So there’s the newer Kinect for Xbox One, and the older Kinect for Xbox 360. The latter had a great game called Your Shape: Fitness Evolved, which was a training simulator in a rather sterile, white environment. It was the closest to a virtual gym, with very realistic trainings. Here’s a trailer. It was pretty good, and everything needed should be available pretty cheaply on ebay nowadays (that is, an Xbox 360, a Kinect for Xbox 360, and Your Shape).
However, I’d recommend the newer Xbox One and Kinect. The Xbox One is still for sale, and the second generation Kinect is much more precise. There aren’t any new games for Kinect coming out anymore, but the ones available are perfectly fine for working out. You have to buy the Kinect accessory second-hand, and you should make sure that it either comes bundled with an adapter for the Xbox One S, or that it is modified to work with that console (the newer Xbox One S and X are lacking the Kinect port from the original Xbox One). I bought mine for €70 and it was modified. Alternatively, you could buy a set of the older Xbox One (the black VHS-style console) with Kinect, as they were sold together back then.
On Xbox One, I can really recommend Shape Up (2014). Shape Up is essentially a spiritual successor to Your Shape, except that it doesn’t have that sterile future-gym look anymore. Rather, it’s much more gamified, meaning that you’re training in cartoony looking jungles, arctic settings, or even flying to the moon. There are also music trainings that are reminiscent of Guitar Hero, where you have to jump to specific notes in rhythm. There are all kinds of trainings for different parts of your body, and there is one male and one female instructor. There are also boss battles, the first one for example is against a female Japanese dancer. So I think it’s targeted at both men and women. Here is a trailer, and here is a guy who plays it with his wife.
Microsoft also heavily featured training videos with real-life trainers for Kinect called Xbox Fitness, but since Microsoft has never been loyal to its customers, it killed access to that feature in 2016. Pity! However, it appears Fitbit is trying to fill this void with Fitbit Coach. That’s a personalized fitness app for iPhone and Android and now Xbox One and Windows. It doesn’t use Kinect and looks rather basic in comparison to the others, though, so I wouldn’t bother. But for Fitbit customers it might be worth a look.
An interesting alternative could be Just Dance (2014 or newer). It’s a dancing game, but since you have to move your whole body, it could work for physical training as well. It’s not cardio, but in this weird video it looks like it could be exhausting as well.
There are some other games as well like The Biggest Loser: Ultimate Workout (Xbox 360) and Zumba Fitness (Xbox 360/Xbox One), but since I haven’t played them, I can’t make any recommendations. Here’s a recommendation list for fitness games on Xbox One, and I might try out their number one, Kung-Fu for Kinect. It looks a bit silly, though and is probably more geared toward a male audience, although it looks fine for women as well. Here’s a YouTube video of a female journalist trying out a couple of interesting Xbox 360 Kinect games, you should check that out as well!
Kinect fitness games are a particularly great option if you already own an Xbox 360 or Xbox One, because then the cost of investment is much lower. But I think they are a good choice for anyone really.
