Zumba Fitness 2 Wii Review

This is not a sponsored post and all products mentioned were either purchased with my own money or given to me as gifts by friends and/or family members.

So last week I did a review on the first Wii Zumba game and this week, I'm going to tell you a little bit about the second game. If you'd like, you can read the first review (if you haven't already) and then come back and read this one.

If I had to use one word to describe the difference between the first game and the second game, I'd use harder.

It's not any harder to figure out, nor any harder to play. To me, it just seems like a harder work out. By the end of even a 20 minute routine (known as a short routine in this game) I was huffing, puffing and sweating like it was 100 degrees in the shade. I'll be honest - I thought that since I was getting pretty good at the first game, the second game would be a piece of cake. I'd just use it to switch up songs and be on my way.

Holy cow as I wrong!

I ordered the game from Amazon last week and got it last Saturday. I was out of town until late Saturday night so the first time I got to play was Sunday. I have played at least once, if not twice, a day since then.

I LOVE the new music. It's so much more current and some of the songs you can actually hear on the radio, so that's exciting. There's a good mix of fast songs to get you excited and get your heart rate up and there's a good mix of slower songs to warm up to or just take it a bit easier with.

As with the first game, there are a number of preselected workouts categorized by length and then by intensity. They can either be short (20 minutes), mid-length (45 minutes) or full class (60 minutes). From there, you can choose an intensity: low, medium or high. There are also 5 different venues you can play the game in, which is great for switching up the scenery.

One of the best parts, in my opinion, is the ability to make your own playlist/routine. You can choose from all available songs and put them into any order, thus making your routine the exact length and intensity you want.

I'll be honest, sometimes I feel like 20 minutes is too short and 45 minutes is too long. I've created a playlist of my own that's about 30 minutes. It's fairly high intensity and I've chosen all my favorite songs. It makes it so much easier to get through the routine when I know what songs are left and exactly how much longer I have to work out.

That said, the one thing I really miss from the first game is the countdown timer. I miss knowing that I only have a minute left of a particular song/routine when my legs feel like jelly and I'm ready to be done. It helps me be able to power through that last minute and really give it my all instead of letting my butt drag because I'm ready to be done.

I also really like that there's a next move cue in this game, not that I still don't flail around a bit while I'm learning the the routines. It's quite helpful to have a head's up of what's coming next. I'll be honest though, it's not much help when you're first learning the routines. While the cue seems self explanatory sometimes, it isn't always. It's much more helpful once you've learned the basics of the routines.

This game also has a progress tracker that keeps track of things like your weight (which you can update in your profile), accuracy and calories burned. At the end of each routine you're shown a screen that has your movement accuracy, calories burned and a score. I'm not convinced that the calorie count is accurate and prefer to base my calories burned on what MyFitnessPal.com tells me based on what I've entered.

So overall, I really enjoy Zumba Fitness 2. It feels much more intense than the original and has so far been well worth the money.

Do you have either Zumba game or do Zumba in another form? How do you like it? Would you like to hear updates on my progress with Zumba? Let me know!