The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.
This thread has been linked to the game 'Grand Slam Tennis'.
I have to admit that lately I’ve been worried about my Wii somewhat. There hasn’t been anything that has really caught my eye (besides Pikmin 2 but that doesn’t count as it’s a remake) and I constantly see myself turning on Microsoft’s box rather than the little white one. Since summer hit though, I was hoping this would change with the release of the Motion Plus which could maybe, just maybe give me that great feeling again I once had when I first held a remote and swung away in Wii Sports.
EA starts off the stream of games that will utilize this new technology in the form Grand Slam Tennis. While it may have conquered just about every sport out there to date it seems tennis is one of the few it had yet to venture so it seems a little ambitious to start out a potential franchise on a new product. However EA seem to have gotten a good grasp of Motion Plus and I hope to see this continue as a franchise improving what needs to be improved in the coming years.
Mode wise this isn’t going to stand out as far as tennis games go. You have a practice mode, usual “get right into it and play a game” mode with friends or alone, Grand Slam (where you’ll spend your time working your way through the four tournaments), party mode and online. The party mode is interesting in that it takes the rules of tennis and twists them slightly for a more varied experience. Two on one tennis, drop shots counting as double points, tag team tennis etc... it’s great fun especially when playing with a group of friends. As for the Grand Slam mode, it’s extremely basic and can grow boring fairly quickly. Here you create your own superstar from a very limited amount of options and travel around the world competing in Wimbledon, the US, Australian and French Open (and yes they are all licensed) While it sounds promising the problem lies in the variation of things to actually do. You can play random singles, try out a party game of your choice, compete for new abilities (such as powerful serve, good hustle etc...) and then compete in the tournament itself. That’s it, and it repeats every Grand Slam event. It’s useful if you want to max the stats of your created player for online or unlock new outfits and equipment but as an overall experience it lacks any real depth.
Luckily however, the online option is one of the best seen on the Wii and will be the biggest reason this stays firmly in your console for months to come. Here you can compete in online ranked and friendly matches in singles and doubles with strangers or friends. What is also great is that if you play someone you would like to play again you can add them as a friend without the need of a friend code. Leaderboards are also available and while you can keep track of your own score, it’s also possible to view where you are as a nation (Little note, Britain are doing very very badly) Once again EA have shown third parties how to do online play properly for Wii.
Now onto the bit that most of, if not all of you looking to buy this game are curious about. The Motion Plus controls. Do they work? Are the accurate? Is it hard to control?
While there is the option to play the game without Motion Plus, I wouldn’t advise it as it relies on timing rather than the direction of your swing. It feels like any other tennis game out there on the Wii and if you’re to fully appreciate EA’s effort you’ll want the add on.
At first, things seem inaccurate and sloppy. That’s how I felt for the first hour or so and was about ready to give up. However after that initial hour everything started to fit into place and I was then able to direct my shots much easier and found myself having a lot of fun. Even now I’m not an amazing player of Grand Slam but so far this is becoming my favourite way to play a tennis title, dreading the idea of going back to a standard controller.
You can choose to play with just the remote having the computer move your tennis superstar or use the advanced method of plugging in a nunchuck and moving with the analogue. Sadly the game does a poor job of moving your player around often making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll need to swing a forehand or backhand. However plug in the nunchuck and things are much better. As far as hitting the ball goes, it seems that amount of follow-through on your swing plays the biggest impact in aiming your shots. If you wish to hit a cross court shot then you’ll want a lot of follow-through on your swing. Down the centre? Then hit it as you would normally. Down the line? A more difficult shot as you aim your swing with little follow-through. At times it may not work as you wish, but more often than not the ball will go where you want it to. And it feels so satisfying hitting a great ball just past your opponent’s reach. Thanks to the Motion Plus it’s also possible to use topspin and slice the ball with simple gestures similar to that of the real sport. In fact the only thing that is mapped to buttons or timings are the lobs and drop shots which are done via holding the A and B buttons respectively. While it’s a shame that you can’t simply swing lightly or swing high in order to do the two actions, it does make things easier. In order to best enjoy the game it helps if you put some effort into your swings and move your body than use a simple flick of the remote. You’ll see a major improvement in your game if you opt for a fluid motion than a lazy small one.
It does have its odd occurrences where things go strange and your player will not swing when you do but overall this is a solid first effort at Nintendo’s new technology and a good sign of what can be done with it.
