Frequently Bought Together
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images? |
Product Description
Amazon.com
Feel the exhilaration of the full-body dancing workout that you know and love with Zumba Fitness: Rush. Building on the phenomenal success of the original game, Rush delivers thrilling new routines, music tracks and the hands-free control and full body motion-tracking of the Kinect. With accessible gameplay, a revamped tutorial mode and helpful training from superstar Zumba instructors, dancers of all skill levels will be able to get up, get down and achieve their fitness goals. Are you ready to feel the Rush that defines Zumba Fitness?
Utilize the Kinect for Fitness
42 thrilling routines
Three Game Modes
Synopsis
Hop off your couch and into the fun-filled, electrifying dancing workout of Zumba Fitness: Rush. Featuring 42 thrilling new routines and songs from today's top artists, Zumba Fitness: Rush helps you get in shape and take your fitness goals to a new level of fun. Break it down with 24 dance styles that range from fan-favorites like Merengue and Cumbia to new additions that include Bollywood, Ragga, Bachata, Latin Pop and Quebradita. Experience a heart-racing good time when you truly get into the dancing fun with the motion-tracking capabilities of your Kinect sensor, and enjoy hands-free dancing and control of menu navigation thanks to the Kinect's voice controls. Dance by yourself or grab a friend to share the dance floor in three game modes. Groove to the beat of one song at a time in Single Song mode, or amp up the excitement in the Zumba Class mode that offers workout routines in 20-, 45- and 60-minute formats. You can even create your own workout by saving a playlist of your favorite songs and routines. With superstar Zumba instructors and 10 dynamic environments, you'll feel like you're part of the Zumba elite and partying like a rock star all over the world. Get ready to feel the Rush.
Key Features:
- Move and groove to top hits from today's hottest artists, including Pitbull, Nicole Scherzinger and Yolanda Be Cool & DCUP, in addition to addictive Zumba originals
- Master 24 different dance styles while you play fan-favorites like Merengue and Cumbia as well as new additions like Bollywood, Ragga, Bachata, Latin Pop, Quebradita and more
- Dance by yourself or with a friend in three different game modes, including Single Song, Zumba Class and Learn the Steps
- Groove to one routine of your choice and get an idea for the rhythm before you start dancing in Single Song, or get your heart rate up with a Zumba Class that features workout routines in 20-, 45- or 60-minute lengths
- Save a playlist to create your own custom workout of your favorite music and choreography
- Break down four core dance styles into basic steps in the revamped Learn the Steps tutorial mode
- Learn from 3D avatars of six Zumba instructors — Beto, Tanya Beardsley, Gina Grant, Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce and three exclusive to Kinect — to make you feel like you're actually in an elite Zumba class
- Party in 10 dynamic environments, including a Miami yacht, LA nightclub, rooftop, VIP pool party and music video set — plus venues exclusive to Kinect: Bollywood, Rio Carnivale, Las Vegas and more
- Immerse yourself in the worldwide exercise phenomenon of Zumba Fitness with this follow-up to the popular original game
- Enjoy hands-free dancing thanks to the power of the Kinect sensor that utilizes full-body motion tracking for an unencumbered, interactive workout (Kinect sensor required, not included)
- Navigate menus using Voice Control to start dancing even faster
- Get down to the beat with 42 exhilarating new routines and music tracks, including 10 that are exclusive to Kinect
- Accessible gameplay and a new video cueing system make it easy for dancers of all skill levels to get in on the action
- Track your workout statistics, including calories burned, achievements earned, overall rank and technique score with the new Progress Tracker
Product Description
Four million players and counting have already discovered the exhilarating Zumba Fitness interactive video game work out. Following the worldwide best-selling original, Zumba Fitness Rush builds on that phenomenal success while elevating the exer-game category to a new level of fun, effective fitness. This cutting-edge experience layers in a wealth of exclusive content only available on Kinect, plus lots of new features and improvements that amp up the dance fitness play so you can party yourself into shape!
