Helix (WiiWare)

Helix is a dancing game on WiiWare for 1000 points ($10). I find it really fun. You use two wii-motes (one in each hand). A robot will do a dancing move and then you have to repeat it in time with the music.

I had bought both Samba de Amigo and Helix at the same time but I found Helix to be a better upper body work out. I found that Samba de Amigo worked just my arms more. Also, Helix seems a lot better at recognizing my movements than Samba.

I forgot to give the link for the review.

General Wii Ware information:
http://www.wiiware-world.com/

Review of Helix:
http://www.wiiware-world.com/

I'll have to check this out. Although I do think Samba is an excellent workout - I don't just move my arms around, I'm swinging my hips and really getting into the music and feel like I'm getting a full body workout. But, this does look like it gives you more of an upper body workout. One of the things I love about Samba De Amigo is the music. The latin music just really makes you want to dance and the fun factor keeps getting me to come back for more. One of the things I do hate is that the wiimotes sometimes don't register, especially some of the poses. I've gotten an "A" rating on most of the songs but have missed out on getting perfect ratings because the wiimotes didn't register that I made the pose. So I will definitely give this a try and hope the music is as appealing as Sambo De Amigo's is.

Just gave this a try and really liked it - not loving it yet like I do Samba but it definitely is worth buying. I can see once I get a chance to unlock some more moves and move up the difficulty I'll really enjoy it. I found I had the same issue with it sometimes not recognizing a move (in this case whenever I had to do the one where you point both arms down I never got credit for it - in the case of Samba De Amigo - it's the move where you do the pose with both arms up and that only happens when I'm following another quick move). But, in both games it's minor to me as I still do well on the songs. I played it for over an hour and got "A"s on most and a few "B"s but it only unlocked a few songs so I'm assuming I'll need to move up the difficulty for it to unlock more.

Re Samba: I know you said you had some issues with Samba and the wiimotes not registering the moves. Someone in an Amazon review mentioned this and their advice helped me. I guess the movements aren't being recognized by the sensor stick but by the tilt of the controller. The upper ones you have to tilt the wiimotes at an up angle, the middle ones straight and the down ones directly down. So if you aren't tilting enough it won't notice the difference. It took me a little bit of time to figure out what worked for me and I mostly get all the marks now with the exception of some of the poses as mentioned above.

Also, I don't know if you tried it enough to do the "Hustle" mode but that one really has you using your arms a lot by swinging them back and forth above your head, up and down at your sides, swinging them back and forth by your knees and doing loops with your arms.

All in all, I am very pleased to have another dance type game that gives me a great workout and am really glad you mentioned this. I hadn't even heard of this one! And for about $10 it is definitely worth the purchase!! At first I didn't think I'd get that much of a workout because you had to watch what the guy does first and then repeat it but it moves so fast that you really have to move to keep up. And I'm getting my swinging hips in to, not as much as Samba yet but I think once I get more used to the moves I'll have more time to throw some of my own in!

I haven't checked it out yet, but I like the idea that you can calibrate it for your own moves. The only downer is if you want to "play" it with someone else you each take a wiimote and control one arm.

Yeah, the multi-player leaves a bit to be desired in Helix. Since I'm just playing by myself that isn't a big issue for me.

As for the recognition of the Helix moves, you said you had problems with the move where you are pointing both arms down? I find that when I'm doing that move I do more of a squat where I bend my knees with the wii motes parallel to the floor and it seems to recognize fine. Overall, I found Helix recognized my movements a lot better then Samba and is more forgiving as long as you are on the beat.

As far as Samba de Amigo, I did see the same review where they were talking about the tilt. I guess my problem isn't that I'm having trouble getting good scores, it's just some times it doesn't always seem to register right. I feel like I'm missing some notes sometimes just because it didn't get it right not because I did it wrong.

I also did have fun with the hustle in Samba, but I was just having more fun with Helix. Since at the moment I don't want to play two games that are very similar, Helix has won over Samba. I probably will go back to Samba when I get tired of Helix.

I've played all the Easy songs now in Helix and have moved on to Normal. If you thought Easy gave you a workout, just wait until you get to Normal. I was breathing hard by the end of the first song. (though granted I am a little out of shape.)

I just love these dancing games. I like rhythm games to begin with and the fact I'm getting a workout too is just a great side benefit.

Oh, and as far as unlocking songs in Helix: it's not your level, it's how many songs you have played or re-played. If you scroll down to the locked song it will tell you how many songs you have to play to unlock it. I found once I unlocked them all on Easy, they were unlocked in Normal.

Thanks for the tip on squatting - I'll definitely give that a try! I'm thrilled to have this game too because I don't want to get sick of Samba so I figure I'll try alternating these as my main workout and throw in WiiFit and Wii Sports when I don't want to do a dancing workout! I didn't think I'd like the techno beat but it really is fun and I liked the light show in the background. Kind of reminds me of the Xbox 360's music player.

Just tried "Normal" today. OMG - what a workout! Plus the hour flew by too! I can't believe I'm really working out with these two games because they are just so much fun. But, the sweating like a fiend is proof that I'm really getting a great workout. Thanks so much for posting about Helix, I'm really loving it!

This game does look like fun. Eventually I'll have to get around to setting up the wifi for my Wii.

Yikes! I gave hard a try today and that was just crazy fast! I did about four songs on that and went back to the medium setting! I needed to last an hour and didn't think I'd be able to at that setting!

Anyway, now that I've had about a week to check it out I thought I'd give some more impressions. This game is great for a workout! I am even liking it better than Samba De Amigo and haven't gone back to that game since I got this because I'm getting such a great workout and am having a lot of fun with it. I feel it gives me a great aerobic workout and is great for the upper and middle body areas as you are constantly using your arms and doing twisting movements when you are going side to side. I'm tightening my abs when I'm doing those and I can really feel it working those core muscles. As I'm very overweight I don't pick my feet off the ground much when working out but I am finding that I'm compensating for that by doing mini squats as I'm dancing using Helix and my butt is definitely benefiting!

I find this "game" better than most of the workout tapes & DVDs I've done over the years.

I'm so glad you like it. When I saw that you had added a thread for Samba de Amiga I just had to add this one. I found the same thing. I started with Samba, but once I got into this one I found I liked it a lot better.

I haven't even attempted the hard yet. Medium is giving me enough of a workout.

Yeah, medium is tough enough! I'm drenched in sweat by the time I've finished the hour. I just wanted to check hard out and it was just ridiculously fast! I managed to clear the first three songs but didn't clear the fourth. Plus, because I was trying to keep up I wasn't able to do the dance like moves I do on medium which enhance my workout. Had the same thing with Samba that when I went to the harder settings you were basically just quickly moving your arms and weren't really doing the dance stuff just to keep up.