Visually things look very basic and cartoony. While it may appeal to some gamers, I’m not overly impressed by its simplistic look. Animations are decent, but when you see blocky trees and people on the sidelines it just seems lazy. I would have preferred some more realistic looking tennis players similar to Virtua Tennis rather than this. The way I see it, some will love the “Wii Sports” simple look while others will hate it. As for the music, I actually like it. At times it’s nice and soothing and others it’s upbeat matching the action in court. As for the commentary, the less said about that the better. Pat Cash doesn’t say much on court, but when he does it is often pointless or sounds stupid, eventually you’ll want to turn him off via the options.
With Microsoft showing off Project Natal and Sony announcing their motion control at E3 the pressure is definitely on Nintendo to improve their hardware. Motion Plus definitely has potential and Grand Slam Tennis shows that. While it may be a little too light on content and have a few bugs to work out, the controls are as close to the real sport as you’re going to get and I for one cannot wait for the next Motion Plus title to make its way here. Even at the slightly higher price this is worth a look.
EA starts off the stream of games that will utilize this new technology in the form Grand Slam Tennis. While it may have conquered just about every sport out there to date it seems tennis is one of the few it had yet to venture so it seems a little ambitious to start out a potential franchise on a new product. However EA seem to have gotten a good grasp of Motion Plus and I hope to see this continue as a franchise improving what needs to be improved in the coming years.
Mode wise this isn’t going to stand out as far as tennis games go. You have a practice mode, usual “get right into it and play a game” mode with friends or alone, Grand Slam (where you’ll spend your time working your way through the four tournaments), party mode and online. The party mode is interesting in that it takes the rules of tennis and twists them slightly for a more varied experience. Two on one tennis, drop shots counting as double points, tag team tennis etc... it’s great fun especially when playing with a group of friends. As for the Grand Slam mode, it’s extremely basic and can grow boring fairly quickly. Here you create your own superstar from a very limited amount of options and travel around the world competing in Wimbledon, the US, Australian and French Open (and yes they are all licensed) While it sounds promising the problem lies in the variation of things to actually do. You can play random singles, try out a party game of your choice, compete for new abilities (such as powerful serve, good hustle etc...) and then compete in the tournament itself. That’s it, and it repeats every Grand Slam event. It’s useful if you want to max the stats of your created player for online or unlock new outfits and equipment but as an overall experience it lacks any real depth.
Luckily however, the online option is one of the best seen on the Wii and will be the biggest reason this stays firmly in your console for months to come. Here you can compete in online ranked and friendly matches in singles and doubles with strangers or friends. What is also great is that if you play someone you would like to play again you can add them as a friend without the need of a friend code. Leaderboards are also available and while you can keep track of your own score, it’s also possible to view where you are as a nation (Little note, Britain are doing very very badly) Once again EA have shown third parties how to do online play properly for Wii.
Now onto the bit that most of, if not all of you looking to buy this game are curious about. The Motion Plus controls. Do they work? Are the accurate? Is it hard to control?
While there is the option to play the game without Motion Plus, I wouldn’t advise it as it relies on timing rather than the direction of your swing. It feels like any other tennis game out there on the Wii and if you’re to fully appreciate EA’s effort you’ll want the add on.
At first, things seem inaccurate and sloppy. That’s how I felt for the first hour or so and was about ready to give up. However after that initial hour everything started to fit into place and I was then able to direct my shots much easier and found myself having a lot of fun. Even now I’m not an amazing player of Grand Slam but so far this is becoming my favourite way to play a tennis title, dreading the idea of going back to a standard controller.
You can choose to play with just the remote having the computer move your tennis superstar or use the advanced method of plugging in a nunchuck and moving with the analogue. Sadly the game does a poor job of moving your player around often making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll need to swing a forehand or backhand. However plug in the nunchuck and things are much better. As far as hitting the ball goes, it seems that amount of follow-through on your swing plays the biggest impact in aiming your shots. If you wish to hit a cross court shot then you’ll want a lot of follow-through on your swing. Down the centre? Then hit it as you would normally. Down the line? A more difficult shot as you aim your swing with little follow-through. At times it may not work as you wish, but more often than not the ball will go where you want it to. And it feels so satisfying hitting a great ball just past your opponent’s reach. Thanks to the Motion Plus it’s also possible to use topspin and slice the ball with simple gestures similar to that of the real sport. In fact the only thing that is mapped to buttons or timings are the lobs and drop shots which are done via holding the A and B buttons respectively. While it’s a shame that you can’t simply swing lightly or swing high in order to do the two actions, it does make things easier. In order to best enjoy the game it helps if you put some effort into your swings and move your body than use a simple flick of the remote. You’ll see a major improvement in your game if you opt for a fluid motion than a lazy small one.