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
103 of 109 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the best exercise games for the Kinect, and a vast improvement over the first version
February 13, 2012
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The original Zumba Fitness video games, released in November 2010 for Wii and Xbox Kinect, sold millions of copies but were admittedly quite lackluster. While it was great to be able to dance Zumba routines to your TV screen, motion tracking on both systems was terrible (something especially disappointing on the then-new Kinect), and the so-called tutorials didn't do a very good job of teaching those new to Zumba.
I'm happy to say that Majesco listened to its users. In November 2011, they introduced Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii which made great improvements. They added different beautifully designed venues (such as a Yacht in Miami or a Rooftop in New York) complete with crowds of synchronized animated dancers in the background that help put you in that "party mood". They also added a few licensed music tracks, and even used the cartoon versions of real-life Zumba instructors Beto, Tanya Beardsley, and Gina Grant as your virtual trainers. It was a huge improvement over the original.
It took them a few more months to release the sequel for the Kinect (which they're calling Zumba Fitness Rush). I'm happy to say it was worth the wait. The Xbox version has the same new features as the Wii version, and then adds three more Zumba instructors (Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce), five new venues, and 10 additional music tracks. And of course the Xbox version has much more detailed graphics and glorious hands-free control that works the way it should.
When you start the game, you have six menu options:
1) Single Song: Here, you can just dive into dancing. You can scroll through the list of songs of many different musical styles, ranging from Cumbia to Samba to Batucada to Mambo to Hip Hop. The intensity of the songs range from Low to Medium to High. Most of the songs are Zumba originals, but there are a few licensed tracks (Pause by Pitbull, Poison Remix by Nicole Scherzinger, and We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP).
Dancing works the same way as with most dance games--a Zumba instructor will dance on the screen, and you have to mirror his or her moves. A visual cue card will show up to tell you what move is coming up next (it's animated, which I find much more useful than the cryptic icons in other dance games). Despite the similarities to other dance games, one thing to keep in mind is that Zumba Fitness Rush is an exercise game first. The dance moves are simpler and more repetitive by design. The game is less about fancy choreographed dance moves, and all about aerobic dance steps that get your heart pumping.
Your silhouetted image appears in the lower left-hand corner, so you can compare your poses to the trainer's. I liked the fact that even though my Kinect is only 6 feet from the TV (so my legs are cut off), the game still let me play and still had accurate motion tracking.
For some bizarre reason you don't see numerical scores as you're playing, you just see a row of 5 stars on the bottom of the screen. As you hit your moves, you'll be graded "NICE!", "HOT!", or "ZUMBA!" and your star count will go up accordingly. I found the accuracy to be vastly improved over the original version. You could get a couple "NICE" scores by faking it, but you really had to use to hit the moves precisely using your whole body to get the "ZUMBA!". If you miss a move, the part of your body that missed it will glow red.
After you finish a song, you finally see the numerical score along with the number of calories you burned, the percentage of moves you got right, the number of stars you earned, and a ranking (Zumba Fan, Zumba Rocker, etc.).
Calories burned is a useful addition, but since they don't ask you to input your weight (which is technically needed to calculate calories burned), it's only going to be an approximation. By my rough calculations, it looks like their calorie counts assume an average weight of 175 pounds; if you weigh more or less you'll have to adjust the calorie count higher or lower respectively.
2) Learn the Steps: The tutorial here is much more useful than the one in the first version. You're taught four basic steps of Salsa (Sidestep, Forward and Back, Travel, Backstep), Reggaeton (Stomp, Knee Lift, Destroza, and Bounce), Cumbia (Two Step, Forward and Back, Sleepy Leg, and Sugar Cane), and Merengue (March, Two Step, Six Count, Zumba Shuffle) by the animated Beto himself. You start out doing the steps slowly, and then once you've mastered that you can dance at normal speed. The system will accurately detect if you got the move right, and will check off that move once you do it successfully five times. There are of course many other steps and musical styles within the game, but learning these basic steps will get you warmed up and ready.
