The Biggest Loser: The Ultimate Workout is a new fitness game for Microsoft's Kinect camera, which is looking to help you shed those pounds without the expensive gym subscriptions. Based on a reality TV program, where overweight people compete with each other for a cash prize by trying to lose the highest percentage of their starting body mass - with the ones who lost the lowest percentage risking being eliminated - the game follows in the footsteps of its TV cousin - although fortunately, you can't get eliminated on the game!
Taking its cues from the TV show, The Biggest Loser: The Ultimate Workout sets out to emulate "the competitive and training elements" - we assume "training elements" are the 125 exercises included with the game, but we're not really sure what the competitive part is. Maybe it's on about the fact you can compare yourself to you friends and family? Or get up to four people online at the same time to work out together? Either way, it's a game that's looking to offer an interactive fitness experience.
Because the Kinect camera accurately scans your entire body, it's a good, if slightly unnerving tool to base a fitness game around. Scanning your body in to judge your weight sounds like it has the potentially to be a bit embarrassing, but thankfully, the fact it's controller free means at least you won't have to worry about hurling a controller through your TV while you're pretending you're boxing, no names mentioned Wii Fit.
At the beginning of the game, you get to choose which of the two TV trainers you'd rather have guiding you on your path to fitness, selecting either the strict, no nonsense Jillian Michaels, or the more nurturing Bob Harper to guide you through the game's many exercises. As a fitness game, the Ultimate Loser is planning on doing everything it can to keep you working - as you progress through the game, and complete the exercises, the game will ramp up the difficulty to keep you sweating off the pounds. And if you fancy a more intense workout, you can even combine a real life stability ball, resistance bands or weights with the in game exercises.
If you're not feeling brave enough to create your own custom workout, or wouldn't know where to start, there are ten pre-set routines for you to follow, each of which has a different theme - such as the spare tyre destroying 'Belly Buster'. And if you're the sort of person who needs that little extra incentive to keep you coming back for more, or need some variety in your life, The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout will also give you daily work-out routines, challenges and weigh-ins, as well as keeping tally of your calories burnt and consumed, to give you a measurable record of your progress - you can also get the game to take into account other activities you've done over the course of the day.
There are four different environments for you to exercise in - the ranch, the gym, the boxing ring and the yoga area.
The Biggest Loser: The Ultimate Workout has an RRP of £40, and is due out on the 10th November, alongside the Kinect camera. Until then, we'll be running a 'Countdown to Kinect' feature, with a new game every day up until the launch, as well as an FAQ that'll tell you everything you want to know about Kinect - so make sure you keep checking back, or become our fan on Facebook so you'll never miss an update. In the meantime, here's a trailer that'll tell you a bit more about the game:
