Game Stooge

REVIEW: Fitness Dash (PC)

• Scribbled on November 21st, 2008 by casualgamerchick
• Filed in Casual Gaming, PC, Reviews

Fitness Dash is the latest time management game from PlayFirst for the PC or Mac. The game takes place in Diner Town, the same setting of most of the “Dash” games. In Fitness Dash, players are helping Jo get Diner Town fit and compete against the surrounding towns. The game is a time management game, but also has matching and puzzle elements mixed in. Whenever there is a competition against another town, the competition is a mini-game. If players manage to beat the mini-game, diner town wins the competition.

The player has a lot of things to manage in the levels. Gym participants, or customers in a sense, come into the gym and they either want to use a cardio machine or lift weights. The player has to put the customer on the piece of equipment they request. Some gym members will want to do both cardio and weights. There are rowing machines, eventually, for these people, but until you get the rowing machines you will have to put the person on cardio and then weights or vice versa.

On top of putting the gym member on the correct machine, the player has to clean off the dirty machines when people are done using them, get the gym members a towel when they want one, put the members in the shower, “fix” the shower when it gets clogged, get rid of trouble makers, pick up the used towels and get juice. As you can see, there is a lot going on and always something to keep track of. The number of things to do can get complicated in higher levels. I think this is the most I have had to keep track of in a time management game.

The levels increase as the game goes on. The levels start out simple and the first few are your tutorial levels to let you know how to play the game. After a few levels, you are able to upgrade your equipment or purchase new equipment. Each gym item can have up to three stars. The more stars an item has the more it cost, but the faster the person gets their work out done.

A nice addition to Fitness Dash is the option to speed up someone’s work out. If you have three people and they are all waiting for the weight bench you can stand next to the weight bench. Standing next to the weight machine or cardio machine will provide personal training, which speeds up the work out.

The graphics are the same as most Dash games. The story line is depicted in comics and the gym equipment looks like gym equipment. The lowest level of stars on the item makes the item look really basic and old school. Once upgraded, the equipment starts to look like gym equipment, instead of home equipment.

Fitness Dash is fun, but does provide a lot of challenge. There are a lot of things to keep track of and some levels get overwhelming. The challenge is the right amount and doen’t get too frustrating. Fitness dash also offers the mini-games, which adds a slight variation to the game. If you like time managment games, Fitness Dash is definitely worth the $19.95.

[Original review posted at CGC.]