Overview
It's a no-brainer: dance-fitness craze Zumba is good exercise. Try not working up a sweat mimicking the up-tempo jigging of a Zumba instructor, successfully or otherwise, and so much the better if you enjoy the cheesy tunes. But what makes Zumba a vigorous aerobic workout also makes it an imperfect match for the Kinect in this game. More often than not, the quick steps and booty wiggling on which Zumba Fitness: Join the Party is based defy detection by the Kinect sensor. Alongside iffy detection, there's a clumsy menu interface to contend with, plus a lack of specific in-game dance instruction, even in the training mode. The jazzy neon visuals count in the game's favour, and there's a goodly number of authentic Zumba workouts, but between the accuracy issues and uninspired game-like elements (that is, a basic point-scoring system), there's not much to recommend this over a DVD of Zumba classes.