was a little confusing at first, but I think that is how it works.

Finally, you can change the view by holding down the B button to do a 'grab and drag' on the scenery. This is hard to get used to and I kept ending up looking at my feet or the sky or the opposite direction from where I meant to look! But, some of the event capsules seem like they would be very difficult if not impossible to collect if you don't look around sometimes.

The island looks to be quite large, with a lot of side routes. Also the amount of unlockables is enormous - I spent my entire session last night walking around in a loop around this auditorium, and I still have a LOT more things to unlock up there before I have all the scenery open. My daughter walked around for about 30 minutes and concentrated on opening new routes, and she had 26% of the island open when she was done, but that doesn't seem to count side routes. It's definitely not a game you will finish in a few days, looks to be good value for the money there.

The time of day you play matters, too - at night, you are walking under the stars, and during the day it is sunny. There are different unlockables for different times, too, I had some constellations last night, don't know yet what comes up during the day.

This is suitable for kids - my three year old son is playing it right now, we turned off the penalty and set the costs of the event capsules to 'easy', so he can walk around for a bit, stop and click on something to have it appear.

The song list is pretty cool - much like DDR, a lot of songs you never heard of before but are still pretty likable, some modern tracks by people like Black Eyed Peas and La La Land by Demi Levato, some oldies like Katrina and the Waves' Walking on Sunshine and a cover of the Go-Go's Vacation. I only have a few songs unlocked so far, so sorry, can't give a complete list.

All in all, a solid edition to your Wii exercise routine. Cardio is one of the areas that Wii exercising is light on, and this is a good if no more than moderate addition to the genre. For the price, there is a lot of gameplay here, and it's a great way to get in a daily walk with some gaming goodness thrown in. Enjoy!!

I have to say this upfront - I hate exercise. I am not lazy - if I find a sport I like, I do it. I work at it because I enjoy it, but to just sit and lift heavy lead plates until my elbows snap off at the seams - not my idea of a good time. Sweat and gasp, in place or around the neighborhood for 3 hours - also not my idea of having a blast - if that makes me lazy, alas I must be . . . :)

I discovered a cure, however, for my boredom and reluctance to work out - and that of course is Walk It Out. When I first got this 'game' I discovered a nice thread/discussion about the software here at Amazon titled 'Share Your Results From Using Walk It Out'. The people have been inspiring, funny, and a strong motivator. I tried then to describe how I was feeling and what I was up against. That wall that I described then is slowly diminishing - the reluctance to move has been replaced by an inability, inexplicably, to STOP MYSELF FROM MOVING. Yes, old dogs can learn new tricks. I offer my initial observations from that discussion in the hopes that anyone doubting the usefulness and fun of Konami's wonderful program will doubt no longer.

*****

I do not know if I can express this well - I will try to paint a picture of the last 5 years in a couple of sentences. I have spent the last 5 years, slowly and steadily, unhappily but on a seemingly unalterable course, of gaining 102 lbs on a frame already 45 lbs overweight. I am 5' 9.5" - I went from 243 lbs to 345 lbs. I bought Wii Fit Plus and found that I was simply Wii Fit Plus SIZE - I couldn't use the balance board; I couldn't use the title. Then I saw Walk It Out on Amazon. I have been waiting patiently, since Wii Fit Plus basically reminded me I was a Wii Bit Overboard.

I got Walk It Out last Sunday. Last Saturday I was an exhausted, overworked, underpaid, non-exerciser. I hated to exercise and didn't do it. I was too tired, too old (42), too fat (345 lbs and climbing), and too embarrassed to have anyone see me. I wouldn't go to a gym; I didn't even want to walk outside at night in my neighborhood. I just didn't want to run into ANYONE I knew who'd not seen me for awhile. But I digress. Last Sunday I got my Walk It Out.

This is now one week later. I have walked 89,000+ steps. I have burned 4,740+ calories. I have spent 6 hours and 30 minutes of game time. I have walked an unbelievable 25.1 miles. I have lost 5 lbs. I have been unable to sleep well for almost a year - the weight causing or contributing to sleep apnea. The past 7 days I would say my sleep time is nearly doubled, in that when I go to sleep I fall asleep quicker, stay asleep a bit longer, and if I wake, get back to sleep faster.

