Mario Power Tennis

" Another strong link in the chain."

When Nintendo began their mascot themed sports franchise they have earned a nice steady following and have brought more with almost every release. Mario power tennis of course does this plus brings a good number of new additions to throw on top of the already great experience that Mario tennis had to offer. I think it's safe to say Camelot knows what they're doing when it comes to these games.

Gameplay

Being a Nintendo sports title you know you're going to have a nice solid game on your hands just by duplicating that last game's elements however, Camelot has gone over board and done even more than that by bringing a new and unique experience to a simple game. These new additions are found mainly in the tournaments and mini games ranging from special moves, court types, and game play types. Beginning with the special moves, every character has a offensive and defensive special move that can be used once the player has gained enough power by hitting the ball back, the amount of power the player obtains depends on how much force they hit the ball with. Once charged up the player can execute these moves once, and then they have to wait till they have enough power to do it again. The player has a choice between a defensive shot and a offensive shot which the player will need to use when the situation grants, offensive shots are shots concentrated with power that throw the opponent off balance when they come in contact with the ball, giving whoever made the special shot and chance to score against them. Defensive shots are shots that allow the player to hit the ball from any place on the court to prevent their opponent from scoring; however there is now penalty to the opponent if they volley it back to you.

The key is to time your special shots to counter your opponent's special shots so they'll be left open. Now, while this may have added a nice element of depth to the game they also can make things extremely cheap too, often making situation where winning a match is just a matter of getting enough power to use a special than using skill. As expected with this kind of game there is a tournament mode available which player play through match up till the top of the roster is reached. But, getting through this on normal tournaments is a lot easier than I would have liked when using specials, in fact I never lost until I got to the final match on the last tournament, but maybe that's just me. But if you really want a fun experience you'll head to the gimmick courses tournament, which you do the same thing only on courses that demand you utilize unique elements on the court which adds a whole new level to everything. Gimmick course are my favorite part of the game, since they add a lot to a tennis game and make your think more about where your hitting the ball and how you should use the specials to best suit the court, and player your up against. For example, a court themed after Luigi's mansion involves a court with ghost panels and a light panel in the back center. If you hit a ghost panel in your opponent's court, a ghost will appear and wander his/her court until it catches them and slows them down while the light panel will remove the entire ghost from their court.

Now while these things are great the difficulty still isn't very high and can be cleared very quickly (I'd give it a week's worth) even with the extra unlockables. If you want the most enjoy out of this game as possibly make sure you have some friends to play the multiplayer cause after you beat it, that's probably all you'll want to play… kind of like a Bomberman game.The last addition are the mini games which defiantly are different and unique but aren't much fun without some friends to play them with. Examples are: painting a wall with globs of paint that fly at you, a never ending volley match with a giant squid, and a fight with a mecha Bowser that involves shooting lasers at it with your… racket.

Visuals

As expected from a Nintendo game, graphics are top notch with slowdown soothing to be unheard of. Also, every single character had a unique and sometimes humorous animation to go along with their defensive and offensive specials that looks very nice. The environments are vibrant and detailed and the crowd doesn't look like card board for once. And the funny and well done FMV intro should be noted, since it was both nice to watch.

Audio

The expected Mario themed tunes are here along with a few new one, but besides the funny voices I could easily turn the sound off and listen to a CD instead, but regardless it's all well composed and defiantly won't bother you while you're playing. I did think that Wario's court's theme was a little out of place but that just may be me.

Overall

Mario power tennis posses the quality and fun factor that the title before it has set and adds more in terms of the tennis series by offering great gameplay, unique and original gameplay elements, special to add strategy, and great graphics and sound that's sure to charm. Although it's a little short coming for single players, this game can last a long, long time with friends and it is recommended that this is kept in mind upon purchase; but either way it's sure to make veterans and fans happy for a good while.

Score: 8.5
Visuals: 9
Audio: 7
Gameplay: 8
Controls: 9

Pros:
+New special shots add depth
+Gimmick courses are a blast
+Animations are funny and neat looking

Cons:
- A little shallow for single player
- Special shots can also make things really cheap
- The mini games really aren't that entertaining

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/09/05