3) Zumba World: As of the launch date (2/13/12), the screen here still says "We're sorry, these features are not available yet. But check back soon!". They promise that under this menu option, you'll get the latest in Zumba news, let you locate a local class, and get new routines via DLC.
4) Full Class: Here, you can choose from 15 Short Classes, 15 Mid-Length Classes, 15 Full Length Classes. Classes are really nothing but individual songs strung together; the only real difference between Class mode and Single Song mode is that at the end of the class you can get aggregate statistics all the songs you played, not just one. Classes come in three lengths, short, mid length, and full-length which contain 20, 45, and 60 minutes of music respectively (add 5-20 minutes more to account for breaks between songs and rest time, and you're talking some major time investment). The good news is, you can also design your own class by stringing together your favorite songs. The one annoyance I found about the classes was that as you're going through the songs there's not any indication of how many songs you've danced to and how many there are left to go, which is particularly rough with the longer workouts.
5) Progress Tracker: Here, you can view Statistics (calories burned, total time played, and accuracy) by calendar day, week, or month, view Kinect Achievements (trophies you get for accomplishing various milestones in the game), or view "behind the scenes" videos that you unlock during the course of the game. I do like how you're incentivized to keep playing the game to unlock new trophies and videos.
6) Options lets you turn visual cues on and off, and adjust the sound effects and music volume.
There were a few minor annoyances with the game. Similar to what I said about Classes, while you're playing any song there's no indication of how much time has elapsed in the song and how much left there is to go. The result is an effect where, if you're not familiar with the song, you may start getting that "when is this going to be over?" feeling. I would have liked to see at least an option for displaying some kind of countdown timer on the bottom of the screen.
The graphics are much more stylized than the first version, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, it makes the dancing experience a lot more exciting and immersive. On the negative side, some of the camera changes (e.g., from the trainer to the crowd and back) can really be distracting. Even worse, when you hit a series of moves right, you'll be rewarded with "Euphoria Mode", where the screen flashes a white so bright that you feel like you're being blinded (and ironically, you'll probably miss the next couple of steps because of it).
But the positive features of Kinect Fitness Rush outweigh any negative ones. It's definitely one of the better workout games available for the Xbox. Even with "Low Intensity" songs you'll get your heart rate pumping and will build up a sweat. The dancing is a lot of fun, and scoring is such that beginners won't get discouraged and yet experts will still feel fully rewarded for perfecting their moves.
If you're a Zumba fan, I'd say this is a must-buy if you want to have the Zumba experience at home; it's not quite the same as being in a real gym with a real instructor and fellow dancers, but it's probably the next closest thing to it. If you've always been curious about Zumba, this is a great and inexpensive way to learn it so that if you do sign up for classes you'll already have some experience under your belt.
I'm happy to say that Majesco listened to its users. In November 2011, they introduced Zumba Fitness 2 for the Wii which made great improvements. They added different beautifully designed venues (such as a Yacht in Miami or a Rooftop in New York) complete with crowds of synchronized animated dancers in the background that help put you in that "party mood". They also added a few licensed music tracks, and even used the cartoon versions of real-life Zumba instructors Beto, Tanya Beardsley, and Gina Grant as your virtual trainers. It was a huge improvement over the original.
It took them a few more months to release the sequel for the Kinect (which they're calling Zumba Fitness Rush). I'm happy to say it was worth the wait. The Xbox version has the same new features as the Wii version, and then adds three more Zumba instructors (Kass Martin, Jason Thompson and Erica Pierce), five new venues, and 10 additional music tracks. And of course the Xbox version has much more detailed graphics and glorious hands-free control that works the way it should.
