Family Trainer, the title of which is designed to be both self-explanatory and targeted directly at its market, uses a combination of the Wiimote and included mat peripheral to give users a proper full body workout, and all of its games are designed to be instantly playable without the need for any extensive tutorials.
Over a dozen games are included and, ingeniously, the facility for two players to compete on the single mat instantly extends the family appeal of the title – and gives it a distinct one-over on the competition.
Despite it having been on the market for months, it's still quite hard work getting your hands on Wii Fit on the UK High Street – so Atari would be mad not to be confident ahead of Family Trainer's launch.
Kotaku writes: "Namco Bandai Wii title Active Life: Outdoor Challenge (aka Family Trainer: Athletic World in Japan and Family Trainer in Europe) has sold over a million copies worldwide.
The game is bundled with a Power Pad style matt, which was also originally developed by Bandai for Famicom title Family Trainer. The updated pad and game first went on sale May 29, 2008 in Japan. It went on sale in North America and Europe this past September."
Namco Bandai should have made a game that simply works. "Cheap" is the recurring impression. A handful of mini ideas have been extended out over too many branches, like butter on too much bread. As it is now, there is no real reason to put money on this.
Tigervamp writes:
"If you can't get hold of Wii-Fit as it's sold out everywhere and you're desperately after something similar then Family Trainer might well fill the gap. I recommend that you consider Samba de Amigo which is a more enjoyable alternative or, better yet, if you can hold off a little longer you'll begin to see a great deal of similar games on the market and many of them will be Family Trainer's superior."
