Ring Fit Adventure Review – Is it worth the money?

Ever since the Nintendo Switch got released, it has been such a highly sought after console. When it first came out, I have to be honest, I didn’t ‘get’ the hype, you know? But over time {and as gamers} we grew more and more curious and finally invested in our own. We are a big gaming family, filled with console and PC gamers alike. But adding the Nintendo Switch console to our family added a new dynamic and one where new Nintendo Switch games could be enjoyed and one, in particular, is Ring Fit Adventure.

This is the latest game that we have added to our ‘small’ collection of Nintendo Switch games {thus far!} as they’re not cheap! But Ring Fit Adventure, I have to be honest, has been our best investment yet!

What is Ring Fit Adventure?

Ring Fit Adventure for the Nintendo Switch console is an exercise action role-playing game. It encourages you to exercise, stretch and the occasional yoga pose to defeat enemies while levelling up and increasing your attack & defence power. You make your way through story mode to defeat mini-bosses and finally Dragaux, a Bodybuilding Dragon! With the help of the Ring Con and leg strap, you are able to do real-world actions and turn them into in-game movements.

You can also track your estimated pulse rate after each course by placing your thumb over the IR motion sensor. I thought this feature was a very clever addition and is really useful to see how you can keep track of your pulse and heart rate. Even if it is an estimated result!

The Ring Con™ & Leg Strap

The Ring Con™ is a pliable and super lightweight ‘ring’ and made from fibre-glass reinforced plastics in its spring. You can squeeze the Ring Con™ until it looks like it might snap, but it won’t. I’ve heard stories of people squeezing it for it to fling across their living room! Or the funniest one I’ve heard is someone hitting themselves up the face with it – I’ve no idea how they managed that, but it gave me a giggle!

It has fabric handles for grip and these are attached by velcro and can be removed and washed {as they can get a little sweaty!}. The {right} joy-con locks onto the head of the Ring Con™ and tracks your in-game movements. And the {left} joy-con, slides into your leg strap and tracks your leg movements.

The joy-cons are able to precisely track how fast you are running or how high you are lifting your knees as well as checking on your posture throughout the game. It is also able to track with precision how strong your attacks are and so on.

In my experience with the leg strap, which is worn on your left upper thigh, wear non-shiny tracksuit shorts, leggings or bottoms. I say this because I have worn the leg strap while wearing Lycra leggings and the leg strap constantly fell down. Which was a bit of a pain, but now I know that? I only wear fabric tracksuit shorts or trousers when playing the game.

Ring Fit Adventure Game – Story Mode

Everything, for each player, is customisable. From your weight, age and preference to the level of difficulty. Each time you log in to play, Tip, your trusty Ring Fit assistant will check in to make sure you’re happy with your current settings. He’ll even ask if you’d like to remain where you are or be challenged a little more. He also reminds you not to overdo it and to hydrate too!

You start the game by doing a warm-up from your assistant Tip. Once you enter the first course, with your leg con attached and Ring Con placed out in front of you like a steering wheel you jog or dash on the spot to move through the map.

Your overall objective is to explore a huge fantasy world and jog, dash, sprint and squat your way through over 100 levels spread across 20 worlds. You can level up, increase your attack and defence bonuses as well as buy ‘gear’ i.e. sports clothing to increase your strength & defence. Not only that, but you can also buy smoothies which are healing potions and attack boosts too. Everything can be bought with in-game gold coins, so leave no gold coin behind on each course!

Gameplay objectives

Certain elements of the game require you to either push {squeeze in} the Ring Con™ or pull it outwards. This could be to suck in gold rings that are too high i.e. pull outwards or squeeze the Ring Con™ inwards to jump over fallen trees or blow up boxes etc. All very clever and each action targeting different muscles on your body.

