Jillian Michaels' Fitness Ultimatum 2009

Should you buy it??? NO! Let me tell you why....

Let me first start by saying that it's not all bad...just mostly.

Jillian Michales' workout game is for Nintendo Wii and is compatible with the Wii Balance Board but also works without it. When first turning it on it prompts you to set up a profile with your name, age, height and weight. If you have a balance board, you can weigh yourself on that. The next screen allows you to personalize your character by making it male or female and choosing clothing colors. Once that's done you can go to the main screen which is set up like a camp. The cafeteria is where you can go for fitness and diet tips, most of which, I've found aren't helpful. There's a multiplayer option which I haven't tried, office, stats and training. Choosing the option to train brings you to your workout.

There are 4 different types of workout to choose from. Weight loss, intervals, strength training and hill climb. The descriptions are as follows:

Weight Loss: Helps you lose weight

Intervals: Maintain a steady workout

Strength Training: Increase and maintain muscle tone

Hill Climb: Build your endurance and push yourself

With each you are able to choose your time limit of 5, 10, 15, 30, 46 and 60 minutes and intensities of light, medium and hard. I've only done medium. With each one you start off running in place and swinging your arms. You run through a park on a dirt path past trees, trees, benches, and more trees. No flowers, no people, no nothing. How long you run depends on the length of your workout. At an hour it's approximately 4 1/2 minutes. After each running session, you do things such as paint grenade toss, cannon attack, handcar pump, log jump, boxing, punching bag dodge and more. I have been finding that only with this particular game, the Wii controls aren't sensitive enough. About a quarter of my workout has been spent shaking the controls now knowing why they don't register on the game.

As I said before, the graphics are awful! The workout is set to the worst music! I actually find it much easier to get through the workout if I turn the volume down and turn on my own music. And I have to say that Jillian isn't very motivating. Unless you call random insults motivating. Such as "I could have done it better than that." Not my idea of motivation.

So, I'm very happy that I'm only borrowing it from a friend and that I didn't actually pay for it. At first I did like it, but I got tired of it very quickly. It does it's job of getting you sweating, but I hate exercising in the first place, the last thing I want is something that's boring on top of it.

I also have to say that after 372 customer reviews at Amazon.com, this game has only a 2 star rating (out of 5.) Hmm...shouldn't that be a clue?

Now just remember, this is my opinion and there's always gonna be people who like and dislike things. If you have this game, let me know if you like it!