EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis
EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis
Developed specifically for the Wii, EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis delivers the deepest and richest tennis experience ever developed for the platform with real life tennis strokes letting anyone quickly pick up a racket and use every shot type and inch of the court. It is the exclusive home of Wimbledon and includes all four Grand Slams: the Australian Open, Roland Garros, the U.S. Open and Wimbledon. The player line-up features some of the greatest and most accomplished ever including John McEnroe in his exclusive video game debut. Joining Mac is an impressive roster of current and legendary men's and women's players who collectively own 135 Grand Slam singles titles, making this the most accomplished group of players ever assembled for a tennis video game.
Look More Reviews and Prices. Visit Store Now!
Get More Values on " EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis Best Price ". You will get Discount EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis, Available in Stock. Buy Cheap on EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis Shop & Purchase Online - Best Buy & Easy.
# June 23, 2010, 9:14 am # Time to Post
Let's get one thing out of the way up front: you can't use the wii-mote and motion-plus exactly like a tennis racket and have good results. In particular, taking a deep back-swing in preparation for a shot causes the on-screen player to swing. Also, you can't stroke through the ball when you want to drive the ball down the line - you have to "push" the ball in the direction you want. Using the wii-mote with motion plus is somewhere between a tennis stroke and using a ping-pong paddle.
Now, with that out of the way, I'll say that once I accepted that I couldn't swing exactly the way I wanted - this game is very fun. I find that the wii-mote+motion plus+nunchuck give me incredible control and options during game play. Now that I'm more accustomed to the gestures I find myself absorbed in tennis strategy - anticipating my opponents' next shot, moving the opponent around the court, etc.
My wife and I played doubles together against the computer and the player communications, planning, etc. that evolved as we played together felt very much like when I played tennis on the high school team.
This game would have easily merited five stars if it had recognized (1) drawing back my racket isn't a swing; (2) allow the velocity of my stroke to control the ball's speed; (3) allow the angle of racket meeting ball to determine ball direction. Even without these features the game feels like tennis.
I wanted very much to like this game as I've been looking for a quality tennis game for the Wii. However, as much as I want to like this game, I just can't give it a passing grade. Hitting the ball is easy enough for either the forehand or backhand. The major problem with this game is that the computer "constantly" positions your player in the wrong position. For example, your opponent hits a cross court shot to your forehand, and yet the computer will run your player to the wrong side of the ball forcing you to try to switch to a backhand shot, which of course there isn't enough time to do that. This is constantly occuring where you should be hitting an "obvious" forehand, or backhand, and yet the game positions your player incorrectly on the wrong side of the ball and you simply miss the swing. This is the biggest flaw with this game. With all the potential it has, when you loose point after point in a match because you swing a forehand, but the computer has your player backwards, it quickly becomes an effort in frustration. The game also seems sluggish with reading the Wii remote with the motion plus adapter. Sometimes you have to start your swing earlier than what the graphics on the screen would make you think.
The customization of your player is adequate, but for a [...] game, it really should have offered more options for customizing your character. The face, head appearance, etc. is pretty limited. The sounds and action in the game can be pretty exciting, but the constant missing of shots due to the computer positioning problem of your player kills this game for me. (Another thing I found odd and a bit annoying is the "extreme" and constant access of the CD by the Wii console. The CD has non-stop seeking going on during all aspects of this game.)
The Wii games don't get any more costly than this one, but the end result is you're left with the feeling that you bought a game out of the [...] bin at Walmart.
This review is strictly going to address online play as many other reviewers discussed the game in general.
Online Play is probably the best thing about Grand Slam Tennis, and also the worst. After playing the Grand Slam mode for some time, the computer competition becomes easy to beat. Going online provides the best challenge and increases the life of the game. With that said, there are a lot of problems (mostly due to lag) that I hope will get fixed if EA makes a new version next year.
The issues with lag very greatly from match to match. At best, matches may have a few hiccups here and there, slightly noticable compared to playing the computer. At worst, the game is almost unplayable. Its right in the middle when things get frustrating. Many times the ball will bounce twice yet the opponent will return the ball and the game lets play continue. Other times your opponent will appear as if they are teleporting from different points on the court to return otherwise unreturnable balls. And lastly, many times when your opponent serves, you will return the ball successfully, only to have play stop and a point awarded to your opponent. When this happens, you can't do anything but watch as your opponent win serve after serve without really playing.
Conclusion: This game is a lot of fun online, but the lag will provide for really frustrating matches. It would also have been nice if EA would allow players to change number of games and sets per match when playing with "anyone" (you can change game settings when playing "friends").
Buy for " EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis ", Shop EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis. Get Discount EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis, Cheapest EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis Order Online - Available Now!
)
