Tennis Masters Series 2003

"Improved Graphics, While Gamplay Stays Still."

Microids continues to try and fill this void, this time with Tennis Masters Series 2003. It's a license based on the real tennis tournament of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP). This fact aided Microids because it gave them the rights to model actual players and their tactics, although this didn't include actual motion capture techniques.

Once into the game proper, you are faced with some dynamic options screens with flying graphics, swept and rounded buttons, swooshing transitional sound effects and a driving rock soundtrack to pump you up for some court warfare. Anyone who ever played an EA Sports game will instantly recognize the attitude, and the polish serves to impress the player. You are allowed quite a bit of game tinkering through these fancy options screens, letting you determine the number of sets in matches, how many games are needed to win a set, and letting you turn off deuces, tiebreakers and player fatigue. There is also a much-welcome opportunity to turn off the splash screens that appear after load up, which is a feature I'd dearly like to see more companies offer.

Gameplay- 7/10
There are four different play modes available: Masters Series, Career, Exhibition with singles or doubles play, and a multiplayer option via a LAN connection. Exhibition play also has a multiplayer component, allowing two people to use keyboard setups on the left and right side, along with someone at the optimal gamepad controls. Plenty of players are available to choose from, and although all are fictional in name, Microids states that they are closely modeled on actual players from the TMS tour.

There are four different play modes available: Masters Series, Career, Exhibition with singles or doubles play, and a multiplayer option via a LAN connection. Exhibition play also has a multiplayer component, allowing two people to use keyboard setups on the left and right side, along with someone at the optimal gamepad controls. Plenty of players are available to choose from, and although all are fictional in name, Microids states that they are closely modeled on actual players from the TMS tour.

The Masters Series mode tasks gamers with playing seasons which lead up to a championship tournament culminating in a grab for the vaunted Masters Cup. A season can be made short (1 set per match and a 3 set final) or long (3 set matches and a 5 set final), and you can play at amateur, pro or master difficulty level. If you can rank up within the top eight players in the world, you are automatically entered into the Masters Tournament, and the game unlocks the Shanghai court for the contest. Saving is automatic after each point scored, and after the first season your total amount of points scored determines your seed status for the next one. Your ultimate goal is the Masters Cup Tournament, a round robin elimination system that places a player in either group A or B, with the winner playing the 2nd ranked player from the other group, to go on to the finals for the trophy.

Once you do get out onto the court, it's time to serve it up. Tennis Masters Series has a very slick serving scheme, one that any player of golf simulations will be instantly familiar with. Holding down the button sends the power bar on its arch. As you move towards full power, a green safe zone area in the bar next to it shrinks, leaving red behind. When you let go, an arrow cursor quickly moves back and forth through this area; its speed dictated by both the amount of power applied and the player's serve ability rating. You must hit the button while it is in the shortened green area in order to make an accurate serve. There are four different types depending on what button you press; a flat serve for power, a slice serve to put a curve on the ball, a high-bounce kick serve and a combination kick-slice delivery. Any shot taken in the red zone will be imprecise, but you can put English on a serve with the joystick after the ball has left the racket in order to try and bring a wild hit back in line.

Graphics- 9/10
Tennis Masters Series is very easy on the eyes. There are plenty of varied, detailed models for players to choose from, and, as mentioned above, their body animation is fluidly realistic. You can also choose different racket and clothing designs and colours for your chosen ball-jockey, but these customizations have no apparent impact on performance. The courts look expansive and realistic, and are full of neat little touches like ball fetchers kneeled pensively at the ends of the net and lingering footprints on the clay court surface. There are various shadow and lighting effects present as well, with deep shadows cutting across the court during late-day matches, and multiple player shadows cast on the ground under the harsher night-time lighting schemes. Unfortunately, the hideously fuzzy and paper-thin crowds that line the bleachers taint the spiffy court graphics.

Telegenic cut-aways abound after play on the court has stopped, featuring either triumphant or frustrated reactions from the players. During doubles play partners will consult with each other after a point, either patting each other on the back for a good play or chastising one another for a bonehead move. The developers manage to mix up these cut-aways fairly well, and they follow what has actually happened during play nicely. They do, however, get a bit repetitive after awhile, and the game goes a bit overboard with replays, coming after almost every point and slowing down the pace of the game. There is an option to turn this feature off completely, but none to simply tone down the frequency, so it is an on/off proposition.

Sounds- 7/10
Sounds for the game are merely serviceable. There is the driving rock soundtrack for the menus, but out on the court things seemly eerily quiet with underpowered racket hits and no noticeable footfall sounds for the players. I guess you shouldn't expect a tennis game to really rattle your subwoofer. The PA announcements do go a long ways to fill this gap, however, with the judge calling out points and faults with a proper British accent. He also gives some pretty funny admonishments such as for the crowd to be "quiet, please!", which lends some atmosphere to things. The crowd also vocally matches the action, getting louder for longer rallies and more spectacular (or heartbreaking) shots.

Overall- 8/10
Considering the lack of tennis games for the PC, you might expect a developer to just phone one in to exploit the fact. This is not the approach Microids has taken, as they have delivered a polished, fun and serious product with plenty of options and visual panache. Excellent character models, a fine, scalable A.I., and realistic but reasonable player control combine to make the life of PC tennis players all strawberries and cream.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/04