Grand Slam Tennis [Wii]

20 Jun 2009 at 15:53:47 by
Systems used to review this title: (WII)

I'm not going to lie to you, I wasn't impressed with EA's tennis offering when I first played it.  On several of our very own podcasts I've passed comment trashing Grand Slam Tennis on the grounds of the failure to utilise fully the Wii Motion Plus technology.  Coming from a very tennis background, this was a game I was hoping would really bring a depth to tennis games with the latest Nintendo peripheral.  It felt clunky and not much different from playing any other tennis game, well Wii Sports Tennis to be precise, and I was disappointed. 

But then I spent all of last night playing the game again, just to make sure I'd not missed anything, and then something happened.  I put Wii Sports Tennis back on and spent 20 minutes TRYING to play it in the same way I had been playing Grand Slam Tennis, and it was only then I realised how subtly different and how differently the racquet responded with Wii Motion Plus. 

And something else happened.  It was brought to my attention that no matter how much I wanted this game to be as close to real tennis, it was never going to be real tennis, and that I must enjoy it for what it is.  This may sound a little condescending, but knowing how high my expectations are of new things – especially the Wii Motion Plus- it forced me to re-evaluate what this game was about.  Coupled with my recent revisit to Wii Sports Tennis, Grand Slam Tennis was a much better game than I was giving it credit for.

Let's face it, we know EA can make games, and good games.  But the game here was reliant on how well the control system worked, and not about the graphics and soundtrack and story.  This is a game on the Wii, and its presentation is spot on.  I could talk about how great the avatars of all the characters look, how well little nuances and mannerisms are accurately delivered, and more to the point, just how massive the official player roster is.  It's impressive and it's because of this attention to detail, the art style is never an issue.  As I said, this game is all about the gameplay, and the players and the fact that all the Grand Slams are available are just bonuses, but bonuses you'd really expect from EA.  Any other publisher could be forgiven for not having the licenses for players and the Grand Slams, but not EA, and this is a testament to EA Sports' commitment to bring as much of the real game to the player as possible and is demonstrated by all of EA Sports' titles.

So, with all of that in mind, and out of the way, let's revert back to why this game, despite being subtly different, it actually offers a depth of play as deep as the steepness of the games learning curve.

With any tennis game in real life it's all about the service and making sure you get that first serve in to dominate the game and to ultimately win your service game.  This is probably the most flawed part of Grand Slam Tennis for me, and a real disappointment.  Even though you can practically put the ball anywhere, and even with the Wii Motion Plus, the speed of the serve and the type of serve doesn't really translate on screen.  And it's here you start to realise the reason the shots don't translate is because, despite its actual purpose, the Wii Motion Plus doesn't have a one-to one ratio translation of racquet to hand.  This, along with the having to use modifiers to execute lobs and drop shots means that a little part of the gaming experience dies.

When the Wii Motion Plus does work, usually when you're in a rally, it works really well, but its not until you invest a good amount of time, in the shape of a tournament or two, that you'll understand how to maximise the control system.  The problems come when you're sure the Wii Motion Plus is playing games with you.  You'll find yourself cursing more than you'd like to in this family friendly game just because you're not pulling off the shots you had been moments before.  It's consistency issues and that dampens the mood sometimes, but as previously mentioned, when you get the feel for it, things become more natural and a lot more fun.

It's difficult to get your player to the right place on the court sometimes, but more often than not, the use of the Nunchuck analogue stick gets you to where you need to be.  Regardless, it's a pretty straightforward game to play and even if you don't have the Wii Motion Plus, you can play this game well enough to take on someone who does.  However, be warned, if you've been playing with the Wii Motion Plus and then play without, you'll find yourself hitting shots all over the place.  Like I said before, it's subtle differences you get accustomed to that are exposed without the Wii Motion Plus.

You'll want to play with friends, it's where some of the best games are played.  Keep your Wii Motion Plus and give them the controllers without (they'll not know any better...) and just practice!  There are a multitude of multiplayer options, a mini-games mode, practice mode and even a fitness mode.  The single player tournament modes are more tedious really, and there are no other championships or smaller trophies to play for.  Despite having practice matches and game challenges before a tournament game, you're still playing within a grand slam tournament.  It's a real shame because there is scope to do calender events, like in Tiger Woods, but I can expect we'll see more of this in the console version which will be released next year.

It's a frustrating ride sometimes, but given this title is on the Wii, takes advantage of the latest Wii peripheral, features some big names in tennis from past and present, is carefully presented and offers a more engaging tennis experience, this is a good game.  You just have to remember you're not playing real tennis and nail those serves, which I've not yet mastered.

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