When you start the game, you have six menu options:
1) Single Song: Here, you can just dive into dancing. You can scroll through the list of songs of many different musical styles, ranging from Cumbia to Samba to Batucada to Mambo to Hip Hop. The intensity of the songs range from Low to Medium to High. Most of the songs are Zumba originals, but there are a few licensed tracks (Pause by Pitbull, Poison Remix by Nicole Scherzinger, and We No Speak Americano by Yolanda Be Cool and DCUP).
Dancing works the same way as with most dance games--a Zumba instructor will dance on the screen, and you have to mirror his or her moves. A visual cue card will show up to tell you what move is coming up next (it's animated, which I find much more useful than the cryptic icons in other dance games). Despite the similarities to other dance games, one thing to keep in mind is that Zumba Fitness Rush is an exercise game first. The dance moves are simpler and more repetitive by design. The game is less about fancy choreographed dance moves, and all about aerobic dance steps that get your heart pumping.
Your silhouetted image appears in the lower left-hand corner, so you can compare your poses to the trainer's. I liked the fact that even though my Kinect is only 6 feet from the TV (so my legs are cut off), the game still let me play and still had accurate motion tracking.
For some bizarre reason you don't see numerical scores as you're playing, you just see a row of 5 stars on the bottom of the screen. As you hit your moves, you'll be graded "NICE!", "HOT!", or "ZUMBA!" and your star count will go up accordingly. I found the accuracy to be vastly improved over the original version. You could get a couple "NICE" scores by faking it, but you really had to use to hit the moves precisely using your whole body to get the "ZUMBA!". If you miss a move, the part of your body that missed it will glow red.
After you finish a song, you finally see the numerical score along with the number of calories you burned, the percentage of moves you got right, the number of stars you earned, and a ranking (Zumba Fan, Zumba Rocker, etc.).
Calories burned is a useful addition, but since they don't ask you to input your weight (which is technically needed to calculate calories burned), it's only going to be an approximation. By my rough calculations, it looks like their calorie counts assume an average weight of 175 pounds; if you weigh more or less you'll have to adjust the calorie count higher or lower respectively.
2) Learn the Steps: The tutorial here is much more useful than the one in the first version. You're taught four basic steps of Salsa (Sidestep, Forward and Back, Travel, Backstep), Reggaeton (Stomp, Knee Lift, Destroza, and Bounce), Cumbia (Two Step, Forward and Back, Sleepy Leg, and Sugar Cane), and Merengue (March, Two Step, Six Count, Zumba Shuffle) by the animated Beto himself. You start out doing the steps slowly, and then once you've mastered that you can dance at normal speed. The system will accurately detect if you got the move right, and will check off that move once you do it successfully five times. There are of course many other steps and musical styles within the game, but learning these basic steps will get you warmed up and ready.
3) Zumba World: As of the launch date (2/13/12), the screen here still says "We're sorry, these features are not available yet. But check back soon!". They promise that under this menu option, you'll get the latest in Zumba news, let you locate a local class, and get new routines via DLC.
4) Full Class: Here, you can choose from 15 Short Classes, 15 Mid-Length Classes, 15 Full Length Classes. Classes are really nothing but individual songs strung together; the only real difference between Class mode and Single Song mode is that at the end of the class you can get aggregate statistics all the songs you played, not just one. Classes come in three lengths, short, mid length, and full-length which contain 20, 45, and 60 minutes of music respectively (add 5-20 minutes more to account for breaks between songs and rest time, and you're talking some major time investment). The good news is, you can also design your own class by stringing together your favorite songs. The one annoyance I found about the classes was that as you're going through the songs there's not any indication of how many songs you've danced to and how many there are left to go, which is particularly rough with the longer workouts.
5) Progress Tracker: Here, you can view Statistics (calories burned, total time played, and accuracy) by calendar day, week, or month, view Kinect Achievements (trophies you get for accomplishing various milestones in the game), or view "behind the scenes" videos that you unlock during the course of the game. I do like how you're incentivized to keep playing the game to unlock new trophies and videos.
