Zumba Fitness, from Majesco Entertainment and Pipeworks Software, is coming out soon for all three current-gen consoles. As a fan of music/dancing games, this is looking to be quite an interesting title, and one I hope to get my hands on.
At first glance, Zumba Fitness appears to be like the other dance games coming out for the Kinect and Move peripherals, but it’s so much more than that. Rather than having gamers do random dances to random tracks, Zumba is an actual exercise.
Created back in the 1990’s by Celebrity Trainer Alberto “Beto” Perez in his native Columbia, Zumba combines hot latin and international beats with real moves. With the music being the key ingredient, dancers pay attention to the beats and tempo changes as they indicate when to transition the workout. Some moves are meant to give you cardio, some strengthening, while other simply tone. Having one fun exercise that is capable of doing so many things, and targeting all of your major muscle groups in the body, is pretty impressive.
Borrowing styles from belly dancing (hello Shakira fans), Tango, Mambo, Merengue, Samba, Salsa, Cumbia, Bhangra, Flamenco, and more, Zumba offers a lot of variety, but doesn’t seem to skimp on the fun. With over 105 countries offering Zumba as an option at their fitness centers, it only makes sense that a video game is made about it.
Wii gamers will be able to play with up to 4 people, same with those jamming out with the PlayStation Move. Sadly for 360 owners using theKinect, they can only dance with up to two locally or online. Based on what I can tell from the screenshots, it does have graphical similarities to another dance game that is coming out, but I’m sure that’s where they will end.In fact, I might even go so far as to say that I’m a little more excited for Zumba Fitness than the other two. Main reason is that I can actually use my Wii for it without having to purchase any additional peripherals.
