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Best Tennis Game on the PS2 (For Now)

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 29 / 30
Date: March 28, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First things first. This game has already been released. The release date was 3/21/02. Look for it at EB Gameworld or Best Buy.

Smash Court is a very good game. I't currently the best tennis game availalbe for the PS2.

Pros:
4 different game options
players are very realistic. Timing plays a big part in the strength of shots
Great training modes
3 types of shots lob, spin, topspin
Play is fast and fun with fast load times.
You can compete against top professionals in the 4 most prestigious tournaments. Along the way you win prize money that allows you to buy all sorts of goodies.
Anna Kounikova!

Cons:
The graphics could be a little better
Only 4 courts to play on (But you still get grass, clay, and regular courts)
If it matters there are only 8 total players to pick from

Bottom Line:
If you have to have a Tennis game immediately Go buy Smash Court right now. It's a great game with a ton of replay value.

BUT!!
If you can wait. Sega is releasing Tennis 2K2 for the PS2 in late spring or early summer. To be honest 2K2 will be better. Better Graphics, more options, deeper game play. If you can wait I would advise it. Sega is the leader in Tennis.

Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament into a brick wall.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 9 / 10
Date: June 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

As a diehard tennis fan and player I've been waiting for a good tennis video game to emerge. Unfortunately this is not it. Graphics and audio are good. Player characteristics are neat. Venues are very good. But just try beating Andre Agassi in the Semi Finals or even Martina Hingis for that matter. The action bears little resemblence to real tennis. The computer player pops winners down the line or cross court before you can blink. It's virtually impossible to maintain a rally of any kind. And believe me I've tried. Not only is the computer player on speed but the human player's character is conversely on sleeping pills. They should rename this game Frustration Court Tennis Pro Tournament.

Could be much better

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: March 30, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Smash Court is a decent game, but it could stand some improvement. The graphics are great and smooth, so no real complaints there. The controls are also pretty good, the player is pretty responsive to the controller. The game does have faults though. First, there are only 8 players, 4 male and 4 female. So, when you play a tournament, you always play the same people in the last 3 rounds (first rounds are fictional players). Would have been nice if they had a few more to add some variety. Then, there are only 4 tournaments, and that's it. It's not like a circuit where you can go up and down in rankings and play other games in between. It's the four tournaments and that's it. Plus, it's not like a regular match where you have to win best of 3 or 5 sets, you only play until you win a certain amout of games. What is cool is for winning tournament games and completing in game challenges, you get points and unlock prizes, such as photos, new outfits, and new camera angles (including first person point of view, which is freaky). The computer player in tournament mode is hard, very hard. It isn't unbeatable though, you just have to work at it for quite sometime. The computer player isn't superhuman, like in WTA Tennis, it's just very smart and catches on to your techniques, so you have to change your strategies many times during a match and you have to look for the players weaknesses. What's aggrevating is the service return. When the computer returns your serve, don't plan on getting it most of the time. It's just blown right past you. That gets annoying after a while. This game has great potentinal, but it falls a bit short. If they gave you more players, a better tour set up with more tournaments and a circuit, gave you full matches, and toned down the AI a notch, the game would have been great.

Why is everyone so frustated with this game??!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: October 23, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Man, this game's awesome. The best tennis game I've played in my life (yes, better than virtua tennis). This game is not that hard. I've unlocked 2 players and won 2 grand slams. AND I've only had it for a week. People say this game is way too hard but I totally disagree. First (I think unlike most gamers) I read the manual. It tells you EXACTLY what buttons to press if you want the ball to land where ever you want it to. This game has also got mad graphics and music. I suggest you read the manual first if you don't want to get frustated with the game.
Jolly

Frustratingly close to being a good game

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: April 14, 2002
Author: Amazon User

First of all, great game. The AI is fantastic and looks very real as you see the players react to and prepare for shots. This game does it better than any other tennis game I have seen. Incredible detail. Some of the playability is fantastic as well. For example using slice (rather than topspin) to return serve against a net rusher works as well here as it does in the real game. Kudos to the designers for that!

BUT....

Maybe I'm missing something here, but what does it take to hit an ace with this game? I have Pete Sampras hitting 122 mph serves that are returned with relative ease. And no combination of angles seems to result in an ace.

and

Unforced errors are non-existent. You'd think a player would hit it long or wide every once in a while, but it never happens. Very occasionally, the player will net or even net cord the shot, but never hits out, it seems.

And

What's up with the fixed camera position? It seems like you at a real disadvantage (the game is hard enough without it) when you are controlling a player that is facing you on every other court change. Any possibility of moving the camera to represent a more realistic view (player's eye view)??

