Grand Slam Tennis

This Summer sees the release of several sports titles; some are hoping to capture another level of authenticity by utilising the MotionPlus accessory. With Grand Slam Tennis from EA Sports being one of them, how well will it perform against the likes of Virtua Tennis 2009, but more importantly, how well will it stand by itself?

First of all, I feel like I should give a shout out to both Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Both players put up an epic of a fight at the finals yesterday. It really was one of those matches where you didn’t mind who won as both would have deserved it. Right, let me get this brown stuff off my nose and let’s continue with the review.

Grand Slam Tennis is compatible with MotionPlus, although this isn’t compulsory. I guess one of the appeals of MotionPlus (that offers a near perfect 1:1 motion control) is that it should make games like sports titles more realistic. Since the early days, there has been a percentage of people that feel certain sports games are arbitrary and that we should get off the sofas and do the real thing. Perhaps there’s still people who think that.

Not all video games should be based on things you can’t do in real life. Indeed, since the Wii and its innovative wii-mote arrived, and now the MotionPlus; gamers are expending more energy playing video games than ever before. So how close is playing this game compared to the real thing? And ultimately, how fun is Grand Slam Tennis?

As you can you play this game with or without the MotionPlus, I thought I’d give it a go without it first so that I could make observations and comparisons. There is a MotionPlus tutorial video you can access on the main screen but it’s more of a guide to connecting and disconnecting the peripheral from your wii-mote safely.

When you load the game up, it’s clear that Grand Slam Tennis contains a variety of modes; which is a very promising sign. The Play Now mode is like an exhibition mode where gamers can access the practice court, and play singles and doubles matches against the computer or friends.

Grand Slam mode is the career mode of the game where you compete in the major tournaments of the world (the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open). Quite tough, especially if you’ve just started playing the game. If you get knocked out of a tournament, you’ll have to wait till next season before you can enter it again.

As you may know already, this game isn’t going for the more realistic look that’s found in say, Virtua Tennis 2009. Having said that, even though the characters are rendered in an almost caricatured fashion, it is very easy to spot who is who. If you’re going to turn your nose up at this game because it looks too “cartoony” for you, you shouldn’t play games, full stop. Personally, I like the look of the game. Whether I would have gone down the same route if I was part of the development team is irrelevant. What’s done is done, and it works.

Grand Slam Tennis features a large roster of players, both retired and active ones. 23 players, consisting of the usual suspects, plus some nice surprises in the guise of John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Bjorn Borg, Pat Cash and Martina Navratilova.

Every player has their own strengths and weaknesses. For example, Andy Murray is an “all court” kind of player whereas Venus Williams is an “offensive baseline” player. Players have different abilities too, which you can unlock and add to your own. Should you defeat a player in a competitive match, you will obtain their ability (e.g. Venus Williams’ power serve) and be able to add it to your own player. There are 23 different abilities to earn and you can use a total of 3 at any given time. Initially, you’ll only be able to equip one but as your ranking increases, so will the number of slots you can fill with abilities.

The controls are relatively simple. The game suggests that new-comers use the wii-mote on its own, as using the nunchuk as well may be too advanced for beginners. I agree to a certain extent. As hard as hitting the ball and making it go in the direction you want it to is, playing without the nunchuk leaves any input of your player’s movement down to the d-pad. Pressing left or right will make them move…left or right, up will move them to the net and down will return them to the baseline. Other than that, the movements are automatic.

Hitting the ball is quite simple and relatively accurate, even without the MotionPlus. Depending on how much follow-through you apply to your shots, and obviously your timing, it’s quite easy to replicate tennis shots on-screen. Holding A while you strike will perform a lob shot and holding B will perform a drop shot. The wii-mote is able to pick up the amount of force you put into your swings so the sense of realism is high for a sports title.

To serve, first move your player left and right along the baseline with the d-pad until you are happy with their position. Make an upwards gesture on the wii-mote to make them throw the ball in the air and then swing downwards to smash it. To perform the perfect serve, try and hit the ball as it reaches the apex of the throw.

During rallies, you can apply top-spin to the ball by lifting the wii-mote up as you make contact with the ball, and back-spin by slicing it. Keeping the wii-mote flat will smack the ball straight forward.

After a few games (losing them by the way), I decided to connect the nunchuk and allow myself full control of my player’s movement. While it was very difficult at first, I persevered. At times it was frustrating as you wonder why the player is moving exactly how you want them to but sit back and you realise, maybe they shouldn’t. They’re representations of people, not robots. It’s definitely better to be in control of your player as opposed to leaving its movement to the computer, but be prepared to put in a lot of practice in combining good footwork and accurate ball control.

After getting comfortable with the basic controls and winning a few games here and there, I decided to enter the “big boys club” and connect the MotionPlus as well. I must admit, I wasn’t sure if the game recognised that I did or not. As I don’t play tennis for real, I wasn’t sure if me losing the majority of my matches was a good thing or not. Grand Slam Tennis is either so accurate, it knows when someone whose rubbish at the sport is playing or has sloppy controls. Which is it?

After getting accustomed to the extra controls that the MotionPlus offered, I was glad that I was using it. Whether you’re good at tennis or not, you really feel in control when the MotionPlus is being used. It allows you to apply the spin simply by twisting the wii-mote in the relative direction. Watch the spin curl away from your opponent as they dash to make it in time to hit a return. Although, don’t get too adventurous straight away as “with great power, comes great responsibility”. Pushing your luck by sending the ball wide can sometimes result in a lot of outs. Keep practicing though.

