Published: Monday, 23rd February, 2009 10:15am

We Cheer

Nintendo Wii

Let's be clear. Even if it had been an option at my school, I would never in a million years have been the sort of girl going to cheerleader tryouts. Working on the school paper is a possibility, the netball team at a push. Bouncing about while chanting and grinning inanely does not appeal to me in the least.

The one thing I have learned playing We Cheer though is that while it may look like vacuous nonsense, on the basis of this game cheerleading is actually quite difficult vacuous nonsense.

These are properly choreographed routines which you will complete while using two Wii remotes as your virtual pompoms (you can play it with just one in your right hand, but I actually found that more difficult). If you think Samba di Amigo was a bit challenging then abandon hope now, this is not the game for you. You will spin, you will jump, you will flop to the floor like Torvill and Dean at the end of the Bolero, you will flail your arms about like a lunatic in a way that is going to cause calamity in your house if you don't clear some space. On the plus side, you will amuse everyone who sees you doing it, although you may sprain something in the process. Rest assured, this is proper exercise, and more challenging than most of the Wii Sports pack for a start, barring the boxing. You will end up sweaty and exhausted.

In a semblance of story mode, you are working your way to the top of the national cheerleading championships. As you complete routines successfully you unlock new outfits and goodies, as well as additional cheerleaders for your team, who in turn bring new abilities and more routines. The soundtrack is as perky as you would imagine and is going to appeal to the Tweenies, packed with tracks from the likes of Hilary Duff and Natasha Bedingfield, although covers of classics like Walking on Sunshine, Footloose and Eye of the Tiger may tempt older players to have a go too. There's two kinds of multiplayer mode (cooperative and competitive) for up to four players so there's no excuses for anyone to be watching from the sidelines - although if your living room is on the bijou side you may find yourself having to duck to avoid being punched in the head.

Overall the learning curve is steep. I spent over an hour trying to complete the first cheer to a standard which would let me progress, and while I don't boast the best hand eye coordination in the world I would argue that I'm not completely incapable. The movements you need to do are a lot more precise than on something like Wii Sports where, if you can flick your wrist in a particular way you'll get your golf shot. Here you need to do the full movement, at the right speed, in time to the music. There's a lot of variables to factor in. However, the feeling of glee you get when you do get it right more than makes up for the frustrations of getting there - just don't expect to get far in this game as a casual gamer. You have to really go for it and practice hard, not unlike actual cheerleading I'd imagine - although thankfully with comfier outfits.

This game isn't going to appeal to everyone. But if you're of the age where you're obsessively learning the moves to music videos and singing along to Miley Cyrus et al then this is a great game at a good price which will get you off the sofa and moving for a good long while.

Four stars

* We Cheer is out now on the Nintendo Wii