Great Tennis Sim (Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 (PS2))

Member Name: lukesblues

Product:	Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 (PS2)
Date:	23/12/04 (642 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Superb season Tour Mode, 16 of the worlds top players, Very good training mode

Disadvantages: Can become easy

Having purchased Smashed court Tennis 1 i was very cautious about purchasing the new version as i was not exaclty thrilled with the first offering of namco's tennis game. Funnily enough i ended up going to Blocbuster on a Fridya evening in order to rent a different game that turned out to be unavailable, the guy behind the till said 'Smash Court Tennis 2 is really good and its just come out to hire' so i did hire the game out and within 2 days i had returned it and bought a copy. The latest version is by far superior to a dismal first offering and now has many modes of play for either 1-4 players.

Features

. Superb world tour mode. You start off as a rookie and work your way through qualifying rounds in order to compete in the Grand Slam events. At the start of your career you will be ranked 250th in the world and your aim is to become the No1. Using a selected fixture calendar for each year you participate in events that your ranking allows you too and depending on how well you do, you can unlock some of the top stars player tips etc.

. Excellent training exercises in order to improve your players abilty in terms of forehand, backhand, speed, net play, serving power and drop shots etc. You have something like 3 levels for each task and as you progress through the tasks you will be awarded points to improve your players ability.

. 16 of the worlds top players are inluded in the game, so of them are Henman, Roddick, Ferrero, Serena Williams, Capriati, Davenport etc.

. Good editing options for your players, you can win loads t-shirts, shorts, new rackets, shoes, sweat bands, and even new hair designs!


Graphics

. All the Grand Slam venues are well detailed, and in the early rounds you will even see many empty seats which does make the game feel more realistic, you also have many of the world tour event stadiums which take place throughout the year, eg Madrid, Italian Open and so on.

. Umpires and ball boys & girls look realistic but i think Namco could have made the crowd animation better, but i suppose you cant have everything!

. The 16 players in the game look very clear and realistic and the editing options on your own players are very easy to use and can be quite humerous for people looking for a crazy appearance.

. Nice camera angles to select from - again you can win more camera angles with the greater success that you have with the game.


Sound

. You do have the option of either having music on or off when playing matches, if you decide not to have the music then you will just get the umpire calling out the scores or line judges shouting OUT!. You even get mobile phones going off in the crowd and the umpire tells the crowd to make sure they are turned off.


Overall this is a game worth purchasing if you enjoy tennis or just looking for a fun game with your mates. The main criticism i have found is that you can make your player really good and then you will hardly lose a game in the career mode, i have alsofound this on the hard mode. It will take you time to get to the no1 but it will feel well worht it once you do.....

Have fun.

Summary: