Zumba 2 Fitness Wii - Bundle Pack with Belt accessory

So Zumba 2 finally hits the UK. Why they kept the UK waiting is one of life's mysteries, but there you have it. I was going to wait a while before reviewing this, but seeing as how the information on the product page is pretty much non-existent, I thought I would give some product information coupled with my initial findings after a couple of days play. So what do you get for your money? The game and the belt. Personally I don't really get on with the belt, and prefer sticking it in my pocket. Belt lovers will be happy though.

The menu menu gets straight down to business:

-| Main Menu |-
Single Song
Full Class
Learn the Steps
Progress Tracker
Options

-------------| Single Song |-------------

The Single Song option lets you do a single song, naturally enough, once you have created your profile. To do this you enter a short nickname and your age, weight and height.

You get to choose from the following:

---| Low Intensity |---
Activao
I'm Going On
La Matanga
New Day
Tu Remedio
Un Corazon

---| Medium Intensity |---
Chilin Bombom Guajira
Hundu-Cumen
I Know You Like It
I Wanna Move
Mi Vecina
Pause
Que Te Pasa
Quebra As Cadeira
Sukumbiarabe
Tigre
Un Solo Pueblo

---| High Intensity |---
Aires Habaneros
Bubuzela Masala
Caipirinha
Como Es Que Se Llama
Dance Dance Dance
Don't Let Me Down
El Merengazo
La Rumba De La Papaya
Poison
Que Onda
Quiebralo Bob
Ta Picao
We Speak No Americano
Zoka Zumba
Zu Bailaito

As you can see, there is a varied bunch of not very well known tracks. Whether you see this as a good thing or a bad thing is down to your own opinion. Personally, I don't mind what music they use provided its easy to follow. And they are easier to follow. The graphics have had a revamp, and you can no longer just waggle and forget. Your steps actually count now.

-------------| Learn The Steps |-------------

In the first Zumba, following was difficult to master, but this was made up by a very charitable accuracy measurer. IE as long as you waggled it about you were ok. This is no longer the case.
This would have been a problem were it not for the greatly improved tutorial. If you select LEARN THE STEPS from the main menu, you actually get a decent tutorial that is easy to follow. It covers the following steps:

---| Salsa |---
Sidestep
Forward and Back
Travel
Backstep

---| Merengue |---
March
Two Step
Six Count
Zumba Shuffle

---| Cumbia |---
Two Step
Forward and Back
Sleepy Leg
Sugar Cane

---| Reggaeton |---
Stomp
Knee Lift
Destroza
Bounce

-------------| Full Class |-------------

Once you have mastered a single song its time to up your game. Full Class gives you the following options:

10 Short Classes
10 Mid-Length Classes
10 Full-Length Classes
8 Custom Playsets

Each class takes place in one of five locations

LA Pool Party
Miami Yacht Party
NY Nightclub
VIP Pool Party
Zumba Dance Studio.

I've only done the short classes and they nearly killed me, so there is plenty of mileage in this as an exercise tool. Aside from the above, you get options to view your stats etc. Irrelevent to me though. My bathroom scales and belt are the only stat counters I am interested in. But if you get comforted by seeing calorie counters (no matter how inaccurate they are in reality) then you will have plenty of numbers to look at.

The bottom line is that if you played Zumba and enjoyed it you will like this. If you played Zumba and found it too difficult to get into owing to the poor instruction, then rest assured that these tutorials are much better, so you will like it too.

I was going to keep this as a present the children were going to give me for Christmas, as I'm already a fan of the first Zumba. I've been doing that for months and thought it was really good, although there were things lacking with it. However, I couldn't help myself and opened Zumba 2 yesterday! SO glad I did. It really is superb........the characters are so much easier to follow as they are almost human looking (ie the graphics are infinitely improved), it seems much more upbeat so you get an even better workout (I did a full intermediate yesterday and it was much harder than the Zumbathon on the first Zumba), there are more targets, this version has tracking of your weight, calories burned etc, and I love that aspect. You can do lots of other things that I shall probably never use other than with the children (more users at one time for a party etc) but I really wanted this for an exercise tool). Oh, and it shows you what move is coming up next which means you have more continuity from the off. All in all, I really can't stress just how much this game has been improved from the first! BUY!

I go to Zumba regularly at my gym, so was keen to try this game. To be honest I wasn't overkeen with Wii Zumba 1. I found the dancer routines quite hard to follow and the graphics were poor. No such problems with Zumba 2! What a fantastic game!!! The graphics are far superior. The lead dancer (who you follow) is one of the Zumba team (from Zumba dvd) and the dancer changes with every song. There are also back-up dancers in the background, making it much easier to follow. Also there is a little circle at the top of the screen, which shows you the next dance move.

Once you have loaded your profile, you have a choice of dancing to:

'Single song'
'Full class'
'Learn the steps'
'Progress tracker'.

I have just done the 'full class' section. Within this section, you have a choice of a short class, mid , full length or a custom playlist (where you can choose your songs). You can also choose your intensity level.

When you have finished your class, it tells you how well your technique was, how many calories you have burnt, and your score. As you progress through the game, you are given trophies, which are added to your progress tracker.

My only 2 small critisisms of the class section, is that it doesn't tell you how long each class is. There is no clock either, so you have no idea, how long you have been dancing for and how long you have left. I did the mid length class on mid intensity and it lasted 50 minutes. Also, I sometimes find my Wii remote falls out of the Wii pouch, especially with the more energetic dances.

So, in conclusion, apart from 2 small details, I think this game is excellent and is about the closest you will get to a real life class.