“Zumba Fitness Rush represents the perfect combination of Fitness, Gaming, and Dance.” -GamerFitNation

Being a first time Zumba player, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this game. Since, I’m already a fan of dancing and Xbox Kinect. I was pretty excited about reviewing this product. Zumba Fitness is another great example of a Kinect title that detects everything you do with pen-point accuracy. From your head, hands, and hips down to your feet the Kinect tracks every move your body makes. That’s the key difference from the Wii’s Zumba Fitness 2. Don’t get me wrong from what I’ve seen the Wii Version is great, but it only tracks the wands movements. Where as Rush tracks your full body movement. The way you dance is kind of like “Simon says” you follow your on screen instructor as she or he shows you the steps. For a Zumba virgin like myself this is ideal.

I used 3 songs sections that the Kinect does a great job tracking your every move. Rush did not seem to focus too much on complicated dance moves. Thus, creating a better dance experience with repetitive movement. My only concern for Rush is that the next move indicator is not constantly on the screen. Basically, this means you don’t know what you’re going to do until the moment they tell you.  What makes up for this the fact that if you don’t know any of the moves, there’s a cool tutorial that will help you with both your technique and pace. Still, I believe the indicator should be on for a new Zumba users or to be set on as an optional feature in the settings. Rush also allows two players to dance at the same time. So your friends & family can dance with you.

What’s cool about this feature is that while you both dance the game counts your points as a combined score adding it to your overall star rating. This makes it about fun rather the competition, still when the dancing ends your individual final scores are shown on the next screen. Zumba Fitness Rush’s soundtrack is composed of different song genres like salsa, hiphop, and reggaeton. The song speed determines on the difficulty level of each workout. So imagine how much you’d sweat when listening to Pitbull.

There are 3 game modes:

Single Song allows you to dance to a single routine of your choice from the 42 included in game. The new song preview feature gives you a feel for each rhythm before you dive in and lose yourself in the music. I really like this mode for the simple fact that it delivers an intense workout without me really noticing at all. I found myself flowing threw routine after routine and realized I burned a ton of calories.

Full Class is a workout block of routines in 20, 45 or 60-minute formats. You can now create your own custom workouts by saving a playlist of your favorite music and choreography. Now with this mode, I found that there’s a major difference from doing a single song or 2 when compared to a 20-60 minute full on workout. Still, this served as a very intense next level option. What I really liked was the fact that you could customize the workout format, which is awesome because it stops me from getting bored with the sessions. 

Lastly, Learn the Steps is the above mention tutorial mode, which let’s you learn at your own pace by breaking down the four core dance styles into the basics. Slow down or speed up each module as you receive focused per limb feedback that helps you master each move and build confidence. Like I said before this really makes up for the fact that while playing it’s a little difficult to do the routine correctly on the 1^st few times. Basically, this allows you to remember the routine by practicing the moves in advance.

The calorie tracker saves and tracks your progress for each complicated workout. One feature that I was simply floored by was the option to see the location live Zumba classes in your area. This provides the Zumba instructor names, hours, and organizations name so if you can’t get enough of Rush you could go and party with a class for Zumba Lovers. With a wide selection of venues Rush will have you going from the dance floor to cruise ships. What’s really cool is that every person dancing in Rush is actually modeled after a real person. If you play games like this you will notice when an avatar is made up or modeled after someone and Rush is different from other games that have real people in it. All of which is beautifully polished, and presented well. Plus there’s loads of variety, that means you wont see the same venues and instructors all the time, or if you do they’ve changed clothes.

Final Thoughts:

Zumba Fitness Rush is an outstanding Fitness/Dance Title. With realistic avatars that actually makes you feel like you’re actually playing with a celebrity instructor. Exciting dance moves that will have your hips swinging to every beat. Plus up to date music from today’s top artist and even more audio selections. The best part about Rush is that there’s no controller required. Other then my qualm with the way you see dance moves on the screen, I feel Zumba Fitness Rush presents the perfect combination of Gaming, Fitness, and Dance. So the real question is does Zumba Fitness Rush Deliver? hmmm…Hell Yeah it’s for everybody!  I recommend you see for yourself!

Also be sure to check out our interview with Gina Grant

Final Score:

I give Zumba Fitness Rush a 9.5 of 10

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