Hands On: Grand Slam Tennis

05 May 2009 at 16:32:10 by Andy Alderson

“This was an opportunity for EA Sports to lead on the Wii Platform for the first time,” says EA’s Dave McCarthy. “We’re doing that with tennis because it’s such a natural fit and made even more natural with the introduction of Wii Motion Plus.” We’re talking at EA’s European showcase, on a makeshift tennis court as we try out the new Wii Motion Plus accessory for the first time. And, in the context of Grand Slam Tennis, the new 1:1 motion sensing capability of Wii Motion Plus makes a big difference.

“We wanted to make sure we weren’t taking anything away from the user who just uses the Wiimote,” says McCarthy. “So we needed to give you that idea of putting the racquet in the palm of your hand and having total ball control even without Wii Motion Plus.” Accordingly, McCarthy insists that we initially play the game using the standard Wiimote control scheme.

Like in Wii Sports tennis, the AI takes care of the player movement while you concentrate on hitting the ball, although EA states a more “advanced” control system will be available, allowing you to use the nunchuck to move around the court. But, of course, the game is all about the swinging and even without Wii Motion Plus, there’s still a fair bit on offer. Using the standard Wiimote, shot placement is determined entirely by your timing. For example, swing early (on the forehand) and you’ll hook the ball to the left, whilst a later swing will push it right.  Although player movement is handled for you, you can tweak your position slightly using the D-pad on the Wiimote and holding A or B while swinging will pull off a lob or drop shot, respectively. One essential feature for any tennis fan is the ability to apply spin to your shots and, thankfully, this is present in Grand Slam Tennis. Tilting the Wiimote forwards in your hand while you swing (in the same way as you would with a racquet handle) will produce top spin, while tilting it backwards will allow you to pull off a slice. It’s a simple system which works pretty well in the standard control scheme but plug in the Wii Motion Plus dongle and things become a lot more interesting.

“Wii Motion Plus gives us a bit more enhancement over that ball control,” McCarthy explains. “Instead of just relying on timing to determine things like ball direction, we can do follow-through. Where I aim with my follow-through...will determine largely where the ball goes.” As we play with Wii Motion Plus for the first time, it becomes obvious that McCarthy isn’t understating its importance. Despite some initial teething troubles – with 1:1 motion, even slight movements of the Wiimote will be registered on screen, which can lead to some timing issues – we soon get the hang of the enhanced system and ball placement, as promised, feels much more natural. Spin also seems easier to control and, against a human opponent, the points last longer as the more accurate shot placement allows you to turn the tide of a rally, even when you’re on the defensive. McCarthy goes on to explain how, once you’ve truly got to grips with the controls, you can actually pull of lobs and drop shots using Wiimote movements alone, with no need for the modifier buttons. From what we have seen, it’s a simple enough scheme for the inexperienced, while tennis gurus can exploit the considerable depth on offer. Even at this early stage, it seems as if EA has struck a sensible balance between realism and fun.

And balance is a key issue for the dev team, as McCarthy explains how EA endeavoured to ensure that the game would be engaging while also remaining true to the sport. The design team was even sent to a tennis club to help it to devise the training mini-games featured in Grand Slam Tennis. Unlike the fantastical court games on offer in Virtua Tennis, Grand Slam’s have been designed according to real-life training routines, although again the team was keen to make sure that realism didn’t come at the expense of fun.  This ethos extends itself to the game’s art style too, which McCarthy claims was a “very specific design decision” and not forced upon them by the Wii’s modest hardware specs. While on the surface the game seems somewhat cartoon-like, look closer and you’ll see how the player animations reflect their real-life mannerisms. “It’s more than just likeness,” he says, pointing out how McEnroe’s serve-reception stance has been accurately reproduced in the game as well as his trademarked tantrums. The team even went so far to capture the unique ball-striking grunt of each of the players featured in the game.

In this spirit of authenticity, the game’s main single player mode – the Grand Slam Career mode – features real world tournaments including, for the first time, a licensed version of Wimbledon. You’ll need to create your own player and guide them through their career, as they progress from playing on the outer courts in tournaments to playing on centre court. The game is also set to feature online modes supporting up to four players and the Battle of the Nations, in which players represent their country in online competitions. McCarthy believes Grand Slam Tennis has all the hallmarks of a great EA Sports title. “It’s that deep, authentic gameplay you expect from EA Sports, it’s those exclusive licenses you won’t find anywhere else and a wide variety of game modes.” Factor in the Wii Motion Plus support, and we think Grand Slam Tennis has the potential to be one of this year’s most interesting sport titles for the Wii.

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