When talking about tennis games, the first title that springs to mind is Sega`s Virtual Tennis, the benchmark against which all tennis titles are measured.
A short while ago, Namco released its attempt to reinvent the concept of console tennis with Smash Court: Tennis Pro Tournament 1. Unfortunately, most of the copies remained on the shelves due to this poor attempt to make tennis more realistic.
This year, Namco, in collaboration with Sony Europe, has released a sequel aiming to correct the mistakes of its predecessor.
Smash Court: Tennis Pro Tournament 2 features all the Open tournaments (Australia, French, Wimbledon and US). It also features some of the biggest players, including Lleyton Hewitt, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Serena Williams, Andy Roddick, Kim Clijsters and Jennifer Capriati.
You can tour the world and play the best players in the most prestigious events with your favourite player, or you can even create your own star tennis player. The sequel boasts six game modes that include career, progressive or head-to-head.
While it does feature a multi-player mode, players are only able to access it if they have a multi-tap device for their consoles. This is one of the title`s biggest flaws as it eliminates a sizeable chunk of the PlayStation 2 market.
Like all sports games, this one has an instant action mode. Gamers can play a single game with customisable playing conditions like the number of games, sets, difficulty level, players, venues and so on.
The new features do add to the title but there is yet another glaring oversight from Namco. When playing in a career mode you only get to play the turning points in the game, or, at most, one set.
During these turning points, you are asked to complete a "mission", which, if completed properly, earns you experience points to win the game faster. This only succeeds in making the player lose interest in the title very quickly.
Neat graphics and realistic movement cannot make up for poorly envisioned modes and lack of game density. Who knows, maybe Namco will be third time lucky?
Share