6) Options lets you turn visual cues on and off, and adjust the sound effects and music volume.
There were a few minor annoyances with the game. Similar to what I said about Classes, while you're playing any song there's no indication of how much time has elapsed in the song and how much left there is to go. The result is an effect where, if you're not familiar with the song, you may start getting that "when is this going to be over?" feeling. I would have liked to see at least an option for displaying some kind of countdown timer on the bottom of the screen.
The graphics are much more stylized than the first version, which can be both a good thing and a bad thing. On the good side, it makes the dancing experience a lot more exciting and immersive. On the negative side, some of the camera changes (e.g., from the trainer to the crowd and back) can really be distracting. Even worse, when you hit a series of moves right, you'll be rewarded with "Euphoria Mode", where the screen flashes a white so bright that you feel like you're being blinded (and ironically, you'll probably miss the next couple of steps because of it).
But the positive features of Kinect Fitness Rush outweigh any negative ones. It's definitely one of the better workout games available for the Xbox. Even with "Low Intensity" songs you'll get your heart rate pumping and will build up a sweat. The dancing is a lot of fun, and scoring is such that beginners won't get discouraged and yet experts will still feel fully rewarded for perfecting their moves.
If you're a Zumba fan, I'd say this is a must-buy if you want to have the Zumba experience at home; it's not quite the same as being in a real gym with a real instructor and fellow dancers, but it's probably the next closest thing to it. If you've always been curious about Zumba, this is a great and inexpensive way to learn it so that if you do sign up for classes you'll already have some experience under your belt.
124 of 134 people found the following review helpful
By Ms Patricia
Fun:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Zumba is back with Zumba Fitness Rush!! And what can be said about this sequel? Read on!!
The Cons:
Unlike it's predecessor, the developers decided to remove a crucial fun factor, online multi-player mode. That's right, you can no longer play online with friends in far away places.
Another issue that may affect a few people (especially those with epilepsy) are the constant flashes and de-focus in the game play. I found it quite irritating, especially when a new move was coming up.
The cue cards are a nice addition, but developers, if you're going add them, then put the whole routine of the move in there. It's like you put the move in but then decide to add something else to it. This option can be removed under settings.
In the manual it has a scale and tells you that you are able to edit, but I have yet to find where the edit option is or see the scale appear. You can only see Time, Technique and Calories Burned right now. If anyone sees the scale, please let me know where it is located.
Now for the Pros:
The navigating is great as you can use your hand, voice or controller.
The tracking has improved greatly.
The tutorials in learning the steps has improved as well.
All new music, routines and venues
Routine intensity go from easy to medium to high
The classes are fun and you will sweat your pants off big time.
Your choice of classes are Short Class (20 mins), Medium Class (45 mins) and Full Class (60 mins)
You can create your own playlist of songs (up to 12) and dance away without having to stop (you still have your choice of doing a single song as well).
It has a Dance Central type scoring system (the star system) and there you can get Nice, Hot or Zumba
It also shows the body part that needs work with a red silhouette.
So with all that said, would I recommend Zumba Fitness Rush? I'll say yes. Despite what it lacks, the pros still outweigh the cons!!
Enjoy, I know I will!!
Update: February 16th, 2012
After using it for nearly a week, I will say you will get use to the flashing which is Euphoria and they've updated it that you can now share on your awards on Facebook right from the game!! I'm loving it!! I can see this being my staple workout for a long time!!
The Cons:
Unlike it's predecessor, the developers decided to remove a crucial fun factor, online multi-player mode. That's right, you can no longer play online with friends in far away places.
Another issue that may affect a few people (especially those with epilepsy) are the constant flashes and de-focus in the game play. I found it quite irritating, especially when a new move was coming up.
The cue cards are a nice addition, but developers, if you're going add them, then put the whole routine of the move in there. It's like you put the move in but then decide to add something else to it. This option can be removed under settings.