It’s all trickier than it sounds because you are having to focus {at times} on a few things at once. For example, you’re jogging along and you need to suck up some gold coins or blast a box apart that is blocking your way. Both require different movements to achieve the objective i.e. push or pull the Ring Con. On another map, you might be required to hold the Ring Con downwards in front of you and squeeze together to boost yourself into the air to get over a hole in the road or jump over a fallen tree. Again, targeting a different set of muscles.

Colour Coded Attacks

When you venture into the game and hit maybe World 2 or 3, you gain the requirement of using particular exercises to defeat the enemies in ‘Fit Battles’, by means of colour coding. Red for strength, blue for legs, green for Yoga poses etc. Attacking enemies that are red with one of your red exercise attacks, gives you advantage points and therefore you’ll deal more damage to your opponent. So, if you are face to face with a red Kettlebell, for example, you’ll want to attack him with an overhead press. Or maybe it is a blue kettlebell, you can attack by doing some high knee lifts.

The good thing is, the more you play the game the more exercises you will unlock. My Husband is currently level 21 and has just unlocked planking, so he is just loving that as you can imagine! But he is on a mission to find his abs and this game might just do it!

Quickplay & Custom Modes

If action games to defeat giant dragons isn’t your thing, that’s OK! Ring Fit Adventure also has Quickplay and Custom Mode options. Quickplay mode allows you to choose workouts that focus on particular muscles. In other words, if there was a particular part of the body you were wanting to focus on one week to the next, then this is the mode for you.

The Custom mode is pretty self-explanatory. It allows you to pick and choose your own exercises to create your own workout routine.

Overall Thoughts?

Is it worth the money? 100% yes, it is. Especially if you’re not a fan of the gym {like myself} and prefer to work out at home. Now, I’m not saying to go out and buy a Nintendo Switch including the Ring Fit Adventure game. Nobody has £400+ just lying about to do that! Let’s be realistic here! But if you already have a Nintendo Switch at home? Then I highly recommend that you invest in this game, especially if wanting to get fitter and just move more is your jam!

I know, for us, it’s only been one week. But within that week we have had so much fun whilst exercising, that we never thought it was possible. The sheer thought of exercising without the Ring Fit is a dull thought. However, exercising with the Ring Fit is a whole other level of fun. It is nothing short of impressive how fast this game has changed my mindset into believing exercising is actually fun! And better still? You actually have a laugh along the way!

We have gone from going on the occasional family bike ride or road run. To playing Ring Fit Adventure once or twice daily and not giving it a second thought that it is exercise. All on the basis of how bloody fun the game is to play!

Ring Fit Adventure has made exercising…fun! 

Overall, this game is genius and the gamer in me just wants to play to level up and gain more abilities that will help me defeat the boss Dragon. And in the process? I’ve never sweated like it before in my life! This game really sucks you into the adventure world and you have nothing but fun as you blow up boxes, collect coins and boost yourself over fallen trees. And all the while, you’re using muscles that have most likely not been used in a while. As I said, genius!

I am a short, overweight, forty-year-old women. I’ve had five children and in fairness, my body is just…tired. I have never been a fan of exercising and in fairness, found it all just too much effort that was worth my time. And when it comes down to it? This Ring Fit Adventure Game has been my own personal saving grace. I now look forward to lifting up that Ring Con to do a 20-minute session. You can actually play it for up to 1hr per day, but 20 mins are all I can handle at the moment!

Now, I’m not saying the Ring Fit is a replacement for the gym! But, if you dislike gyms {like me} and prefer working out at home and need to inject some…fun into your workout? Then look into this game because I honestly cannot recommend it enough.

And after one week of playing this game, I haven’t felt this good about myself in a long time. I may ache like a son-of-a-gun but that’s what Radox Muscle Therapy Bath soak is for, am I right?

Just as a bit of clarity, Ring Fit Adventure can only be played in dock form and if playing it on the Nintendo Lite, just be aware the screen might be too small to follow the game properly.

If you enjoyed this post, then you might also enjoy My Epson Home Cinema Projector Review on the blog.

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