Tennis 2K2

"The greatest tennis game yet"

The original Virtua Tennis forever changed the way people looked at tennis games. It showed that games based on tennis could be simple, easy and most importantly fun. Now with the sequel to Virtua Tennis Hitmaker had to show that they could take tennis games to an even higher level, and they most certainly did.

Graphics: 10/10

The graphics are stunning,with only 2 players on screen and and a few people on the sidelines (line judges, ball boys etc...) you would expect that the game would have incredible graphics, and it does. The game is almost photorealistic, graphically it is leaps and bounds ahead of Virtua Tennis. The player models are much more realistic looking and the faces look very real, especially compared to the last game. The animations are even better than before, as is the court textures, just take a look at the grass textures in the game, the textures in the Wimbledon stage merely look ok, but once you see the textures in some of the other grass stadiums you can buy in the excellent world tour mode, you'll understand why this is such an incredible game graphically.

Sound: 9/10

Aurally this game is excellent, on hard surfaces you can hear the squeeks of the players feet when they run around, when hitting the ball you can hear the sound of the racket smashing into the ball. You can also hear the players grunt when they hit the ball very hard which is cool to hear and also quite realistic. I only have two complaints with the sound, first of all unlike the first Virtua Tennis, they do not have different announcers for every court, i understand that there are far more surfaces in this game with all the courts you can buy in world tour mode but still it does take something away from the game. Also, while the electronica music that plays in the background is nice to listen too and fits the game well, i usually end up turning it off to get into more of a tennis mode and make it seem more realistic, like tennis on tv.

Gameplay: 10/10

Id like to start out by saying that the learning curve in this game is incredible, any player can jump in and after two minutes be perfectly at home with the controls. However that player will have no chance against someone who has played the game for a long time and learned the subtleties of the game. That is the way all games should be. The serving mechanics are much improved over last game. In the original virtua tennis serving the ball in the corner was very easy, now it is harder to serve without making faults, also the sensation of speed for the serves is better resulting in more aces and a more realistic looking game. After serving the game is still improved, by giving the player the ability to hit a slice the developers have added great depth to the game. the slice moves slowly but goes at a wide angle, also it bounces low which can cause an opponent who is charging to the net to hit the ball up in the air, leading to an easy smash.

Buy or rent: Buy

Renting this game will just make you want to buy it more, and besides once you rent it if you own Virtua Tennis it will make the game obsolete and you wont want to play it anymore anyway. so just buy the game trust me it is well worth your money.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/22/02, Updated 08/22/02