Fitness Bustle: Energy Boost takes a healthier approach to your classic serving style game. From the makers of Burger Bustle, Fitness Bustle sees the return of the evil Mr. Gristleman whose magic pills are making the city's residents tired and worn out. It's up to Daisy to reintroduce exercise as the only way to a healthy lifestyle in this fast-paced time management game.
You can't go wrong with a classic serving style game and Fitness Bustle: Energy Boost takes a fun little detour from burgers and fries to weights and ellipticals.
The irony is not lost on me that I'm complaining about not being ready for beach season as I'm sitting playing a game about fitness and snacking on my endless supply of Animal Crackers.
I haven't had much energy myself lately due to being pretty sick the last week or so, in case you were wondering where I was. The only food I've been able to stomache has been crackers, served from the gigantic jar of Animal Crackers Jason sent me.
Seriously, it was the most hysterical thing ever... he meant to send me a small jar of crackers, which is a very sweet thing to do... however, what was delivered to my door was in fact 4 pounds of crackers... do you know what 4 pounds of crackers look like? I can literally wrap my arms around the jar and stick my head in it if I wanted to.... not that I've tried or anything.
So anyhow, there I was with my hands full of camels, lions, elephants, some sort of cat creature... wrapped up in a blanket, playing a game about going to the gym. I think that should somehow count as a calorie burn... if only because of the extreme level of pathetic I had somehow attained.
Oh well, despite my shortcomings in the fitness area, Fitness Bustle: Energy Boost was a pretty fun find. If you've ever played the previous games, Burger Bustle, you'll know pretty much what to expect. Except this time, instead of serving up food, you're helping people get happy and healthy by exercising.
The tone of the game is very spunky and perky, and I admit a bit annoying at times. Our main character, Daisy, is your classic cheerleader type, you know... the kind you fantasize about pushing off the top of the cheer pyramid. Mr. Gristleman, the bad man from Ellie's Organics, is pushing a new magic pill that supposedly can replace exercising. However, Daisy knows better and wants to bring the power of exercise back to the community and drive Mr Gristleman and his magic pills out.
The gameplay starts out very simply with only two machines to place people on, but don't let that fool you. You quickly find yourself surrounded by a ton of equipment... equipment that looks like it belongs in an arcade or a playground instead of the gym... seriously there's some kind of pink whirly that you can spin around on... where is this gym and how do I sign up? If gym equipment really looked like this, I'd be in there all day long!
While you play Fitness Bustle: Energy Boost , you need to pay attention to the goals. You can't just continue to serve people and expect the level to end soon. I made this mistake pretty early on. I wasn't paying attention to the fact that my goal was to hire three personal trainers so I just kept serving customers... after five minutes of the level not ending, I finally caught on... oops... let's just pretend that never happened and restart shall we?
I admit, the voices grated very quickly. As each customer came in, worked out, and left they had some cheesy perky line to deliver like "Impress me" or "I owe you a recommendation" or "This place looks nice" over and over and over again. Enough is enough. I had the same problem with Burger Bustle... enough with the voices... They drive me a bit batty.
Overall, Fitness Bustle: Energy Boost was a fun little time management game that definitely delivered a challenge. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to pretend to work out some more while I attempt to make a dent out of this four pounds of Animal Crackers.