During the holidays I received the EA Sports Active 2 for Xbox 360 Kinect as a gift. My first experience with this game was that it’s very different from Your Shape: Fitness Evolved on many levels. They are both exercise video games, but that is the majority of their similarities. Read on to get a quick introduction to the differences!

EA Sports Active 2 comes with a heart monitor that logs your heart beat. This is very handy and a neat extra feature that will help you understand your level of exercise and you can see if you are dangerously above or just way below an optimal rate for your age and weight.

Biggest difference between Active 2 and Your Shape is the usability of the interfaces. It’s very clear that Active 2 is a multi-platform game and have not been optimized fully for the “Kinect-generation”. I got a feeling that I was playing a Nintendo Wii game more than anything else. There are just so many options, so many menu items you have to go through just to get started. Your Shape is clearly a winner in terms of usability.

Active 2 have very different routines and it’s a good breath of fresh air after many weeks playing primarily Your Shape. Doing bicep curls on the floor is one exercise I have missed on Your Shape.

The verdict? Get both! They are both excellent exercise games and during winters of heavy snow.