It does have its odd occurrences where things go strange and your player will not swing when you do but overall this is a solid first effort at Nintendo’s new technology and a good sign of what can be done with it.
Visually things look very basic and cartoony. While it may appeal to some gamers, I’m not overly impressed by its simplistic look. Animations are decent, but when you see blocky trees and people on the sidelines it just seems lazy. I would have preferred some more realistic looking tennis players similar to Virtua Tennis rather than this. The way I see it, some will love the “Wii Sports” simple look while others will hate it. As for the music, I actually like it. At times it’s nice and soothing and others it’s upbeat matching the action in court. As for the commentary, the less said about that the better. Pat Cash doesn’t say much on court, but when he does it is often pointless or sounds stupid, eventually you’ll want to turn him off via the options.
With Microsoft showing off Project Natal and Sony announcing their motion control at E3 the pressure is definitely on Nintendo to improve their hardware. Motion Plus definitely has potential and Grand Slam Tennis shows that. While it may be a little too light on content and have a few bugs to work out, the controls are as close to the real sport as you’re going to get and I for one cannot wait for the next Motion Plus title to make its way here. Even at the slightly higher price this is worth a look.
Awesome. I'll make sure to do that.
Unfortunately I was just borrowing it. It will be Tiger Woods for me first, I prefer the golf to the tennis!
Wii code is in the thread on the Game forum if you want to add me though.
Wii code is in the thread on the Game forum if you want to add me though.
Thanks pb. Yeah I like the idea of bundles plus the option to just buy the game alone for those of you who already have it. And I too cannot wait for Tiger Woods this week. May have to wait a little before I can afford it, but hopefully get it soon. What's your name/code for online? Maybe we could get a few sets in tomorrow or something?
Nice review, pretty much how I thought about my go on GS Tennis too.
I think it's good that all these games are being boxed with the Motion Plus (as well as having the option of getting them seperately, of course!), 2 tennis games, Tiger Woods 10, Red Steel 2, Wii Sports Resort etc...
Personally, I'm looking forward to Tiger Woods as the reviews have been raving about how good Motion Plus is with it. Not sure when I'll be able to get it, but I've got a birthday coming up next month, so who knows!
I think it's good that all these games are being boxed with the Motion Plus (as well as having the option of getting them seperately, of course!), 2 tennis games, Tiger Woods 10, Red Steel 2, Wii Sports Resort etc...
Personally, I'm looking forward to Tiger Woods as the reviews have been raving about how good Motion Plus is with it. Not sure when I'll be able to get it, but I've got a birthday coming up next month, so who knows!
I have to admit that lately I’ve been worried about my Wii somewhat. There hasn’t been anything that has really caught my eye (besides Pikmin 2 but that doesn’t count as it’s a remake) and I constantly see myself turning on Microsoft’s box rather than the little white one. Since summer hit though, I was hoping this would change with the release of the Motion Plus which could maybe, just maybe give me that great feeling again I once had when I first held a remote and swung away in Wii Sports.
EA starts off the stream of games that will utilize this new technology in the form Grand Slam Tennis. While it may have conquered just about every sport out there to date it seems tennis is one of the few it had yet to venture so it seems a little ambitious to start out a potential franchise on a new product. However EA seem to have gotten a good grasp of Motion Plus and I hope to see this continue as a franchise improving what needs to be improved in the coming years.
Mode wise this isn’t going to stand out as far as tennis games go. You have a practice mode, usual “get right into it and play a game” mode with friends or alone, Grand Slam (where you’ll spend your time working your way through the four tournaments), party mode and online. The party mode is interesting in that it takes the rules of tennis and twists them slightly for a more varied experience. Two on one tennis, drop shots counting as double points, tag team tennis etc... it’s great fun especially when playing with a group of friends. As for the Grand Slam mode, it’s extremely basic and can grow boring fairly quickly. Here you create your own superstar from a very limited amount of options and travel around the world competing in Wimbledon, the US, Australian and French Open (and yes they are all licensed) While it sounds promising the problem lies in the variation of things to actually do. You can play random singles, try out a party game of your choice, compete for new abilities (such as powerful serve, good hustle etc...) and then compete in the tournament itself. That’s it, and it repeats every Grand Slam event. It’s useful if you want to max the stats of your created player for online or unlock new outfits and equipment but as an overall experience it lacks any real depth.
