Displaying items by tag: Sports
Grand Slam Tennis was originally a game created and released for the Wii back in 2009. XBox and PS3 version were promised later in 2009, but were then delayed indefinitely. Now however these missing editions of the game have re-surfaced as Grand Slam Tennis 2, and a Wii version is (not surprisingly) no where to be found.
I say not surprisingly because EA have given the game a overhaul and it’s doubtful the Wii could do it credit. The overhaul is more than just graphical, and rather than mimicking the original Wii version and bringing out the Kinect and Move, um, moves, EA have taken the focus back to armchair gamers with total controller, control.
But in true EA style, they’ve decided to go one step further and invent a new control scheme, handily called Total Racquet Control which allows you better control through using the thumb-sticks. It’s not an easy road mastering this Total Racquet Control, but well worth it, though you’ll want to combine both the sticks and buttons to play an effective game.
Grand Slam Tennis 2 pretty much has everything we’ve come to expect from a sports game, from character creation to career mode and famous matches. The licensing deals mean that there are plenty of real life players to play with and sports brands to wear. But the real coup for EA, and any raving tennis fan, is the inclusion of Wimbledon, the home of tennis.
The standard settings will have you breezing through your first few matches, and the more skilled players will want to immediately change up the settings to give them selves a challenge.
Visually the game is spot on, and takes a leave from other major sporting games in packaging it up like a live televised event, giving it that instant feel of authenticity on your TV screen. The game looks stunning and the animations are great.
John McEnroe and Pat Cash provide the commentary, and whilst their banter is really good to begin with, a couple of games in and you’ll be quietly predicting to yourself, what they will say next as repetition kicks in. And repetition is the curse of any sports games, and unless you’re a die hard fan, you’ll probably find Grand Slam Tennis 2 a little repetitive after a while.
On the plus side however, it’s an easy game to pick up and play, so even though the repetition may want to make you put it down after a while, the game is strong enough an easy enough to get into, that you’ll be wanting to pick it up again and again.
