FitXR - Dance and Box Your Way To Fitness
FitXR review is a dance cardio and boxing game for VR. Let’s get started on this FitXR Review.
**UPDATE** FitXR has updated once again, We will fully update this review shortly.
Who Makes FitXR?
FitXR is the developer of FitXR. This is their main and only game.
Which Headset is FitXR Available On?
FitXR has been through some changes as it used to be called BoxVR, and it still is on Steam VR and Oculus Rift. For this review, we will be focusing on the new game available only on the Oculus Quest – FitXR.
FitXR Gameplay Review
FitXR is a dance and boxing game to get your sweat on. You start the game off in a very pretty lobby area. In front of you is tons of classes for you to select. Choose a class and get ready! There are really two different games in FitXR. Total body dance workouts and boxing workouts.
Total Body Dance Workouts
Selecting one of the dance options brings you to a full-on cardio dance workout class complete with a trainer. The trainer in front of you will show various dance moves and you will mirror them. The trainer can’t see you but somehow they seem to know where the tricky parts are going to be and are able to shout out words of encouragement to you. 😉
This is just like being at a cardio class at a gym. One of the added benefits I find here is no one is watching you. You can really push yourself. A lot of cardio classes can be intimidating when you find you can’t keep up. Here you can take your time and replay the same level over and over to get familiar with the moves.
There is no full-body tracking in the Quest 2 though so you will mostly be scored on your upper body. How much you squat is up to you, so push yourself! There are 11 Dance Routines in the base game.
Boxing workouts
FitXR actually used to be called BoxVR, so boxing is a core part of the product. There is a brief tutorial that walks you through how you punch the blocks that float towards you, including uppercuts and side jabs. The boxing portion of the game has been described as “Guitar Hero crossed with a studio boxing workout” and that pretty accurately sums it up.
You need to punch the blocks with enough force in order to keep up your streak. I will admit that even on the beginner level, I either really suck at this game, or there were some tracking issues. I could not keep a streak going for the life of me. Other users have reported similar issues with streaks so perhaps it is being worked on. This was pretty discouraging and I found myself using the boxing game less and less because of this. There are 25 Box routines in the base game.
FitXR Multiplayer Review
*Update* Fitxr Now offers multiplayer with voice chat. You can play and work out with your friends.
In both the boxing and dance classes, you join other real people. Well sort of. These players will only be floating heads and hands. These past ‘ghost playbacks’ show images and scores of real players doing the workout, but they are not actually beside you in real-time. They can’t hear your mic and you can’t hear them. It’s just a past recording.
It does add to the workout class feel to look to the sides to see floating heads bopping along just like you are. Unfortunately, it does take away that you can not play this game with VR friends of yours. The website states they are working on friends and family multiplayer challenges so this should change with time.
All the floating heads have a name and you are competing against them in real-time. It helps to try and beat your ghost neighbor’s score on punches or dance movies. When you notice you are in second place you will step it up to keep up.
You ARE able to set up multiple user profiles for the same household. So if you and your partner at home both want unique profiles and scoring, simply create a profile from the bottom of the main screen to set up a new profile. Now you can switch back and forth between profiles to keep your scoring separate. Your profile tracks daily, weekly and monthly stats. I do feel the calories shown as burned in this product are a bit higher than they should be though.
FitXR Classes, Songs, and Environment
As part of this FitXR review, it’s best to go over the base game and what you are getting. There 36 workouts included in the base game. 11 dance and 25 boxing. FitXR webpage states that new classes are added regularly, but I can not find specific information on the release of that. There are different workout intensities and times. The songs are royalty-free ones in a wide range of genres from metal to rock to pop. You can pick a specific trainer you like, intensity, or a genre of music. Although there use to be custom song ability in BoxVR, and still is on the PC version, there is no custom song ability on FitXR.
If you only have 3 minutes no problem. 15? There is a class for that too. You can easily break up your workout into different intensities for a warm-up, actual workout, and cool down by selecting different classes.
There are two background environments to workout in at this time, a futuristic gym and an outdoor skypark. You can change this by clicking “environments” at the top of the “Start Class” screen. Once you change the environment all classes will be in that environment until you change it again.
FitXR DLC
There are several extra purchase packages. There are currently 5 additional DLC packs and each one adds 4 new routines to your collection.
FitXr Membership Cost
FitXR is now a monthly membership much like Supernatural VR. This has allowed the developers to release a new class every day and ass more music from major record labels. That means it is much more likely for you to workout to songs you actually know. The cost is $9.99 monthly and you can cancel at any time.
Can you workout with FitXR? Is FitXR a Fitness Game?
As the word fit is in the title, FitXR is defiantly a fitness game. Perhaps more so than some of the other fitness games out there. There is less ‘game’ aspect to this experience and more ‘fitness’.
You basically are going to fitness classes in your VR headset in FitXR. This makes for a higher level of fitness experience for those who are looking for it, but it might be more “fitness like” and less “I’m playing a VR game” for newer to fitness people.
According to the Virtual Reality Institute of Health and Exercise, FitXR does not have a rating, but the older version, BoxVR does. So the boxing portion of FitXR is equal to playing Tennis or depending on your weight, burning 6-8 Kcal/Min. You can expect the cardio dancing to be a little less intense than that. If VRIHE update to include the new FitXR score, I will update it here. Yur.fit rates this game as Tennis 6.70 Kcal/min with 73 Squats an hour.
Does FitXR cause motion sickness?
You play FitXR in a stationary environment as blocks come towards you. If you are playing the dance game there is a small amount of movement similar to an aerobics class but motion sickness should be minimal as the environment does not move around you.
FitXR should not cause any motion sickness issues.
Final Thoughts On FitXR Review
FitXR is a boxing and dance fitness game for your VR headset. It has a one-time fee that makes it appealing to those who can’t head to a monthly gym class. FitXR is definitely more “fitness” than “game” as you are attending workout classes in your headset.
