Back in 2010 when I reviewed EA Sports Active 2 for PS3, I loved it. It was a fairly good port of the Wii version which at the time was far and away the best video game workout for any system.
Daskreeh and Alexey both asked a very good question in the comments section of the post. With EA’s recent pulling of online support, is the game still worth having?
I’m a little torn on this one. For one thing, at a street price of Around $155, this is a great price for a game that works (as long as you stick with it, of course). Remember that for the $15, you not only get the game, you get the resistance band and the heart rate monitor. That’s a deal and a half considering that the game originally retailed for close to $100.
On the other hand, EA’s pulling of support for its online community is troublesome. The online features were never earth-shatteringly good (you could view your progress online and participate in group workouts which helped motivate you, but the signup process and the user interface were both very clunky). But what troubles me is that EA Sports had every chance in the world to improve it (unlike the video game, their online features could have been improved continuously) and they never did. I expected them to continue to evolve their online features to last through EA Sports Active 3, 4, and beyond. Instead, the recent actions of EA Sports lead me to believe that it was just a gimmick all along to get us to buy the game and that they never intended to build it into anything more.
The fact that they treat online support of EA Sports Active 2 no differently, say, than online support for outdated versions of their other sports games leads me to conclude that they just don’t understand the fitness gaming community. They treat us like “gamers”, but as anyone who’s sweated out a 9-week routine, that’s not what we are.
Worse, there is not a peep from EA Sports about a sequel like EA Sports Active 3, which makes me wonder if they’re abandoning the fitness gaming genre altogether. Which is a shame, because there is so much more they could have done by doing more “simulation” type games that combined their traditional sports games with Move.
So my recommendation–at the price it’s at now, I’d definitely still recommend it as a game you can play and completely benefit from “offline” — there was never any dependency on the online features to do things like the 9-week workout.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for something that’ll be supported for the future and a company that will continue to grow its online features, I’d suggest holding out for Adidas MiCoach instead. Because Adidas’s cloud-based online features are already established (for people using MiCoach with their PCs, iPhones, etc.), those aren’t going to be abandoned like EA did. Of course, we’ll have to see if the workout routines for MiCoach improve upon EA Sports’.
4 Comments
derk
May 20, 2012 1:40 pmi purchased ea active 2 when it first hit the shelves..
i paid £70 thinking with all the promised download content dlc
this would be a fantastic long term gym game..
not long after it was released the price dropped
dramatically and the download content was a lie it
never happend..
its a shame really because the game itself is good ..
sadley i feel totally wripped off by EA sports..
i was conned ,duped into paying £70 for this..
conning costomers is unforgivable,ea shame on you..
Daskreech
Jun 03, 2012 12:48 pm@derk Well that was somewhat why I asked for this re-review. It’s pretty clear that EA has killed this game so given that it’s one of the top tier exercises games Is it worth it overall not for it’s potential but for what it actually is.
I’ll note that I’ve heard that Sports Active 2 is a good exercise game and has the potential to be a good exercise regime. Most Exercise games are nice but not sufficient for people really into lifestyle exercise. Game and Fitness Buffs look for different qualities and most of the offerings tend more towards the game side of things which are in this day and age too forgiving.
Sorry you felt duped into paying £70 for things that did not transpire. However it is currently £20 as far as I can tell. Would you have been happy with that and no DLC or community around it?
derk
Jun 05, 2012 11:08 amwell tell a lie i think i actually paid£80 on release..
i would say for £20 that it is now its worth it i guess..
but from ea its just comical,i switched the game on today
and it keeps trying to connect online even thow online is shut..
also since it was released there has been a big download content button
on the main screen but no downloads..
im dissapointed that it was abandoned ..
lets just hope micoach can deliver the goods
Diva
Aug 04, 2012 10:20 pm@derk
Hi Derk
This game was brought for me as an Xmas pressie For considerable more than £20.00 in Dec’12. Like yourself I felt conned as I had just began to use it in March ’12 when a few weeks later it went off line, plus there are bugs in the game where your movements are not read correctly.
I contacted the company in disgust telling them that the game had fallen foul of consumer Act UK as it was still being sold as an on line game, plus complained about the bugs. (I did go above customer services asking for a manager, who did deal with me directly. He gave me his USA phone number & his email, only used email of course) My contact at the company to my suprise was very honest about their knowledge of some of the faults with the game and their failure to patching them & it’s withdrawal from online.
I got a couple of EA accessory packs of EA Sports (2 additional EA sports games) and was able to choose another game for my son. So result I was a far more happier customer because of their honesty and they compensated me for faults. As regards the game you do have to play it online even though there is no on line support.
I do love the game as I get a real workout (sweating within 10 minutes of starting until I finish) I just hate the fact that it fails to read quite a lot of the resistance band moves but I have learn how to fool the game with my own versions of moves which it does read??? I have also lost 6lbs losing 1/2 lb per week without straving myself (probably would lose more if I did pay more attention to my food intake) on the 9 week programme. I am on my second 9 week programme and will keep repeating until I achieve my goal weight. I am also much fitter as my heart rate has gone down since I started. I hope this helps you my suggestion contact the company because I think they need to hear from us customers and put it right in some way. Becuae like the original reviewer I believe they knowing put this game on the market knowing it had bugs etc with no intention of supporting or continuing the game, make them pay.