Gold's Gym Dance Workout for Nintendo Wii - Fun Fitness Game for Weight Loss & Cardio Exercise - Perfect for Home Workouts & Dance Parties

I like to consider myself a minor expert in Wii workouts, having tried Wii Fit, Wii Sports Active, Wii Sports Active: More Workouts, Wii Sports Active II and Gold's Gym Cardio Workout. Of those, the ones I found the most useful and enjoyable were the last two, but I was starting to lose my enthusiasm for hearing my coach tell me to keep up with him when I was ahead of him, or the boxing coach tell me to pick a harder lesson next time when he picked the lesson for me. I had avoided the Gold's Gym Dance Workout to this point primarily because I cannot dance, but after reading reviews that indicated there was a cardio boxing element, I decided to give it a try.Ok, so, the first couple of workouts were kinda rough. Or, to be honest, really rough. I laughed so hard I cried, I must admit, because I had no idea what was going on, and even the supposed walk-through dance workouts were incredibly fast and I ended up stumbling around a lot. However, I have now been using this program for about a month, unlocked all the advanced workouts, and I am still finding it challenging and entertaining (with a few notable exceptions that I will detail later). After you grasp some of the basic steps, it becomes much easier, and you begin to recognize the opening chords of the songs and be prepared for what is upcoming. However, if you are the kind of person who gets annoyed by not being able to get things "right" and win the awards, this might not be the workout for you, because there are plenty of ways to not be "perfect" at this. On the other hand, if you want a dynamic workout and aren't going to get too hung up on it when the game doesn't register what you are doing very well, it's a pretty fun and fairly rigorous workout.Other people have covered the basics of how this game works, so I'll just move on to what I liked and didn't like.The good: I do feel like I am getting a pretty good workout with this game, especially in the longer sessions. I wear weighted gloves and I feel this adds more of an upper body element, especially in the dance portions. So far I have primarily been doing mixed personal trainer lessons, although occasionally I have done a workout from My Workouts when I was short on time. The game mixes up what the background dancers/boxers look like, and although the meter that measures how well you are doing and starts jazzing up the background when you hit certain targets is kind of hilarious, it does provide some amusement.There is some really random stuff that happens in this game that keeps you on your toes and entertained. Like in the lion mini-game, I was running along one time and suddenly a football player appeared out of nowhere and tried to tackle me! What on earth? But mainly I like that the game is pretty dynamic-- it mixes up the routines and the trainer isn't too obnoxious (at least, Carlos isn't; have yet to try the others.)I do kind of wonder, in the personal trainer workouts, what the algorithm is that is determining what workout you get based on your answers to his kind of random questions. Like how does what kind of food I like (i.e., Japanese or Italian) correlate to what workout I should be doing? I have figured out that the less you tell him you have eaten, the more rigorous the workout.So, my reservations: some of the mini-games are very touchy. I have no idea how to make the bullriding mini-game work. No matter what I do, it seems to make no difference. There must be a trick here that I will figure out sooner or later, since I finally did with jump roping and running away from the lions. In the kangaroo boxing, I can only get it to register when I am ducking left (and it will register that I am ducking left pretty much regardless of what I am actually doing). I have occasionally gotten it to register me leaning back, but I can't consistently get it to do so or figure out what motion it thinks I should be doing. Maybe these all work better with the balance board; I don't know since I don't have one now. I am, however, using two Wiimotes.I also wish there were a way to cancel or sub in another workout or mini-game. Sometimes the trainer will have all kangaroo boxing mini-games and no others mixed in, and I'd rather do something else.Overall, I am definitely finding that this is keeping my interest and I would recommend it to people who are okay with spending the first couple of times being pretty confused, and the game sometimes not reading your motions very well. I think the random little entertaining touches (like unlocking new outfits for yourself and your trainer and the awards you can win) add an amusing element for those who want it, and are easy enough to ignore for those who don't. I definitely get a pretty good sweat going, and while I am not sure how much credit I should give their calorie counter (apparently based on input height/weight and self-reported heart rate), but if it's anywhere near correct, the calorie burn seems pretty good. I imagine that eventually I will get somewhat bored of this and not do it every day as I have been, but I think it will stay in my rotation for a long time.