Your wallet shouldn't be the only thing losing pounds
The success of Wii Fit has spawned numerous copy-cat exercise games for the Wii, and now even Electronic Arts are getting in on the act. Usually EA Sports games allow you to step into the role of famous sports figures and do their day job with a minimum of effort, but in this instance, the intention is to make you sweat - and that's exactly what will happen.
Active is described as being like having your own personal trainer, and to an extent, it's true. It comes bundled with a resistance band, used for numerous stretching-based exercises and a leg strap, which is purely there to hold the nunchuck in places during exercises where it's not being used.
Having set up your own fitness profile, filling in simple facts like name, gender, height and weight, and creating your own customisable avatar (no room for Miis here), it'll be time to get down to business. There are several different pre-set workouts that you can attempt, featuring a combination of exercise types, and of varying lengths. The shortest work-out suggests a length of around 11 minutes, while some will crack the 50 minute mark, and that's not allowing for any time spent resting or watching tutorial videos of new exercises.
Each routine states how many calories you should be expected to burn when performing it, and as you play through, you'll be given an indication on screen as to how many you have allegedly burnt. If you're feeling particularly brave, you can take on the 30 day challenge, where you have to complete 20 different workouts over this period (the game recommends that you take a rest day every 2 days).
Once your workout begins, you'll go through each exercise one by one, with your real-life actions mirrored by your avatar. As you squat down, your character does the same on-screen, following the instructions given to you by the trainer, if you run circuits, your character will keep up to speed with how you're performing, meaning that if you start to slow down, so will he/she.