I also notice a flexibility improvement - unsure why because I am not stretching or doing anything outlandish. I just notice when I walk during the day - to my car, down the halls at work - I am not dragging my legs forward like a drowned corpse walking through wet sand but rather my legs seems to be in place as I step more easily, almost 'ahead' of me, if you get what I mean. Anyone that has suffered the burden of massive weight will know and can attest that when a sudden burst of energy takes over, or when a walk that used to be laborious is over and was a pleasure before one even noticed - it is like a shot of electricity, a bolt of hope.

And that is what Wii's Walk It Out has been for me. An invitation to grab a fistful of hope and turn the ship around. I did take a break, Friday and Saturday - and I felt guilty. I felt a bit lazy. But most of all I felt I missed out.

Walk It Out is an adventure. The exercise is an almost unconscious blessing. As you expand your routes and create the scenery around you (think 'walking through Sim City at ground level, pointing and clicking and building your metropolis - to a beat) you get lost in the fun. The music is varied - mostly modern and upbeat, some are death defying if you really try to keep to the beat - I find 'Get Your Freak On' by Missy Elliot requires me to jog in place, arms pumping (yes! Me? Arms pumping? Indeed!) and amazingly NOT STOPPING. Something I would never do if you just gave me an iPod with that same song on it and told me: head outside and jog until the end of the song. I'd get 45 seconds into it and be DREAMING of the end. And then I would stop.

Walk It Out is great fun, great exercise. I look forward to continuing on the adventure, unlocking new buildings and things - getting to 100 miles in just one month.

If someone had told me I'd set a 100 mile walking goal and that I would be more than 25% done with that goal in 6 sessions - I'd say they needed to cut out the vodka with their Twinkies.

Konami - you are giving thousands (hopefully millions) an island full of fun and a big helping of hope. Please promise us the Walk It Out series will be a long, challenging, and fun one. Thank You. From the bottom of my heart.

*****

I really cannot believe the change - in attitude, in shape (the bags are now in my clothes, not under my eyes). I cannot believe after all this time I really CAN change myself - one step at a time.

You must give this program a try if you have ever felt worn, unable to move, unwilling to be motivated. One step at a time and you too will escape the future you thought was set in stone.

This game was worth the wait.
In this game you have a choice of multiple types of controls (nunchuk and wii mote, DDR Dance Pad, or Wii Balance Board). Songs, environment elements, and walking paths are all un-lockable as you step in time to the music tracks.
While you are walking, rather than jogging in front of your TV, the 'walk' is rather fast paced as you have to keep up with the songs. You can adjust the speed so you don't have to keep up with the full beat of the faster songs if you don't want to.
Since there is so much to unlock, it is easy to stay motivated since you can't unlock everything in one walk, and I found that although I was sweaty and tired, I was already looking forward to my next session. I really enjoyed being able to go different directions and walk different paths, and part of the fun is getting enough 'credits' to unlock various different paths.

I will say that the 'trainers' are a bit annoying with them saying 'amazing' or 'wow that's great' at each unlock or accomplishment.
But that was the only draw back for me.
I enjoyed getting updates on my steps walked, distance, and calories burned - and the review at the end helps you to set goals for your next walk as well.
This game is more light hearted and it is a bit 'young' audience wise, but if you just want a challenging walking game that will give you music and a change of pace from the other Wii Fitness games, I would suggest picking this one up.

If you watch the previews for this game, you might notice that they don't actually show how the balance board works with this game. I did notice this before I pre-ordered, but decided that I'd take the chance anyway.

I learned that the reason that they do not show the balance board in use with the game is very deliberate. To use Walk it Out! with the Wii balance board, you stand on the balance board and simply raise and lower your heels. You cannot lift your feet fully, which kind of defeats the purpose of the game. Raising and lowering your heels repeatedly along with the beat doesn't provide nearly as good a cardiovascular workout as actual walking in place, but if you're lucky you might get some calf cramps to go with it.

This was pretty disappointing, as I was hoping to have another game that would make use of my balance board.

On the bright side, the game does work well with the Wii-mote and nun-chuck, so after giving up with the balance board after 10 minutes, I was able to restart the game and use other equipment I already had. I do not have the DDR mat, though I imagine it works much better than the balance board with the game.

The game is cute and pretty fun, though I found keeping the beat while clicking the orbs around the island a bit difficult. It might just be that I am uncoordinated. At any rate, it's cute and probably more geared towards children, but it's probably worth the price to check out. Just don't count on using it with your balance board.

