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Nintendo: Wii Reviews

New Play Control: Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat ^WII

Indiana Jones And The Staff Of Kings ^WII

Review

Grand Slam Tennis

90%

Format Nintendo Wii

Developer EA

Publisher EA

Genre Sports

11-Jun-2009 EA send down an ace with their Wii Sports challenger

19 Comments

We're used to a certain amount of fanfare when it comes to new EA Sports games. That's the power of its PR machine. Faced with the lung-busting force of EA Sports' marketing oomph, even the Walls of Jericho would be blown away like dust. And then they'd canvas opinion of those nearby to find out how to do it better next time.

This time EA Sports has more reason than usual to parp its own trumpet. One, most importantly, Grand Slam Tennis itself is worth shouting about. Two, a gaping hole in the tennis genre has been filled. Three, EA Sports, not Nintendo, is leading the Wii MotionPlus charge - significant in that Nintendo is entrusting the keys to its latest innovation to a third-party developer (at least for a while until Wii Sports Resort hits the shelves). That's sort of like lending your shiny new Ferrari to your mate.

The timing is perfect. 22 June sees Wimbledon begin and Grand Slam Tennis is the first tennis game to feature an official version of the championship. Understandably that has generated quite a buzz in the run-up to its release. In other tennis games we've had to squint a bit to make the screen go fuzzy and appear Wimbledonish, so to have the proper purple and green crossed racquets seal appearing over a proper rendition of Centre Court with players in proper regulation Wimbledon whites makes a world of difference to the atmosphere.

Think about unlicensed football games next to EA Sports' FIFA series and you remember putting up with the Red Cauldron stadium and its renowned tenants, Merseyside Red. It's the same deal here. Having the most recognisable tournament accurately represented is a big plus.

Mullet Over
If Wimbledon looks the part, then it sounds the part too. Pat Cash, he of legendary mullet and 1987's Wimbledon winner's dish, provides familiar commentary while the "Oohs!" and "Ahhs!" are recorded from last year's Grand Slam events. And once you've got used to the silly big tennis balls (which aren't any easier to hit despite their size) and the caricatured players, Grand Slam Tennis is a visually attractive thing, in its own way, the light-hearted, balloon-headed player models neatly summing up the askew approach EA Sports has taken to the tennis genre.

Rather than take on the more established Virtua Tennis series directly with a slavishly realistic portrayal of the sport, Grand Slam Tennis presents an outwardly light hearted alternative, ditching the usual rhythm-based mechanic with one that, thanks to Wii MotionPlus, concentrates much more on shot selection and the positioning of your racquet than being in the right place at the right time. The fun cartoony presentation shouldn't obscure the fact that underneath lies a dynamic, exciting game. Even without the Wii MotionPlus adaptor attached, this is a satisfyingly subtle and strategic affair.

Wii-motional
Click the attachment into place at the base of the Remote and the whole thing is shifted up a level. The game recognises it automatically and after a couple of seconds holding the Remote still for it to sync up, the effect is immediately obvious.

In fact, to start with it's a little off-putting as the increased sensitivity to what you're doing with the Wii Remote is totally disorientating. Suddenly your shots are thumping into the net and bouncing way over the tramlines, and to add to the confusion your player is often facing the wrong way thanks to the slightest flick of the Remote in the wrong direction. You serve too weakly, or too long, or miss the ball entirely.

It's certainly a frustrating introduction to this brave new world of control, but something manages to shine through and keep you hooked long enough to improve your game. It's a rare thing, but even when you're playing badly it feels like you're playing tennis and you'll want to nail it. You're no Henman nearly-man. You're the best, dammit. Or at least you will be once you've figured out how to stop turning your back to the court at inopportune moments.

The Remote is gripped much like an actual racquet, so if you tilt it to either side you rotate the face of the racquet. Tilting it back and forth does the same on-screen. Your general body shape actually influences what your player does. Swing your arm from across your body and a backhand is played, while opening your body up smacks a forehand. It's intuitive and very nearly flawless (once you've acclimatised to it all of course), but it means that your own mistakes are made that much more obvious.

The major thing to get used to is the player automatically taking up position on the court. There is the option of using the Nunchuk to control your player but it's largely unnecessary. The game does a good enough job of getting you where you need to be to make the shot. It takes a while for the penny to drop, but once it does, all you need to do is shape up to hit the ball and the game whisks you into the right position.

Slam Dunk
There's a really addictive and satisfying game to be had here, yet off-court things aren't quite so rounded out. The career mode (Grand Slam mode, featuring all four Grand Slam events from the tennis season) features practice matches against unknowns and legends and the odd party match as a bonus, but it feels a little flat. There's not a lot of incentive to just play tournament after tournament, mainly because they're not actually full tournaments, more a series of vaguely connected matches. You do improve and level up your player as you go, but you probably won't develop a compulsion to bother improving him or her forever.

Yet while the structure of the main single player mode lacks some meat, multiplayer is enormous fun. Party games, like Tag Team Tennis and Triplets are simple ideas but they work really well. The former is a game of doubles where you swap with your partner and the latter is you against three others. Even plain singles and doubles matches are fun thanks to the simple, powerfully effective nature of the mechanics underpinning things.

EA Sports is to be congratulated. Right away it has created something which takes great advantage of Wii MotionPlus'more accurate motion-sensing capabilities. The combination of vibrant responsive gameplay, a quirky take on the genre and, of course, Wimbledon itself, make this just about the perfect game for an English summertime. You can almost smell the strawberries and cream.

Simon Bramble