In the manual it has a scale and tells you that you are able to edit, but I have yet to find where the edit option is or see the scale appear. You can only see Time, Technique and Calories Burned right now. If anyone sees the scale, please let me know where it is located.
Now for the Pros:
The navigating is great as you can use your hand, voice or controller.
The tracking has improved greatly.
The tutorials in learning the steps has improved as well.
All new music, routines and venues
Routine intensity go from easy to medium to high
The classes are fun and you will sweat your pants off big time.
Your choice of classes are Short Class (20 mins), Medium Class (45 mins) and Full Class (60 mins)
You can create your own playlist of songs (up to 12) and dance away without having to stop (you still have your choice of doing a single song as well).
It has a Dance Central type scoring system (the star system) and there you can get Nice, Hot or Zumba
It also shows the body part that needs work with a red silhouette.
So with all that said, would I recommend Zumba Fitness Rush? I'll say yes. Despite what it lacks, the pros still outweigh the cons!!
Enjoy, I know I will!!
Update: February 16th, 2012
After using it for nearly a week, I will say you will get use to the flashing which is Euphoria and they've updated it that you can now share on your awards on Facebook right from the game!! I'm loving it!! I can see this being my staple workout for a long time!!
44 of 45 people found the following review helpful
By moose_angel
Amazon Verified Purchase
Fun:
4.0 out of 5 stars
I had heard about the Zumba craze for a while and how good of a workout it provides. However, not only am I completely out of shape, the dancing gene completely skipped over me. Correction: there was never a dancing gene in my family that I could have inherited. After watching several Zumba classes from afar while sweating on the treadmill at my gym, the verdict was in: I would easily be the most uncoordinated person in that room, bustin' out moves reminiscent of Steve Urkel. Call me self-conscious, but this gal doesn't like making a fool out of herself.
Plus, those classes aren't included in most gym memberships. The thought of a one-time payment for an XBox game is rather appealing instead of dishing out cash for continued group classes.
In terms of a good workout... Oh. My. Gosh. It gets the heart pumping, sweat flowing, and muscles burning -- which, of course, means that it's working.
The game breaks down in a lot of different ways. It offers an instructive session on the basic steps for four of the major dancing styles that are incorporated into the songs and routines (salsa, merengue, cumbia, and reggaeton). My one complaint here is that they don't offer instruction on other styles that are used such as mambo and cha-cha for those bumbling klutzes like me. You eventually pick up on them after repetition, but a primer would be nice. These sessions introduce four steps per dance style. They start off slowly to help demonstrate the actual step and then speed up to make sure that you actually have it down. This makes the actual workouts a LOT easier to follow, so I highly recommend going through this first.
The dance routines are classified by intensity levels: high intensity, medium intensity, and low intensity. When you are selecting a song or a workout, you are given a choice of intensity level. The choices also provide you with the "location" of your workout. Your instructor can lead the workout from a variety of backgrounds such as a yacht, Bollywood, a New York alley, a rooftop, Carnivale, etc. You can also preview each song or workout before beginning.
You can opt to do a single song, create your own workout from the available songs, choose a set workout, or try to find a live class.
With the set workouts, you can choose either a short workout (20 minutes), a medium workout (45 minutes), or a full workout (1 hour). The intro to each workout tells you how many songs there are, and each song is prefaced by an update telling you which song in the set you are about to begin. Once you select the length of your workout, you choose the intensity of your workout (low, medium, or high). Don't be fooled; even the low intensity workouts will make you sweat. The length and intensity options of the workouts give you a great starting point if you are really out of shape. You can start small and work your way up without killing yourself, yet still get a good session.
