Today's Kinect title is the perfect antidote to festive over-indulgence this Christmas. Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is a new fitness game for Microsoft's Kinect sensor - an impressive camera that tracks your entire body and uses that to control the game. The fitness fanatics among you might recognise the title, as Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is actually a sequel to a game that first appeared on the Wii in the wake of Wii Fit.
Kinect's answer to Wii Fit, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is set to be even more accurate than its competitor, as, unlike Wii Fit, it doesn't rely entirely on BMI. When Wii Fit first launched, there were several reports of normal-sized people being told they were overweight by Wii Fit, simply because it relied on the flawed BMI system, taking into account just your height and weight, while completely ignoring how it was distributed. This didn't mean Wii Fit wasn't as fun or worthwhile - it got millions of people up off the sofa and being more active - just that its recommendations needed to be taken with a pinch of salt. No more than 6g a day, mind you.
Your Shape, on the other hand, is set to be a whole lot more accurate, thanks to Kinect, which, when you first start the game, will scan your entire body, thereby taking into account your measurements and body dimensions to give a much more accurate picture of your body. Although, we're not really sure how a camera can weigh you...
Your Shape gives you some pretty in depth measurements...
Being scanned in by the early version of Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is something of an unnerving process, as it seemed to give slightly wonky measurements - it told me I was 5 ft 11, with a hip measurement of 40 inches - which makes me seem like some kind of giant woman monster thing, when in fact I'm only 5 ft 6, with 36(ish) inch hips. Although, I'm not complaining - the taller it thinks I am, the less it should think I weigh, right?
In a similar way to Wii Fit, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved offers a wide range of mini games designed to get you up and active, including dancing and target practice, amongst others. The target practice game (which I got to try) involved punching across your body at balls (hitting balls on the right with your left hand and vice versa) which would then explode, in a colourful, pixel-y way. During all of the mini games, Your Shape gives you a running count of the calories you're burning along with your score.
What did that ball ever do to you?
For the times when you don't fancy knocking some balls into the middle of next week, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved offers a selection of more relaxing workouts in the form of Tai Chi and Yoga, as well as martial arts (which, talking from experience, are a more active and exhausting form of 'relaxing'). These follow the form of a 'class', taught by a celebrity trainer (for those of you who know these things, Michael George (trainer of Reese Witherspoon and P Diddy) takes a martial arts class, while The Biggest Loser's Michelle Bridges takes a weight loss class), who shows you the position you need to hold, or the move you need to do. Again, unlike Wii Fit, where you could pretty much do what you wanted, the Kinect sensor tracks your entire body, so it knows when you're doing it wrong - and Your Shape tells you by colouring your limb in red, and showing you how to correct it. In my case, it kept telling me my legs needed to be wider - which is kind of difficult when wearing a fitted denim skirt.
Your Shape has feedback galore, unlike some of the other Kinect titles we could name.
Because exercises are more effective when you mix them up, Your Shape comes packed full of workouts and routines, as well as the ability to download extra workouts from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Using Xbox Live, you'll also be able to compare your stats to those of your friends, as well as send challenges to each other.
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved is out on the 10th November (the same day as the Kinect camera), and is priced at around £40. Up till the launch, we're running a 'Countdown to Kinect' feature, with a new game every day, as well as an FAQ to answer all your questions about Kinect, so make sure you keep checking back. If you can't wait till then, here's a trailer for Your Shape to be going on with:
