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Review Information |
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Reviewer Name: |
Stan |
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Game Difficulty: |
Hard |
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Difficulty Options: |
True |
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Game Information |
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Full Title: |
Tennis Ace |
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Year Released: |
1989 |
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Game Type: |
Sports |
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Max Players: |
2 |
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| Introduction |
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| Wha? A tennis game? Good god, you probably are thinking, considering the suck we know as "Super Tennis" on the SMS, but I assure you, this game is entirely different (I in fact love Super Tennis, but we'll not delve into that for the moment). I really don't know anything about the story behind this glorious creation, but I do know it's one of the few titles to feature a two-player option, something really missing from a lot of SMS games. True, it's a sports title, but it's surprisingly addictive. |
| Gameplay |
| The gameplay on this is relatively simple. You have a practice mode, exhibtion mode to hone your skills, and then a tournament mode. Any of these can be two-player. I didn't even really try the other modes and went straight into the grandslam, ultra mindnumbing, kill you eventually tournament mode. You get to pick your player based on their different stats, and trust me, these really do matter. The view of the main action is strangely a bird's eye view, but it works very well. Most tennis games have that behind the player quasi 3D view that really can be awkward if the controls aren't set up correctly. This has to be the only tennis game in history to go against the grain. When you serve, or when the opponent serves, you see the character(s) from the side. It's a nice touch. In the tournament mode you travel around the world, starting in Japan, and then take on first 3 players in singles, and then 3 teams in doubles. Win both all the way through, and you progress to the next leg of the tournament. All of the traditional rules of tennis apply. It starts out fairly easy, and then gets progressively pretty hard. As you win singles and doubles, you are given more stats to increase you speed, power, and so forth. |
| Graphics |
| The graphics could have been a bit better, but really I can't say much because there isn't much to do with tennis other than a repitition of movements for each match. You can't really expect the programmers to constantly change the play view or something. The title screen is excellent, serving screens are nice, the winning screens are decent, everything is generally good, but a little more variety (perhaps jeering audience members or something) would have made it excellent. It tends to get a bit tedious due to the repition of graphics during the actual gameplay. Good, though. |
| Sound & Music |
| Very nice. You can't expect too much from the sound effects as far as hitting the ball goes, but the additional yells of the players is a nice touch. The music is fitting, and changes for each country you're in. When in Japan, you have the same music throughout the singles and doubles tournaments. As you reach a final point in each match, the tempo speeds up, but the notes remain the same. It's fitting, but it would have been nice if they had at least two songs for each country, one for the singles and one for the doubles. |
| Controls |
| Incredible, in fact this was the game that got me used to the SMS's controls. They are a bit different than the NES, but this really got me into the system and was one of the first games I really sat down to play (I have yet to finish it) because of the wonderful controls. They are incredibly responsive. The control pad does the obvious, button 2 lobs the ball when you hit it, and button 1 hits the ball normally. You can use them to serve differently as well. If you press both buttons at once, you toss over a trick hit that bounces short. Hit the ball just right, and you'll throw out a power shot that will most likely fly out of the stands. |
| Replay Value |
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| This game is great to come back to, and it will definitely take you quite awhile to beat it. This is due primarily from the length of the actual matches depending on how good you get, and the fact that you will rarely want to play more than one in one sitting. I'm only about half way through the tournament, and it's been about 4 months now, but I've put it aside for a bit to play other games. At any rate, I'm sure you'll keep playing or come back to it. |
| Conclusion |
| In conclusion, I have to say that this is a great game, better than Super Tennis, but I can't say if it's better than any of the other tennis games as I really don't care. I doubt they can beat the awesomeness of this game, and I don't even feel like bothering to find out. It's a tennis game, and a great one at that, I can't see how if could possibly be improved upon. |
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