Game, set and match! (Get it?) (Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament (PS2))

Member Name: HaZZ

Product:	Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament (PS2)
Date:	01/08/02 (519 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very easy to pick up, Fully licensed, Great player animations and lots of stuff to unlock

Disadvantages: Weird bug that seems to randomly delete data. Not apparent in every copy., Crown looks horrible, A little too easy

This review is available in edited form at GameFAQs.com so no saying I copied it, it?s my review!

Following on from the PSone tennis arcade/sim hit, Anna Kournikova's Smash Court Tennis comes...Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament how original?

Unlike its 32 bit predecessor this game features a host of world star tennis players. The US's Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras and Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov (say that fast three times :P) and the lovely Anna Kournikova among others.

It may have a strong line up but can it take the top spot from Virtua Tennis as the most ''ace'' (sorry) tennis game? Find out...

Graphics

Oh God. Look at the crowd. It's horrible. The crowd is a blurry mess, horrible just horrible. The players don't look much like their real life counterparts but it gets the job done. Comparing this to Virtua Tennis in terms of graphics alone would be futile, they just don't compare, and luckily the animation of the characters saves it. Each player moves fluidly and really look like the real thing (albeit a bit blander). Players all have individual moves and there are some great animations for diving, smashing etc...

When you win a game/set your player will punch the air in delight, high five his/her partner in a doubles match. If your player loses then they will slump to the ground or receive consoling from their partner. Lovely. Each character has alternate outfits as well, always nice to see. Also little characters traits seem to have wound their way into the game, Sampras moves like Sampras. Agassi has an almost arrogant air to him. Beautifully done.

Sound

- Music - Eurgh. Why must sports games feel the need to have music? There are a few decent tracks but I just feel it detracts from the experience. Hey, maybe you like listening to music during sports games, to each his own (you freak :P)

- SFX/Voices - Hole in one! Oh, wrong pun...anyway th
e sounds are generally what you'd expect. The ball smashing the against the clay or grass sounds lovely, the players all moan and groan as they expire their last but of energy trying to smash the ball past their opponent. The women in particular seem to grunt more than the men (which is just like real life tennis) I thought it was a nice touch. The umpire is also present and will tell the crowd to keep their voices down, thanking them afterwards. A purely aesthetic touch but nice to hear. Also play in the ''World Pro'' tournament and the announcer will be French, bonus! The audience also gets involved, groaning when their hero fails, cheering after an ace or a particularly great game.

Gameplay

Ah, the Gameplay. Regardless of horrible crowd graphics, nasty music and a lack of Tim Henman, this is where the game truly shines. Getting into the game is incredibly simple, the controls are intuitive and even the most stubborn games players who hate sports sims will find this enjoyable.

You control your player with the D-Pad or Analog stick (Well...duh...) and you use just three buttons to play. Serving the ball is done with the X or Circle buttons. X being a soft serve and Circle being a power serve (rarely resulting in aces, depends on the opponent). In open play circle is your topspin button and depending on how you angle the shot will result in a fast spinning shot. X is the slice shot which adds a reverse spin to the ball, the advantage is a slower, better placed shot but obviously the opponent can return it back much quicker. Triangle is the lob button. There are two types of lob; a normal and a forward spin. Alternating between pressing up and down with the lob button will result in different lobs, experiment but beware as the AI tends to rocket the ball back to you. Erm...I?ll shut up about the controls, what is this? A review or a manual?

All simple, all easily picked up but very hard to master basically. You
can hit the ball in all possible angles (well?within reason) and returning the ball and tricking your opponent to dive in the opposite direction is very satisfying. As in most tennis sims a big massive target appears on the ground if the opponent has lobbed or had a dodgy shot. You can?t really miss with this, if you do you suck. It allows you to smash the ball down the court and rarely gets a return unless you?re playing a difficult opponent.

In the game there is?a massive amount of things to do. There?s multiplayer, arcade mode with increasing difficulty challenges, challenges, trophies and other things which are unlocked with points gained from the Pro tournament mode. Ah yes, the Pro Tournament mode. This is a set of four fabricated tournaments (three of which are officially licensed.). There?s the US Open, the Australian Open the fake World Open and the impending Wimbledon. (A Tennis game released the same time of a major tournament? Genius )

Each Open has different characteristics. Wimbledon has a grass court which results in low bounds and a generally faster pace. The US Open is on a hard court and has average play. Not too fast, not too slow.

There are eight players, all real and there are two unlockable characters but they?re fake?lame?. When in an Open you?ll face a mixture of the real and the fake characters. One game you might face Pete Sampras, them you?ll face the menacing ?Red Ace?. With a total of 10 players, it makes a decent selection but there are so many other cool players that could be added. How about John McEnroe? Tim Henman? Oh well?maybe the sequel. Each player has their own style and matches their real life styles. For example, Anna Kournikova plays a lot near the net but isn?t crappy like the real Kourny.

Length

It will take you a while to unlock every single extra in the trophy room. Some however are not necessary, things like manuals which give you ?tips? on your play with certain characters.
Motivation to get every item could be hard.

The multiplayer mode (4 player with Multi-Tap) will last you a very long time. Just like Virtua Tennis and Mario Tennis this is a great multiplayer experience. If you?ve got no friends then hire some damnit! The only problem would seem to be the computer difficulty. I beat the hard challenges after only a few tries and the AI leaves much to be desired.

Conclusion

In conclusion this is a brilliant game. A few niggles like scoring an Ace being an especially hard thing to do (maybe I just suck), lack of characters and bland graphics are just minor points. This game does what it intends to do, a fun, easy to pick up tennis sim/arcade game.

Graphics ? Bland, poor crowd effects but very nice animation = 7

Sound ? Average music, great SFX and umpire voices = 7

Gameplay ? Damn near perfection = 9

Length ? In one player it?ll last you a few weeks trying to unlock everything. Multiplayer will last for a good while (until Mario Tennis comes out at least) = 9

Overall = 9

Go get this game, gather some friends and have a great time. It might not be king of the hill yet but it?s getting there. Roll on a sequel (with Tim Henman damn you!)

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