Family Trainer - First Look Preview

Wrinkly European gamers won't have a recollection of Namco's Family Trainer, which landed back in the '80s on the NES - mainly because it didn't even reach our shores. Instead, the compilation of mini-games played through a dance mat-like peripheral stuck to North America and Japan borders. After a twenty year gap, the brand is now being revitalised for Wii in an attempt to tap into the 'training' and 'casual' videogame crazes...and this time, it really is coming to the UK and the rest of Europe. In fact, it's landing in just the next few weeks, with a price of £49.99.

TVG checked out the latest mini-game title to hit Wii, at the Leipzig Game Convention...

Rolling Out The Mat.

Following in the footsteps of its 8-bit sibling, the new Family Trainer also includes a mat peripheral, though unlike its contemporary, Wii Fit, Family Trainer's actually allows two players to participate with a single mat. Despite its rather fashionable use of 'Trainer' in the name, which will certainly attract the attention of all those Brain Training aficionados, and the inclusion of an Exercise Trainer mode, the game is far from a keep-fit title. Instead, Family Trainer is more about entertainment for the whole family, and not about dangling a carrot of mini-games to encourage weight loss.

Like its first-party 'rival', Family Trainer is Mii enabled, so the crude representations of every family member can once again be put through their paces. Sixteen mini-games are built into the game, and whilst Namco no doubt hopes that the addition of various difficulty settings will expand the long-term playability, it's a rather disappointingly low figure. It becomes all the more lacklustre since the developer revealed no plans to support the title with new mini-games post-launch.

It may not have the compilation of activities that Wii Fit's mini-game heavy extravaganza has to offer, but the small sample of games on show during the demo certainly ticked off the box labelled 'fun'. Actually, perhaps 'mad-cap' and 'frantic' would be more accurate...

Case in point is the Mole Stomper game, based on the age old 'Whack-a-Mole' carnival game. A decent example to show that Family Trainer's mat is a more hardy beast than the Balance Board, the demonstration focused on some fairly vigorous foot stomping and jumping - something that Nintendo's plastic box certainly advises against. So, updated parlour games aside, what else can gamers expect on release?

One example of the game's more 'sporty' offerings is Kayak Attack, which utilises both the Family Trainer mat and the Wii Remote. Sitting on the two central pressure pads, players fight against white water using the gamepad as a paddle. It's certainly one of the more active mini-games built into Family Trainer, and isn't perhaps best suited to two-player gaming. We can already imagine the accidents that could happen if that was enabled.

Team Building Exercises.

But it's not all about solo gaming. Family Trainer has a decent emphasis on multiplayer, with two gamers able to play with just one mat on a lot of the mini-games. Both competitive and cooperative mini-games are included, with the Friend Battle mode demonstrated with the Log Leaper game.

Like most of the games on offer, the name is a bit of a giveaway of what the activity involves. Players have to jump over a series of logs, which drop at different angles onto a ledge that their Miis are standing on - the last Mii standing is the winner. Whilst straightforward in theory, the demo proved that in practice, the game was anything but, with the logs dropping at different times and speeds.

Besides the head-to-head Friend Battle mode, Family Trainer also comes with some Team Work games, including the rather Indiana Jones pastiche 'Mine Cart Adventure'. Like the Kayak Attack game, Mind Cart Adventure uses the mat and the Wii-Remote in combination, with one player taking on pumping duties to speed up cart (cue plenty of crazed gesturing). Travelling along the sort of track layouts seen on white knuckle rides, the adventure is a mix between timing and balance, with both players stand on one foot to change the weight distribution of the cart as it goes around corners. Throw in the gaps along the route, and the mini-game looked just about as fun as it was chaotic!