Honestly, if it weren't for a couple of glowing reviews here on Amazon, I would have not been interested enough to try Walk It Out because the cover graphics make it look lame (my opinion)-they're not targeted to a 30-something married person with no children (me).

Thankfully, I kept an open mind, and I'm glad I read the reviews that point out that you CAN use the Wii Fit Balance board and pick your feet up all the way. That part is very true! I stepped just like if I were in marching band picking my feet up. The game tells you not to and that it could be problematic, but I managed to not fall off the balance board (just the same as if you do the island cycling or marching band on Wii Fit plus), and my steps were generally counted pretty accurately, though the DDR mat might be more accurate as others have stated.

I played for over an hour last night (without realizing the time), shortly after receiving it in the mail.

The initial set-up is similar to the cover of the box...kind of juvenile and a bit extra-perky for my taste. One you get past this set-up portion (selecting what you want your character to look like and initial how-to training), the juvenile feel goes away. (a big plus for me because it would be intolerable for an entire game).

The game: you walk around an island that has minimal landscape and decor at fist, but that's where the fun begins. Each step you take earns you coins to buy things to decorate with. Last night I bought several trees, benches, potted plants, light posts, a suspension bridge, and even a burger joint (go figure!). You also use the coins to buy new songs to walk to, and you can click on things to build cool features like a rainbow or constellations. One thing that took me a while to figure out were the "time circles". The time circles look like a clock, these help unlock times for the clock in the settings portion of the game. It is called a "magic clock," and you can't change the time if you haven't unlocked the settings for that time, and though I'm not sure why yet (probably says in the book, but I was too excited to play to read the book), I am guessing this is so you can choose to walk with Daylight even if it's truly nighttime in real life.

***edit: I found the manual on the Konami web site, and it tells about the "MAGIC CLOCK". Different bubbles (they call them capsules) are available at different hours of the day. Since most people are not able to play every hour of every day, the Magic Clock allows you to change the time of day to collect different capsules. Each hour is broken into 4 capsules, so you must unlock all 4 capsules to unlock a specific hour.***

When you point on the little bubbles (which are pretty much EVERYWHERE on the island, so there's plenty of stuff to decorate with and keep you busy), it will tell you what it will unlock and buy and how many coins it will cost. 1) If the lettering is red, you haven't already earned enough to buy it, but you can click it and store it in the bank of 3 circles at the top of your screen, and then they will be bought when you DO have enough coins. The only thing with this is once you do have enough coins you will have to go back to that circle and click on it to actually build the item. (you will know when you point at an item and it has only the item name in black lettering with no price that it's something you've already earned and can open). 2) if the lettering and price are black, you already have enough coins to buy and the item will pop up immediately if you click on it. Aiming and selecting these bubbles is a little tricky to do while walking to the beat, but after a while it gets a little easier.

A few tips from what I learned in 1 hour+ of play:
1) use the wii nunchuck to change which direction you look (much like turning your head),
2) if your trainer annoys you (I use the guy who is less annoying), pointing the wii mote at the map and clicking toggles the trainer to mute/unmute
3) it takes a while to get the gist of where you are on the island at first. it will get easier as you buy items and have landmarks. There is a larger map viewable if you exit the game play mode
4) to change settings, save, look at the map, access mini-games, change the playlist (wonderful if there is a song you don't like), click the unlabeled square at the bottom right of the screen. You can easily return to walking by clicking the curved arrow at the bottom left of the screen, but you want to be sure to click the "confirm" arrow at the bottom right of the screen to save any changes you've made before returning to game play.

As for the music, so far it's pretty good. I'm not going to love all the songs, but I'm pretty picky, and I didn't mind any of the songs last night. They are not midi-files or knock-offs from what I've seen so far-- they seem to be the original artists performing them (although they are edited to be family friendly, such as in Boom-Boom Pow by the Black-Eyed Peas.) You can turn the lyrics on or off in the settings; It's kinda neat to see the lyrics, but honestly, I'm busy looking at how well I'm keeping on beat or clicking the little bubbles to notice the lyrics much. Also, the paces of the songs vary but are mostly pretty good and peppy. So far the slowest is "I'm walking on sunshine", which is the song they start you off with.

