WTA Tour Tennis

"Jelena Dokic and this game have something in common at least"

All the women who're independent, throw your rack-ets at ma-e!

Being a tennis fan, I am suprised and confused on what tennis game to invest in. I mean, you've got nearly every tennis player in need of quick cash manufacturing their own. So I neglected Andre Agassi because quite frankly, he scares me and Tim Henman, well, I'll let you in on something; I don't think he'll win anything, ever. But here we have little innocent Jelena Dokic, best remembered for trumping Martina Hingis to get to the Semi Finals in Wimbledon on her debut.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm a Jelena fan. Woo hoo and all that but seriously, the developers must have used her as a last resort to endorse this game over the likes of Martina Hingis, Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati - who all feature in this game and are admittedly better and successful players. But anyway, as the title tells you it's the WTA - it's the womens tour, and only women. For male tennis fans, this is not what the problem is with the game. In fact, there is only one major problem with the game and that is the controls. Other than that, this game would have been great. A great game with minor flaws.

I'm also a big fan of the license Konami, who have created great football games so I had moderate hopes for this game. Pro Tennis WTA Tour isn't their finest, but it shines enough to allow them a second go at the tennis market. Let's hope they do, because they really do capture some very gripping stuff here.

Not only do I get to whip her butt at tennis, but I actually hit the ball off her face!.

Yes, in this game, accidently hitting the ball off an opponent's face, leg or any other bodypart proves very amusing. Then followed on by the character walking along glaring very evily. WTA boasts the usual conquests in tennis games. You've got your single and doubles exhibitions and your tournament, which can be moderated to your preferrence and your actual tour.

The tour mode is the most challenging, ranging from ten grandslams, where you progress through the matches and hope to win for the prize money and to get a better ranking. Each grandslam also graduates in difficulty, presenting a thorough challenge. It gives the almost realistic tennis championship experience, backed up fantastically well with the character motions.

Yes, each character has their own lifelike movements and mannerisms. You have Justine Henin's famous single hand backhand shot to Monica Seles's freestyle of swinging the racket like a banshee. Really, when I noticed those small movements in the way Serena Williams hit her smash with her powerhouse arms, I felt more than appreciation for this game. I mean, every single character has their own lifelike movement - thanks to Jelena Dokic, who acted the movements out. The variated and lifelike movements have been distorted to a tee that every girl serves different. Now what tops that?.

What destroys this good aspect of the crucial gameplay is the controls, which are are far to sensitive and jerky to keep you interested for over an hour. You cannot judge or determine where your ball is directed by just tapping the direction you want it to go but you have to press and hold the direction. This sounds all peaches and cream but it's difficult considering you have to move to get to the ball in the first place, meaning sometimes you'll more than likely hit it in the wrong direction. And also being annoying is the fact that sometimes you end up lobbing the ball even when you didn't want to - all because you may have held onto the smash button longer than a small tap.

My personal hate was for when the target icon appeared in a spot of the court, you would have to run to it and try to hit the ball. But if you press a button, you immediately stop and the impression is conveyed that you will hit the ball when sometimes, you'll miss. It's irritating.

What's more is the fact if you slightly to move to the left but meant to go right where the ball is heading, you can't move in time to correct your error, losing you vital points. Equally if you're running forward or backward and trying to hit the ball as you move and find that you can't. And that you'll freeze and watch the ball fly past you.

There is the slight question as to why underrated players such as Shinobu Asagoe and Ai Sugiyama or even Amanda Coezter are in the game purely to have Jelena superior to someone but whatever the reason, it is nice to have them here all the same. Why?. Well because now they don't HAVE to be underrated. If you're good, you can whip the other girl's asses to make up for all those tournaments where their dreams of being recognised have been viciously shattered by the William sisters (recently that is).

And of course there is the gripping question of what to do after the tournament, there is no fun or innovating mini games that shine like they did in the genius little gem of Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis (Who is ironically Jelena's rival in tennis).

But if you summarise the tennis game market, WTA doesn't collapse in shambles as other tennis player's manufactured games have done in terms of gameplay. But it doesn't nowhere near rival the crem de la crem of the moment Smash Court Tennis - which counterparts nearly everything this game does manage to offer.

If Anna Kournikova was in this game, Jelena would REALLY have something to worry about...

The graphics are impressive when it comes for the women, whose facial and body features are as toned as you'd expect for athletes, right?. Each character is practically identical to the actual real tennis star which is always good. And Jelena heads the totty of the women, while Monica Seles is truly a fright. One qualm I did have was that Serena Williams NEVER smiles. Not when she's won, not when's she won or lost a point and NEVER when she's lost. The developers I'm sure must have taken a bribe from her not to include the usual tantrum of throwing her racket and demanding to go to the toilet halfway through the match.

However, the surroundings apart from the terrain are really shoddy and cheap looking. For instance, when the player sits down and reaches for the towel but her hands are never really holding it. Like when she takes a drink out of the bottle, the bottle is never reaching her mouth, just all over her face and the back of the chair she doesn't look like she's really sitting on.

It makes you consider the option that maybe Konami spent too much time on the characters that they neglected the minor details which would have been nice if they had been toned to th extent of the quality of the characters.

For sanity reasons, I'd still like to believe Monica Seles is a virgin...

Well, if you've heard her when she opens her trap, then you'd agree. She is the best example of the sound department, as her grunts and "Waohs" are created, and you'd think it was actually her doing the voice (it could be the tape for her psychiatic sessions). You get the grunts that sound like the real deal which is another lifelike factor that impresses people, most of all fans. You could call it fluent grunting. Ha, how I make myself laugh.

The game music is a little cheesy in which it's nothing I particulary care for, being on the lines to arcade music (which you could I suppose catergorise sports games in general). The voice acting as in umpire's voice overs are neatly presented. But despite this, the audience chants do very abruptly get on your nerves that you'll be chiselling your brain with a screwdriver. Especially the Japanese crowd. An example would be "Jelenaaaaaa!!!" repeated over and over again.

As I was saying, Jelena and this game have something in common...

And that is that Jelena and this game started off on a high and then slowly slips down a slope becoming mediocre. Jelena and this game at tennis, are distinctly average. And the game from then on loses excitement and nothing more can be achieved by playing it. And for Jelena, I'm not sure if she will achieve either. So it was a good decision to use Jelena Dokic to front this game.

What is good is that WTA is a tennis game where others can take the strengths and learn fron the weaknesses, making far stronger and more fun games in the process. But for fans looking for a strong focus of female tennis, you won't get another game like this. It takes the best players to the underrated ones such as Shinobu Asagoe and Amanda Coetzer. For what it does achieve, and what it doesn't, WTA isn't a bad game to invest in despite the fact it has obvious flaws. For those, including myself, who are still in awe and very much in love with that sweet little girl who amazed everyone at Wimbledon against Martina Hingis, it's a further chance to see Jelena Dokic at her best.

Fin.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/24/04