Luckily however, the online option is one of the best seen on the Wii and will be the biggest reason this stays firmly in your console for months to come. Here you can compete in online ranked and friendly matches in singles and doubles with strangers or friends. What is also great is that if you play someone you would like to play again you can add them as a friend without the need of a friend code. Leaderboards are also available and while you can keep track of your own score, it’s also possible to view where you are as a nation (Little note, Britain are doing very very badly) Once again EA have shown third parties how to do online play properly for Wii.
Now onto the bit that most of, if not all of you looking to buy this game are curious about. The Motion Plus controls. Do they work? Are the accurate? Is it hard to control?
While there is the option to play the game without Motion Plus, I wouldn’t advise it as it relies on timing rather than the direction of your swing. It feels like any other tennis game out there on the Wii and if you’re to fully appreciate EA’s effort you’ll want the add on.
At first, things seem inaccurate and sloppy. That’s how I felt for the first hour or so and was about ready to give up. However after that initial hour everything started to fit into place and I was then able to direct my shots much easier and found myself having a lot of fun. Even now I’m not an amazing player of Grand Slam but so far this is becoming my favourite way to play a tennis title, dreading the idea of going back to a standard controller.
You can choose to play with just the remote having the computer move your tennis superstar or use the advanced method of plugging in a nunchuck and moving with the analogue. Sadly the game does a poor job of moving your player around often making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll need to swing a forehand or backhand. However plug in the nunchuck and things are much better. As far as hitting the ball goes, it seems that amount of follow-through on your swing plays the biggest impact in aiming your shots. If you wish to hit a cross court shot then you’ll want a lot of follow-through on your swing. Down the centre? Then hit it as you would normally. Down the line? A more difficult shot as you aim your swing with little follow-through. At times it may not work as you wish, but more often than not the ball will go where you want it to. And it feels so satisfying hitting a great ball just past your opponent’s reach. Thanks to the Motion Plus it’s also possible to use topspin and slice the ball with simple gestures similar to that of the real sport. In fact the only thing that is mapped to buttons or timings are the lobs and drop shots which are done via holding the A and B buttons respectively. While it’s a shame that you can’t simply swing lightly or swing high in order to do the two actions, it does make things easier. In order to best enjoy the game it helps if you put some effort into your swings and move your body than use a simple flick of the remote. You’ll see a major improvement in your game if you opt for a fluid motion than a lazy small one.
It does have its odd occurrences where things go strange and your player will not swing when you do but overall this is a solid first effort at Nintendo’s new technology and a good sign of what can be done with it.
Visually things look very basic and cartoony. While it may appeal to some gamers, I’m not overly impressed by its simplistic look. Animations are decent, but when you see blocky trees and people on the sidelines it just seems lazy. I would have preferred some more realistic looking tennis players similar to Virtua Tennis rather than this. The way I see it, some will love the “Wii Sports” simple look while others will hate it. As for the music, I actually like it. At times it’s nice and soothing and others it’s upbeat matching the action in court. As for the commentary, the less said about that the better. Pat Cash doesn’t say much on court, but when he does it is often pointless or sounds stupid, eventually you’ll want to turn him off via the options.
With Microsoft showing off Project Natal and Sony announcing their motion control at E3 the pressure is definitely on Nintendo to improve their hardware. Motion Plus definitely has potential and Grand Slam Tennis shows that. While it may be a little too light on content and have a few bugs to work out, the controls are as close to the real sport as you’re going to get and I for one cannot wait for the next Motion Plus title to make its way here. Even at the slightly higher price this is worth a look.
EA starts off the stream of games that will utilize this new technology in the form Grand Slam Tennis. While it may have conquered just about every sport out there to date it seems tennis is one of the few it had yet to venture so it seems a little ambitious to start out a potential franchise on a new product. However EA seem to have gotten a good grasp of Motion Plus and I hope to see this continue as a franchise improving what needs to be improved in the coming years.