All in all, I'm addicted, and I am pretty sure I am going to play this until there's nothing more to play---I'm already hoping for a sequel or add-on pack. I found it hard to quit even though my buns were definitely burning (you will not burn the same muscles you'd burn from regular walking, obviously). I have ordered the DDR Hottest Party III kit, so I'll try the dance mat when I get it, which I think would be easier on your feet (if you have carpet underneath). Walk it out is not going to have you gasping for air, but it's great for indoor fun and burning a few calories without feeling like it's a drudgery. I walked almost 13000 steps last night and burned about 330 calories, so that's not too bad. I'd recommend stretching afterward.

Follow up: I got the DDR Pad, and it works great. One thing I like better about using the dance pad is you're not limited to just walking in place. You can step on any of the active squares of the dance pad, which to me seems like a better workout...I can do a bit of a mambo and step front,right,back,right, or any combo of steps. This makes it more fun because it's more than just marching in place.

Have fun...and if you have any questions, feel free to ask!

I got this game today. So this is an early report.

First of all, the game is a great idea, because it takes some of the "addictive" nature of some of the simulation games where you earn points to buy things and applies it to fitness. Just like in the past when I'd be playing Sims or SPORE and think "I'll just play one more [level/day/bit]", this game had me saying "ok, just 100 more steps and i can get that new route." 10,500 steps later I was tired and had walked 2.8 miles. Not a bad addiction.

It's fun to see the different objects come to life and the night time for the game is different that the day time, with different objects to unlock (for instance you can unlock constellations at night). Also, the game requires more coordination than you think because if you see a bubble you really want to "hit" (by shooting it with the wii mote), you have to keep walking in time to the music beat, use the numchuck to swing the camera angle around, and then use the wii mote to accurately shoot what it is you were aiming at. I'm just glad no one was watching me.

I used our Dance Dance Revolution pad and sometimes it was frustrating because even when i walked in time, it's like the pad wasn't responsive enough after a while. I solved this by switching my feet to different pairs of buttons when it didn't seem responsive any more. It wasn't bad changing my feet up a little anyway.

The graphics are pretty cool, the map is a little difficult because it only shows you a tiny bit of the over all map at a time and I have no sense of direction so i felt like i was going in a circle sometimes. Finally, I really wanted to have only fast music. The slow music didn't earn points as fast as I wanted it to, so I guess I need to gather more of those CD bubbles to get more songs. But there is a good variety of music and once you have all the songs, you can select a genre (to begin with you don't have enough songs to get a long enough "set" to walk to and you're better off using the "All" songs setting.)

I agree with another reviewer that the "trainers" are annoying. But i think the guy is a little less annoying than the girl. Just an opinion.

Overall, a great game and a cool concept for getting people to do "just a few more steps..."

The first thing to know about Walk It Out is that it's not a "video game" in the traditional sense of the word. There are no puzzles to solve, no targets to shoot at, no time limits, and no levels to conquer.

What it is is a stunningly rich and deep virtual environment where you walk, and walk, and walk. The virtual world is a beautifully drawn cartoon world, with parks, beaches, ocean views, buildings, bridges, and trees. The time in the virtual world matches real world time: during the day you can admire the vast blue skies with beautiful cloud formations; at night, you can walk under a stunningly beautiful starry sky.

The way the game works, a soundtrack will play catchy music continuously in the background, and you simply have to step precisely to the beat. Each time you hit the beat perfectly, you get a "chip". Miss the beat, and you get "chips" deducted.

You can choose one of two options for a controller: a Wii Balance Board or a Dance Dance Revolution Pad. I found both to be very responsive as far as detecting my foot movements, although I preferred the DDR dance pad because it gave me more options of where to put my feet (unlike DDR, it doesn't matter where on the dance pad you put your feet, as long as you step to the rhythm). If you don't have either, you can always use a Wii remote and a nunchuk, although you'll be giving your arms a workout instead of walking. In any case, you can also use the Wii remote to look around as you're walking.

After you earn enough chips, you can use them to unlock different things in the game. You can unlock up to 120 new songs (some from well-known artists like Demi Lovato and The Black Eyed Peas), 69 route branches (to open up new roads), 3346 town elements (items ranging from trees and street signs to suspension bridges, 24 magical clocks (to allow you to change the in-game time), 12 zodiac signs (to build constellations in the night sky), and 7 rainbow spheres (to build a rainbow in the daylight).

If you've played games like Super Mario Bros or Lego Indiana Jones, you know that it's addictive to collect coins in a game. And I admit, it is really addictive to collect as many chips as possible to unlock as much of your world as you can. It was a brilliant move on the part of Konami to take such addictive concepts in video games and combine them with walking--you have so much fun exploring and unlocking your picturesque virtual world, you don't really care that you spent an hour stepping just to get enough points to do so.