During each song, you will see several different things on the screen aside from the instructor and the background. On your left, there is a meter that grades each of your moves. Not only does it measure the accuracy of each of your steps, but it detects your intensity. More gusto = more points. Along the bottom of your screen are five empty stars. As the dance goes on, these stars will fill up, again based on accuracy and intensity. It doesn't take an expert or a Shakira to get all five stars, so it's actually somewhat of an encouragement. In the bottom left corner, there is a box that shows your silhouette so you can see how good you look. ;) Or in my case, the reason why you're doing this when no one else is looking!!! And as the steps are about to change, a box will appear in the upper right corner to show you the next move so you'll be a step ahead of the game and can keep up with the dance.
At the end of each workout, you are give a summary that shows you how well you did. You get an overall star rating, an accuracy percentage, and your total calories burned. From the main menu, you can also track your overall progress which documents your accuracy, calories burned, time played, etc. It also breaks it down by the dates of your workouts so you can track your fitness and weight loss goals. This also lists the different achievements that you have gotten throughout your different workouts, including hidden, behind the scenes dances that you unlock as you go. I've gotta say, unlocking one of these dances is definitely a good feeling, and it makes you want to keep going. With these achievements and "secret" levels, the workouts become like an actual game. It will engage your competitive side.
When you're going through a workout, the instructors change with every dance. Each instructor seems to have his or her own style or genre. Translation: as soon as the new song is about to start, I know whether or not I'm about to hate my life. One in particular makes me groan every time she pops up on the screen. However, as time goes on, you'll pick up on the steps and styles, and things will get easier.
If you have Zumba experience, getting the hang of this will be a lot easier for you. If you are a newbie like me, it will take some extra time and work -- but don't get frustrated. For a while, you will probably get stuck a time or two during the workouts while you try to pick up a new dance move. But if you stick with it, there will be no regrets. Regularly pushing through the pain is well worth it. I was stunned by how quickly I began to see results. I use this as my cardio workout three times a week, and it's actually fun!
If you're serious about getting in shape, this is the way to go. Well worth the money.
Plus, those classes aren't included in most gym memberships. The thought of a one-time payment for an XBox game is rather appealing instead of dishing out cash for continued group classes.
In terms of a good workout... Oh. My. Gosh. It gets the heart pumping, sweat flowing, and muscles burning -- which, of course, means that it's working.
The game breaks down in a lot of different ways. It offers an instructive session on the basic steps for four of the major dancing styles that are incorporated into the songs and routines (salsa, merengue, cumbia, and reggaeton). My one complaint here is that they don't offer instruction on other styles that are used such as mambo and cha-cha for those bumbling klutzes like me. You eventually pick up on them after repetition, but a primer would be nice. These sessions introduce four steps per dance style. They start off slowly to help demonstrate the actual step and then speed up to make sure that you actually have it down. This makes the actual workouts a LOT easier to follow, so I highly recommend going through this first.
The dance routines are classified by intensity levels: high intensity, medium intensity, and low intensity. When you are selecting a song or a workout, you are given a choice of intensity level. The choices also provide you with the "location" of your workout. Your instructor can lead the workout from a variety of backgrounds such as a yacht, Bollywood, a New York alley, a rooftop, Carnivale, etc. You can also preview each song or workout before beginning.
You can opt to do a single song, create your own workout from the available songs, choose a set workout, or try to find a live class.
With the set workouts, you can choose either a short workout (20 minutes), a medium workout (45 minutes), or a full workout (1 hour). The intro to each workout tells you how many songs there are, and each song is prefaced by an update telling you which song in the set you are about to begin. Once you select the length of your workout, you choose the intensity of your workout (low, medium, or high). Don't be fooled; even the low intensity workouts will make you sweat. The length and intensity options of the workouts give you a great starting point if you are really out of shape. You can start small and work your way up without killing yourself, yet still get a good session.
