Zumba Burn it Up! | Nintendo Switch Review.

Wednesday 6 January 2021

 


I've waited a long time to finally get a new Zumba game, I first played it on PS3 and used to use the motion controller with a strap that went around me, I lost a lot of weight thanks to it and it definitely was the preferred way to workout for me due to my chronic illness, when my HR raises too much it will suddenly drop and I will faint and due to cardio raising your HR it took me a long time to find a cardio workout that I could do at my own pace so Zumba, Just Dance and Ring fit are all a perfect fit for me. I have had the game for a few months now and felt I may as well write down how I feel about it and if it's worth buying:

So what is Zumba? Zumba has been around for a long time, it's a fitness program first and foremost but one that you can fit around your everyday life easily, it consists latin and international music all packed together with different intensity dance moves, each one to fit what level of fitness you're currently on or want to progress further in. Within Zumba Burn it up there are 3 different levels to choose from whether that's dancing one song at a time or doing dance classes which are 15 minutes (short) 30 minutes (medium) 60 minutes (long) classes, within them you can choose what intensity level works best for you but beware some of these classes will sneak harder insanity workouts in there to balance it out and get you moving.


If you want to play with friends this game has got you, there is a feature called party workout where other players in your household can work out with you, it's the same as the class mode except you do it with 3 up to 3 other people, I haven't tried this option as I don't think my partner is very interested in the game and we are once again on lockdown in the UK so playing by myself is the only option I have currently. I wish it had an online feature like Just Dance to play against others across the globe but unfortunately the developers never implemented this.

Gameplay is pretty straight forward, once you choose your settings the game will load and your dance instructor will come on the screen, this time you will be able to see real people showing you the dance moves instead of silhouettes which the older games had, I was under the impression that I would have to use two joy cons to play in order to track my movements more and was taken back when I only had to use one, I guess this leaves room for another player to use the other joy con in party mode. Whilst performing the dance moves the game gives you a score out of 5 stars, sometimes I found that my moves were being counted as a miss even though I did them perfectly and it would go against me making it harder for me to reach the 5 star mark, the yellow bar next to the stars slowly will fill up depending on how well you're doing and if you're hitting all the right marks for the dance moves which gives you an idea of how far off you're to getting the next star and whether or not you can make it before the song ends. 

I found that if I played a single song at a time it would take me longer to level up and get rewards, I decided I would only use this as a warm up before I chose which class fit my mood and energy for that day, at the end of each class I was given my statistics which gives me a breakdown of how my energy i've burned, how long i worked out for etc, it's a good way to gage on if I want to up the ante or not. It's a great workout and there is no denying just how much it gets your movie, the two features when it comes to songs that I wish was added was freestyle and being able to download more songs, even though there are over 30 in the game it can tend to feel repetitive at times once you have played through all the songs and classes. The upside to the game is being able to set your own goals and challenges,whether it's on your own or with friends, the fitness tracker is a handy tool to keep a log of how many songs you've completed a long with how much energy you have burned, I also use my Fitbit Blaze whist playing to log my workout in my Fitbit app.


If you're not into lifting weights or using exercise equipment, dance is a great alternative that you can do at anytime, the scoring system is bound to make players determined to beat their high score each time. I have found myself remembering certain dance moves from the game and doing them around the house without even thinking, it's like discovering a new Tiktok dance all over again. The great thing about this game is that you can do Zumba classes without leaving the house, considering we are in a pandemic this is a huge upside and can often be hard to stay motivated and be on the movie in trying times like these.

My rhythm has improved a lot since playing and in this year alone, thanks to fitness games and eating smaller portions I have gone from a size 22 to a size 16, my plan when it comes to Zumba is try and keep up with it 2-3 times a week as I feel a bit more energised after a workout session and implement the use of other fitness games I own in between. Some may say it's useless trying to use games to lose weight because it won't work, I'm a perfect example of why it does especially for those like me who have a chronic illness and are disabled, losing weight and getting fit isn't as simple as people might think we have to find ways to workout that fit in with how our body works and Zumba Burn it Up! is something I'm able to cope with as a workout. I managed to get Zumba Burn it Up! for £28.99 in the sale which is a pretty decent price for a game like this.

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