You can save your progress any time, and a status screen will tell you how much of the map and how many things you unlocked, how many calories you burned, and how many actual miles you walked.

In many ways, Konami was brilliant to focus just on walking as exercise. While it seems there are dozens of Wii exercise titles that all do the same old calisthenics, boxing and running exercises, Konami decided to focus on a popular area of exercise that's untapped. Studies that show that sustained walking is one of the very best forms of exercise there is, and 67 million Americans walk regularly for exercise, whether as step exercises, walking on a treadmill, or just strolling outdoors.

If you've ever tried walking for exercise, you know it can get a bit boring. But Konami has done a great job in making it fun. If you, like me, have ever been bored to tears walking on a treadmill and staring into space, this is the game for you. While it's not the end all and be all of exercise games, it'll certainly provide you some good aerobic exercise and will make a great addition to any Wii fitness routine.

If you are looking for a low impact walking exercise, this fits the bill. I got it yesterday and did it right away and again this morning. I was somewhat confused the first time but I got the hang of it this morning. I don't understand why the publishers don't put out better instructions. If they don't want to incur the printing cost they could always point us to a web site. I got a good walk in and the time sped by.
EDIT UPDATE: Konami has a full manual on their web site [...]

The game starts with creating a profile. Your character will look nothing like you. You pick male or female but they look pretty much the same. You can change hair color, skin color and clothing color. It asks your age, height and weight but it doesn't change your avatar. No big deal. The program makes you confirm each entry several times which would be annoying except that you only have to create a profile once.

I have tried all 3 methods of walking: Wii remote and nunchuk, Balance Board, DDR Mat. I like the mat the best even though they all worked. The remote and nunchuk seemed to occasionally miss my movement. The balance board is a hard surface and does not work with the whack-a-mole game (1 of 3 games). I started using a mat from the Wii Outdoor Challenge game which I liked because it had 2 rows where buttons were next to each other but I switched to a DDR mat when the Outdoor Challenge mat wouldn't work with whack-a-mole. I walked on the top row of buttons.

Here's the premise of the game. You start by walking on a track in a stadium. Then you walk outside into a barren land. As you earn chips by stepping to the music you can buy items such as buildings, bridges, street lamps, fire hydrants, bushes, palm trees, additional routes, additional songs, etc. The items are represented by "Event Capsules" that are round tokens. If you have already accumulated enough chips to buy an item you can click on the token and it will morph into the item. If you don't have enough chips when you click on a token it will be placed in a 3 token holding area. When your chip count rises past the first held token value, you will buy it and the item will be created. A 4th held token pushes out the 1st one. On my first try of the game I started walking around and clicking tokens, not understanding why they sometimes became items and sometimes just disappeared. Now I get it.

It takes a lot of walking to unlock enough items to make it interesting. The game allows you to reduce or increase the cost of items. Halfway through my second time I decided to reduce the cost so that I could see more progress. The game has 5 levels of cost: Normal, 50% less, 75% less, 50% more or 100% more. This is a nice feature. Another nice feature allows you to change how it measures your steps. You can choose not to lose points if you miss a beat. You can have a more lenient margin of error. Or you can choose to make the game harder. I might choose to use the options that make it more of a scoring game while my wife just wants to keep occupied while she walks and will choose the easier settings.

There are 3 games. It took a while for me to figure them out:
1. Whack-a-Slack is the standard Whack-a-Mole game but you need the DDR mat to play it.
2. Psycolo was confusing. You are a cube with colored sides. You are on a board with colored squares. There are hearts on some of the squares. You rotate the sides of your cube to match the color of a surrounding square and then move onto it. A Slack roams the board. Try to reach all the hearts before the Slack gets you. You can play for the length of a song or a group of songs. Future levels have more roaming Slacks. During the game you step to the music.
3. Smash and Run is on a soccer field. You step to the music and get a bigger hammer. There are different sized Slacks on the field. You walk around and smash them before they walk into you 3 times (I think that's it.)
I think it was the uninspired games that stopped me from giving Walk It Out 5 stars.

Every time you come back it picks up where you were before. I'm curious to see what the land will look like as I progress. You can earn records and medals for how far you walked in a session, how many steps were in perfect time, etc.