During each song, you will see several different things on the screen aside from the instructor and the background. On your left, there is a meter that grades each of your moves. Not only does it measure the accuracy of each of your steps, but it detects your intensity. More gusto = more points. Along the bottom of your screen are five empty stars. As the dance goes on, these stars will fill up, again based on accuracy and intensity. It doesn't take an expert or a Shakira to get all five stars, so it's actually somewhat of an encouragement. In the bottom left corner, there is a box that shows your silhouette so you can see how good you look. ;) Or in my case, the reason why you're doing this when no one else is looking!!! And as the steps are about to change, a box will appear in the upper right corner to show you the next move so you'll be a step ahead of the game and can keep up with the dance.
At the end of each workout, you are give a summary that shows you how well you did. You get an overall star rating, an accuracy percentage, and your total calories burned. From the main menu, you can also track your overall progress which documents your accuracy, calories burned, time played, etc. It also breaks it down by the dates of your workouts so you can track your fitness and weight loss goals. This also lists the different achievements that you have gotten throughout your different workouts, including hidden, behind the scenes dances that you unlock as you go. I've gotta say, unlocking one of these dances is definitely a good feeling, and it makes you want to keep going. With these achievements and "secret" levels, the workouts become like an actual game. It will engage your competitive side.
When you're going through a workout, the instructors change with every dance. Each instructor seems to have his or her own style or genre. Translation: as soon as the new song is about to start, I know whether or not I'm about to hate my life. One in particular makes me groan every time she pops up on the screen. However, as time goes on, you'll pick up on the steps and styles, and things will get easier.
If you have Zumba experience, getting the hang of this will be a lot easier for you. If you are a newbie like me, it will take some extra time and work -- but don't get frustrated. For a while, you will probably get stuck a time or two during the workouts while you try to pick up a new dance move. But if you stick with it, there will be no regrets. Regularly pushing through the pain is well worth it. I was stunned by how quickly I began to see results. I use this as my cardio workout three times a week, and it's actually fun!
If you're serious about getting in shape, this is the way to go. Well worth the money.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mother's Day Present
I bought this for my mother as she loves Zumba. She's really loved all of the dance styles and finds the program easy to navigate.
Published 2 days ago by Aria Raichand
5.0 out of 5 stars
Feel the ZUMBA Rush
I have the DVD set but doing Zumba with the Kinect is a whole other experience. Love the tracker and love the choices between the full/midsize/and small classes. Read more
Published 2 days ago by Sushma S Nand
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Workout
I am loving this "game" so far. I sweat like crazy but have so much fun while doing it! The best part is I get to do Zumba in my living room without feeling like a fool in... Read more
Published 4 days ago by Momof2
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great workout!!
I was hesitant to buy this initially because I have so many other kinect dance/fitness DVDs and wasnt sure if I'd get to this one. Read more
Published 4 days ago by Bella M
3.0 out of 5 stars
it's alright
It's not what I expected and I don't like the music. I guess I must've not really known what Zumba is.
Published 5 days ago by LL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Killer workout! Love it.
I got this game thinking it would be a fun way to break up at-home workouts and get in a little alternative cardio. Read more
Published 9 days ago by Jennifer McLaughlin
5.0 out of 5 stars
Love this!
This Zumba is SOOOOO much better than the first Zumba Kinect. Sometimes it still has problems noticing that I'm doing what I should be doing, but that's alright. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Amanda Catron
2.0 out of 5 stars
Lame
I originally asked forward this game to play online with my friends. Unfortunately I can't. Plus all the songs are in Spanish or something. Read more
Published 16 days ago by Julie Smith
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excercise hater, like this game.
Okay so I'm a person who hates exercise. Not just like "ugh, I have to go to the gym again" but like didn't even do it, scoffed at people asking me to play beach volleyball type of... Read more
Published 18 days ago by niksauce
3.0 out of 5 stars
Dances are not as easy to follow
The whole thing just isn't my style... The dancers go a little too fast for you to follow but you still get a workout just by moving your body. Read more
Published 18 days ago by BCTAY
Look for Similar Items by Category
- Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Sports
|
