Walk it Out (Wii)

Walk It Out is the first "game" I have ever really played on the Wii. I have done Wii Fit and Wii Fit Plus, but I don't consider those games.

Walk It Out takes place on Rhythm Island, a magical place that has beaches, farm land and mountain peaks.

The quirkiness of the island, the addictiveness of opening it up is what makes the game fun. You walk from one end of the island to the other, opening flower beds and shopping districts, fountain plazas with a juggler. The addiction comes in when you are walking and you think, well, if I spend just five minutes longer, I can go to the farm land and open up some flower fields. Well, after you open the flower fields, you think, well, now I can hop on over to the lake with the cherry trees and open some of those. Before you know it, an hour has passed and you are sweaty and feeling good, with no dread factor.

Now, is WIO going to get you in shape to run a 5K, no. But it will get you up and active in a way that you enjoy. Maybe it will even get your kids up with you. If you are going through an "I don't want to work out" phase, this may help you out of it.

What follows is not so much a review as a mini guide so don't think you are missing any of the review if you stop now if this is not your cup of tea. If you are tottering on the edge, this might push you over, though.

When you set the game up, you make your walker. Your walker will look nothing like your avatars on other Wii games. They are not interchangeable with the Wii avatars.

You will be allowed to choose your trainer, either Nancy or Warren. They are both equally annoying in their own way.

What you do with Walk It Out (WIO) is you, well, walk. You can use the Wii balance board or a DDR mat or a rebounder or you can just walk in place or clean house. As long as the nunchuk is in range of the Wii and it can be read, you can get credit for the on-beat steps you take.

When setting up the game, you need to go to the options and decide how hard you want to make it on yourself. When first starting the game, you may want to take the penalty off for missed beats. You may also want to make the items you purchase cheaper. All options can be changed during the game so if you make a "mistake" or decide you want to go a different way, it can be changed.

So you start off learning to walk. Your chosen trainer takes you to a stadium and you get comfortable with the walking. For each on-beat step you take, you gain a capsule. The capsules are collected and used to "open" the island.

There are orbs all over the island. If you put the Wiimote "on" an orb, it will tell you what it will open and how much it costs. If the letters and numbers are in black, you have enough to "pay" for them. If they are in red, you don't have enough, but you can still click on it anyway. At the top of the screen is a place for three orbs. Those are the orbs you have clicked on but don't have enough to pay for yet. As you gain the "coins" to pay for them, they fall away. In paying for the items, this way, you have to go back and click on the orb to open it. It will not automatically open. You can tell you have paid for an orb because it will be glowing off and on. Just click and open. You can only carry three unpaid orbs at a time. If you continue to click on orbs, they will just fall off. You will never have more than three.

The object of the game is to "open" the whole island. You do this by walking and clicking on orbs and finding suspension bridges to other parts of the island. There are many trees and benches and cars to open, but there are also boutiques and cafes and flower beds and fields to open, too.

You can play this game by yourself, or you can walk with a friend. The only one who gets credit is the one you sign in under. No splitting of the capsules between islands.

Basically, that is it, walk and gather "coins" and spend them. Now, there are games within the game. Every day you are given seven rainbow-colored orbs. This orbs can be clicked on to form a rainbow. This has to be done every day. They don't hold over. There is a magic clock that you pick up pieces to. While the island is seemingly covered with the orbs at the beginning, not all orbs are out at all times of the day. You can use the magic clock to change what time the game thinks you are playing.

In the evening hours, you can open up the Zodiac. You will see blue orbs with a star in the middle. As you click on this, you amass pieces of the symbols (you won't see the pieces) until you have built a sign and then it goes in the sky. Once you have these, they are there forever.

You also open up songs to walk to as you go along. Click on the green disks in the sky to open up songs. These, too, will stay with you from day to day.

There is a small icon on the bottom right on the screen. If you click on this, you can manage your game. It has a section for the song management and a map that will show you where rainbow pieces and zodiac pieces and time clock pieces are. As you get used to the game, this map becomes both more helpful and a hindrance. Don't get addicted to the map. It will take you from the movement.

The strategies are numerous. Just enjoy the game for what it is.