Sega Sports Tennis

"A chance for your friends to get back at ya for trashing them on court!"

I bought this game about two years ago and absolutely loved it. Now after playing this game for two years I still find it fun and enjoyable. Of course being an avid tennis player myself does contribute to my love for this game. Alright, on to the review!

Introduction

There are 16 different internationally ranked players to choose from each with their own style of “Serve and Volley – Patrick Rafter” or “Hard Hitter – Monica Seles” to name a few. You get to create two personal characters and train them up in the world tour to match the likes of top players in the world while steadily rising in the world rankings.

Storyline 6/10

Nothing spectacular here. Just the usual new tennis player on a quest to conquer the world rankings and collecting special rackets to help out in his/her quest. You start out as lowly ranked tennis player in the international scene. You play your first tournament and you immediately realized that you're tremendously weak. So what you do? Train! After that it's all repetitive. Train, win matches, train, win matches… etc

Game play 9/10

Just one word to describe. Great! Being able to hit a 250 kmph serve as well as almost never hitting the ball out of the court would surely appeal to avid tennis players and non-tennis players alike. However it'll take some time to master all the game mechanics to be able to challenge the highest level opponent, of course having maxed out stats helps. To hit a hard shot, you need to hold down the hit button longer as well as to push the forward button and the longer you had your direction set on the d-pad, the greater the angle of the shot will be. Using the slice button will increases the curve of the ball but the shot most often then not will not pack enough power to pass your opponent. At lower levels, a good grasp of ground strokes will be enough to bring you up the ranking. However at higher levels, gamers will need to have knowledge and skill of the many other available shots and techniques to be able to win a game.

Contrary to an actual tennis match, it is a lot easier to break an opponent's serve than to hold your own. This is due to the fact that mastering the serve is the toughest obstacle any player has to overcome. While a normal serve without any direction will never be a fault, depending on how long you hold you direction, the serve will more often then not result in a fault. Thus leaving most people no choice but to tap the direction just before serving for a general direction, which the AI opponent will never miss. Breaking an opponent's serve is so much simpler and swifter. All you have to do is to hit a long down the line shot or a short cross court shot and then run up to volley a weak return. (If the ball even comes back to your side of the court) Of course this works both ways… sometimes it gets irritating when higher level AIs keep sending you the wrong way. It's up to the individual to figure out how to hold their serve.

Of course to help you overcome the dreadful AIs, there are eight mini games incorporated in the world tour which provide training ground for your players. There are two training ground dedicated to each major skill in tennis namely the serve, ground strokes, volley and footwork. I will describe each in greater detail below:

Serve Training - Prize Sniper
Items are placed on a conveyor belt each worth a specific point. Trainees have to serve and achieve a certain amount of points to pass the training, resulting in a huge boost of stats. Failing only gives a little amount of stats.

Serve Training – Pin Crasher
Bowling with a tennis ball. Obtain target points. Straightforward.

Stroke Training – Tank Attack
This training focuses on power of the ground strokes. You will be facing ball machines shaped like mini tanks. The objective is to destroy the red tank boss with the yellow balls it shoots out to you, all the while avoiding the ‘red' balls the green tanks are releasing. The easiest way is to kill the green tanks then work on the boss.

Stroke Training – Disc Shooter
Focuses on angle and control. The opponent's court is turned into a 6 by 6 grid, each with a black disc. Objective is to turn each disc around where the white surfaces face up. Also if you turn over any disc in the same row and column, all the disc in between will turn as well. This training can only be passed with the use of lobs and slices, it's virtually impossible to do it with normal strokes alone. Hardest training to master in my opinion.

Volley Training – Alien Force
Simple! Use your volley to hit moving ball machine. Finish then all off and you pass!
There's a time limit though, you didn't think it was that easy did ya? =)

Volley Training – Bull's Eye
Another simple training! Aim volleys on the bull's eye marked out on the court. Achieve certain points within the time limit to pass.

Footwork Training – Stomp Man
Fun, addictive and interesting. You rally against a wall while trying to step on as many cans placed on the court.

Footwork Training – Dangerous Flags
Yet another fun and addictive mini game. Collect all the red flags while avoiding the red balls being shot at you from ball machines.

There are also two camera angle to choose to play from. The first is the usual view of the entire court that everyone is used to. The other is a view from behind your character. The latter camera angle makes game-play so much more interesting as you have to react faster to the opponent's shots as it's harder to determine and predict where the next shot will be.

Graphics 8/10

The graphics are great when compared to its predecessors. The crowd does not look like cardboard people as they did in older games. Individual players like the Williams sisters for example look very much the same as their real life counterparts. Everything from their hair to their body size and even their play style all fits together well.

Sound/Music 7/10

There is nothing special about the sounds and music in this game. All the sounds are what you would expect to find in a normal tennis game with sounds of players running and ball hitting. It could be better if there are some short phrases added to the players when they hit a winner or miss a ball. The music fits the mood of the game well but it tends to get very repetitive and irritating at time, especially when you just lost a long rally by a lob!

Replay Value 10/10

Firstly the world tour takes up a lot of time. The difficulty gets much harder at later levels which will prompt players to collect secret rackets, by winning certain tournament without losing a game, or cooler clothes. Also trying to unlock a secret level takes skills which takes time to master.

Secondly the fun factor increases exponentially when friends come over for an evening of gaming fun. With a multi-tap it gets even better with doubles play and player rivalry. Not to mention it gives your non-tennis friend some chance of getting back at you for trashing them on the real courts. :) Come on, what are friends for?

Overall 8/10

Overall if you are not a tennis fan, or do not have friends who are fans, I would not recommend this game as a keeper. Otherwise buy it and keep it! Oh and get a multi-tap at the same time. You and your friends you definitely not regret this investment.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 01/03/05, Updated 01/05/05