Mode wise this isn’t going to stand out as far as tennis games go. You have a practice mode, usual “get right into it and play a game” mode with friends or alone, Grand Slam (where you’ll spend your time working your way through the four tournaments), party mode and online. The party mode is interesting in that it takes the rules of tennis and twists them slightly for a more varied experience. Two on one tennis, drop shots counting as double points, tag team tennis etc... it’s great fun especially when playing with a group of friends. As for the Grand Slam mode, it’s extremely basic and can grow boring fairly quickly. Here you create your own superstar from a very limited amount of options and travel around the world competing in Wimbledon, the US, Australian and French Open (and yes they are all licensed) While it sounds promising the problem lies in the variation of things to actually do. You can play random singles, try out a party game of your choice, compete for new abilities (such as powerful serve, good hustle etc...) and then compete in the tournament itself. That’s it, and it repeats every Grand Slam event. It’s useful if you want to max the stats of your created player for online or unlock new outfits and equipment but as an overall experience it lacks any real depth.
Luckily however, the online option is one of the best seen on the Wii and will be the biggest reason this stays firmly in your console for months to come. Here you can compete in online ranked and friendly matches in singles and doubles with strangers or friends. What is also great is that if you play someone you would like to play again you can add them as a friend without the need of a friend code. Leaderboards are also available and while you can keep track of your own score, it’s also possible to view where you are as a nation (Little note, Britain are doing very very badly) Once again EA have shown third parties how to do online play properly for Wii.
Now onto the bit that most of, if not all of you looking to buy this game are curious about. The Motion Plus controls. Do they work? Are the accurate? Is it hard to control?
While there is the option to play the game without Motion Plus, I wouldn’t advise it as it relies on timing rather than the direction of your swing. It feels like any other tennis game out there on the Wii and if you’re to fully appreciate EA’s effort you’ll want the add on.
At first, things seem inaccurate and sloppy. That’s how I felt for the first hour or so and was about ready to give up. However after that initial hour everything started to fit into place and I was then able to direct my shots much easier and found myself having a lot of fun. Even now I’m not an amazing player of Grand Slam but so far this is becoming my favourite way to play a tennis title, dreading the idea of going back to a standard controller.
You can choose to play with just the remote having the computer move your tennis superstar or use the advanced method of plugging in a nunchuck and moving with the analogue. Sadly the game does a poor job of moving your player around often making it a guessing game as to whether you’ll need to swing a forehand or backhand. However plug in the nunchuck and things are much better. As far as hitting the ball goes, it seems that amount of follow-through on your swing plays the biggest impact in aiming your shots. If you wish to hit a cross court shot then you’ll want a lot of follow-through on your swing. Down the centre? Then hit it as you would normally. Down the line? A more difficult shot as you aim your swing with little follow-through. At times it may not work as you wish, but more often than not the ball will go where you want it to. And it feels so satisfying hitting a great ball just past your opponent’s reach. Thanks to the Motion Plus it’s also possible to use topspin and slice the ball with simple gestures similar to that of the real sport. In fact the only thing that is mapped to buttons or timings are the lobs and drop shots which are done via holding the A and B buttons respectively. While it’s a shame that you can’t simply swing lightly or swing high in order to do the two actions, it does make things easier. In order to best enjoy the game it helps if you put some effort into your swings and move your body than use a simple flick of the remote. You’ll see a major improvement in your game if you opt for a fluid motion than a lazy small one.
It does have its odd occurrences where things go strange and your player will not swing when you do but overall this is a solid first effort at Nintendo’s new technology and a good sign of what can be done with it.
Visually things look very basic and cartoony. While it may appeal to some gamers, I’m not overly impressed by its simplistic look. Animations are decent, but when you see blocky trees and people on the sidelines it just seems lazy. I would have preferred some more realistic looking tennis players similar to Virtua Tennis rather than this. The way I see it, some will love the “Wii Sports” simple look while others will hate it. As for the music, I actually like it. At times it’s nice and soothing and others it’s upbeat matching the action in court. As for the commentary, the less said about that the better. Pat Cash doesn’t say much on court, but when he does it is often pointless or sounds stupid, eventually you’ll want to turn him off via the options.
With Microsoft showing off Project Natal and Sony announcing their motion control at E3 the pressure is definitely on Nintendo to improve their hardware. Motion Plus definitely has potential and Grand Slam Tennis shows that. While it may be a little too light on content and have a few bugs to work out, the controls are as close to the real sport as you’re going to get and I for one cannot wait for the next Motion Plus title to make its way here. Even at the slightly higher price this is worth a look.