Hands-on: Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku makes you sweat with some cracking tunes

Typing this with sweat streaming down my face, I can confirm Fitness Boxing Hatsune Miku game gives you a pretty strenuous and enjoyable workout. The problem is if this game will keep you coming back regularly as it gets repetitive too quickly.

Upbeat, yet monotonous workouts

When you play a Hatsune Miku game, you expect upbeat, sometimes fast-paced music mixed with rhythm elements. You get that with one side of this Fitness Boxing game, but the majority of it has you jabbing and uppercutting to unlicensed music. You see, the music of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku comprises mostly original music and some inclusions of Miku songs you know and love. Thankfully, the original music doesn’t sound like a track from a boring infomercial and is engaging to move your body to.

The game itself has you stringing together jabs, uppercuts, straights, and other boxing moves together. As the workout proceeds, it will slowly layer in a combination of strikes to keep you moving. You’ll have a Hatsune Miku character like Kagamine Len acting as your mirror while there’s a coach directing you through the routine. Sometimes Len or Miku chime in to say you’re doing a good job, and thankfully, their movements accurately portray each move you have to perform. The animation is well-implemented.

The game’s routines often move at a glacial pace for the first half of the workout, making the process somewhat boring to play. However, as the action picks up, Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku gets more engaging to play. It’s a good respite and alternative from Ring Fit Adventure, which desperately needs a sequel, by the way. Overall, it can be fun in short bursts, but don’t expect Fitness Boxing to keep you entertained every day. Mix it up with other titles like Just Dance or the aforementioned Ring Fit.

Overly long routines

Some of the routines, however, feel overly long, sometimes lasting between 10 to 15 minutes, revolving around the same type of move like an uppercut. It would be better for the daily workouts to include shorter bursts of original routines from Fitness Boxing and implement more Piapro songs that feel sparse in comparison.

When a Piapro song is playing, the game gets far more exciting. The punches are flying and sometimes go too fast for you to catch up. It might be my large frame or the game itself, but the punch timing doesn’t seem consistent enough when the action is faster. Additionally, when you have to swerve to the left and the right, the Joycon doesn’t seem to pick up this motion well enough.

Lots of stats to keep track of

Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku tracks a lot of data for you to look back at. There are graphs with your estimated calorie burn, and you can keep inputting your weight, so you can see your progression on-screen. It shows your BMI, punches thrown, the number of times certain body parts are trained and all sorts of information by day, week, and month.

Not enough unlockables

One thing that the developer of Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku missed out on the unlockables. You have three characters to unlock with Hatsune Miku, and a few costumes to unlock for each, including their original outfits. They each start with a fitness get-up at the beginning. There are only three costumes per character, with a fourth coming for Miku via DLC.

It feels like a missed opportunity to add more outfits by completing your fitness goals. Sega’s Project Diva series has many to collect during a playthrough, and it would have been great to get additional styles for the characters to wear in Fitness Boxing. The silver lining, on the other hand, is that there are a bunch of songs to unlock by using the in-game currency you earn by working out.

Overall, Fitness Boxing feat. Hatsune Miku is a decent alternative to the likes of Ring Fit Adventure. It acts as a great detour from your usual workout routine, but there’s not enough substance to make it a daily fix.