I’m telling you, when you enter into a rally, it’s so much more rewarding compared to the rather lame Wii Sports in comparison. Sure, Wii Sports more of a mini-game that came packaged with the console but Grand Slam Tennis is such a pleasure to play. Even if you’re losing, at least the game is accurate and replicating your actions as it should be.

There’s not a great deal of different courts that you can play in, but enough variation for sure. Grand Slam Tennis features known venues such as Centre Court, Court no. 1 & 3 at Wimbledon; Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court no. 12 at the French Open; Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louise Armstrong Stadium and Court 9 at the US Open; the Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Court 15 at the Australian Open. As you would expect from a title of this calibre, there’s a nice selection of grass, clay and hard courts to choose from.

If you want to take a break from the competition and have some one-on-one with the ball machine in the Practice Court, you can. As you can imagine, spending enough time here will be advantageous in the long-term. You can even twiddle with the settings to work on the areas that need improving.

Gamers can set the ball machine to spit out ground strokes or serves, as well as the speed at which the ball is sent towards you. Shot placements can be set to alternate between backhand and forehand, volleys, overheads, as well as random. Very extensive, indeed.

For those confident enough to display their skills online, they can do so but after a rather long registration process. After supplying a valid email address and choosing an online name that’s not in use, you’re ready to go. The layout’s very concise and shows you pretty much everything you’d need to know.

The number of players online is displayed, as is the number of points you’ve accumulated from matches won. The leaderboard shows your ranking in singles and doubles matches, as well as the top 100 in the world. There’s also a Nations Leaderboard that charts the records of wins/losses/points of various countries. At the time of writing, the United Kingdom is ranked 73rd out of 90! The United States is sitting comfortably in 1st with about double the amount of points that 2nd place has. Come on, boys and girls! Let’s do this!

An EA Messenger function allows you to organise games with people and whether it gets used or not, it is a handy feature to have. All in all, the online mode in this game is very impressive. Not only is there one, but its functionality is up there too.

You can create your own player to use within the game too. Although it will be hard to make one that looks exactly like you, enough is there. Court attire can be customised although at the end of the day, you’re not going to spend too much time on making a player, are you? What’s more important is playing the game, and believe me, there’s plenty to play with.

If you want to take a break from proper tennis and play some party games, you can. If you go into Tennis Party in the main screen, you can play single-player games in Quick Mode or get some friends to join in on the fun and play Party Session.

Grand Slam Tennis features 13 party games to choose from. There are various two-on-one games to play, each with their own twist on the rules. Or, you can determine who is the king of the rallies; with certain games awarding double points for net shots, drop shots, and lob shots. Given that the main game is packed with features as it is; both offline and online, the addition of these party games is very welcomed.

The audio in the game is satisfactory, with most of the importance embedded within the in-game matches. The impact of hitting the ball creates a realistic noise with the right amount of reverb. The soundtrack consists of ambient and light dance music. Very suitable in my opinion as nothing stands out as inappropriate. In-game commentary is provided by Pat Cash and is done reasonably well. The cheers from the crowd, although a bit mechanical in frequency, doesn’t really take anything away from the game but adds very little.
If I was to suggest anything, maybe EA could have added the odd “come on [insert name]!” in between points, just to add a bit of authenticity.

A nice feature that the game supplies is a calorie counter that displays how many you’ve burnt after every match you play. I’m not sure how accurate this is, but even if it’s a placebo effect, EA has done well to include one. True, it doesn’t make or break a tennis game (or any game), but in swinging the wii-mote for however long you play, I guess providing it’s relatively accurate, it’s quite nice to know the numbers. Playing for about 6 minutes, I allegedly burnt about 12 calories. Before you all start cancelling your gym memberships, try not to take it as gospel. But nonetheless, a welcomed feature to have.

Within the Get Fit! mode, you are presented with your own “fitness calendar” where you can set your own goals and try to achieve them. Setting the amount of calories you want to burn within a certain time-frame is what this section is all about. There are numerous awards you can earn if you’re successful which I guess adds incentives but, this feature is really geared towards the gamers that want to improve on themselves, as opposed to earning things.

I really can’t find many faults with this game. A slight disappointment is that the crowds in the stadiums are like moving cardboard cut-outs. Seriously, they’re thinner than Gail Porter’s hair. From a distance they look okay, I suppose, but from certain angles the 2D-ness is inescapable.

From time to time, (very rarely) the MotionPlus goes a bit crazy and it seems to lose all precision but leaving it face down on a flat surface will sort it out. At this stage in the peripherals life, I have to say, the MotionPlus is opening up a whole new set of possibilities when designing games. As it’s still fairly new, I can only assume developers will get better at programming games that utilise this piece of hardware, but as one of the first games on the market that uses it, I think it Grand Slam Tennis is a fine example of a sports-sim that puts emphasis on realism.

In conclusion, Grand Slam Tennis is great for gamers who play tennis for real, and gamers who don’t. I would imagine gamers looking to immerse themselves into an authentic world of tennis would prefer to play this with MotionPlus, but even without it, it is a very enjoyable game. The MotionPlus adds so much more satisfaction when you play as opossed to just pressing buttons. Packed with features, an extensive multiplayer mode and a career mode that’s challenging, this game oozes replay value. If you’re waiting for a decent game before you purchase the MotionPlus, this is one of them. I think it’s best if we prepare ourselves for a new era of gaming on the Wii.

+ Works wonderfully with MotionPlus
+ Lots of game modes and features
+ Online mode is very substantial

- Crowd animations are shoddy
- Maybe could have done with more players
- Mixed feelings about making MotionPlus optional for this game

Score - 8.5/10