Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star Critic Reviews

I’ve been playing Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star every few days since launch, and the final game sadly lacks the content and variety in its current state to justify the asking price. It has a lot of potential, but needs a content update and an option to play with Japanese voices to be an easy recommendation even for fans of prior Fitness Boxing games.

It was possible for Imagineer to innovate its boxing series with Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star but, even if it was born under Ursa Major's auspices, this operation has revealed itself to be lazy and laid down on the saga's past. Boxing with Kenshiro and its partners is fun, if one can control his movements in autonomy: there are no specific devices and it's a shame, given the complexity of the noble art. Sure, the steep price doesn't help also considering the almost total absence of innovation comparing the product to its predecessor, Fitness Boxing 2.

There’s definitely something to be said for performing fitness routines to visuals of rambunctious post-apocalyptic punks being smacked in their stupid faces to keep players engaged. And hell, if Kenshiro himself can’t get players to burn off some excess calories, who can?

Like the standard Fitness Boxing titles, Fitness Boxing Fist of the North Star is a straightforward enough exercise game that will give you a workout if you commit to it. Despite its fun tie-in, however, the very basic gameplay combined with the limited number of routines and sparse music selection means you're going to need a strong tolerance to repetition.