Unfortunately these flaws keep this from being a very good game. Other minor complaints are that they took such pains in getting the Sampras's service motion right, but they just punted on Agassi's and Rafter's motions....

Where's The Realism???

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: March 27, 2002
Author: Amazon User

The only reason this game received 2 stars is because right now, it's the only tennis game for PS2 (can't wait for WTA Tour). While gameplay in exhibition mode is fun and challenging at times, playing in the so called Pro Tournament is all together different. In this mode you compete in the four grand slam tournaments.Except you only play five rounds instead of seven. And unlike exhibition mode, where you can adjust the length of a match all the way to best of five sets, you don't play a full match in any round. In the first two so called rounds, you play 2 games. Three and four games in the quarterfinals and semifinals respecitvely. And six games in the final. And once you reach the finals, the game loses every aspect of realism. It is almost impossible to win a point. Players will routinely blast return aces on 95 percent of your serves, making the game frustrating to say the least. The only plus that this game has is the fact that it features real players such as Agassi, Sampras, Hingis, and of course Anna Kournikova. And the novelty of real players wears off fast when Sampras frequently has his serve creamed by the likes of Yevgeny Kafelnikov. Furthermore, this travesty happens on the grass courts of Wimbledon, where Sampras' blistering serve has been dominant for years. A word to the geniuses at Namco...Next time give us a little more realism instead of invincible super opponents. Hopefully WTA Tour Tennis will be an improvement.

Very frustrating...but addictive

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: June 11, 2002
Author: Amazon User

All of the other criticisms you've read are right on: disappointing camera angle, baffling scoring for arcade and tournament play, the weakest shot is the serve (it's hard, but not impossible to aim your serve -- I did it a couple of times by accident), Hingis and Kornikova attack way more than the real players do.

This game has 3 levels: easy, normal, and hard. Easy is for beginners. It takes only a few times to master normal; soon, you'll be beating the opponents 6-0, 6-0 at this level. That leaves hard. The gap between this level and normal is HUGE. At first, you'll get creamed, barely winning a couple of games.

But if you stick with it...it's the most exhilerating feeling in the world to beat an opponent on the hard level. Your biggest challenge is to hold your serve. But if you back slightly away from the service line after your serve -- or make a calculated guess where the opponent will return it -- you got a good shot at reaching the return and winning the point.

After some persistence, I can now beat all opponents at the hard level without losing a set, playing as Kafelnikov. I get furious that I can't win as Seles though. With all its faults, it's still probably the best tennis game out there...which ain't saying much.

Over-rated Game

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 04, 2002
Author: Amazon User

This game was anticiated by Tennis fans greatly, but instead we get another "wanna-be" tennis game. The graphics are average, the sound is average, the gameplay is below average, and the whole game comes across as boring and too one-demensional. There is nothing new in this Tennis game. Small selection of Players, no Real Long Tournament, no Grand Slams, you cannot create your own player, very limited animation while hitting the ball. This is just another arcade Tennis game, like Sega Sports Tennis2k2, but not nearly as good. I found this game very dissappointing after minutes in playing it. I would not waste your Money on this game at all. Get Tennis2k2, and Match Point Tennis coming out by Xicat in late 2002, and US Open Tennis 2002 coming out in Dec 2002!

Buy Sega Sports Tennis instead !

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Spent my money on this game and...well...it's not fun.
It's more difficult than Sega Sports Tennis to master and if you're not at the right place at the right time, you miss the ball.
Gets frustrating. The graphics leave a LOT to be desired and there are not many options for screen (video/audio/display) controls.
You CANNOT create your own players. Characters are VERY slow to react/move.
Sorry Namco...you blew it! I would like my money back please.

SEGA did a wonderful job on SEGA SPORTS TENNIS...I'd recommend that one instead.

Fair game with some flaws

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 31, 2002
Author: Amazon User

Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament is a fair game.

On the plus side, the tournament venues look good and the game controls are fairly simple to use. You can also choose from some of the top names on the tour (though there only 8 to choose from) and two player mode is fairly enjoyable.

The minuses of this game are the character graphics which are a little blocky and there are only 4 tournaments to choose from; but the biggest minus is the computer controlled opponents in tournament mode. When you get to the semis or finals, the opponent is virtually unbeatable. I've played as Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi numerous times and have never hit an ace along with hitting serves wide and up the middle at 120+ MPH and having them consistently hit back for clean winners. Along with not being realistic, it is very frustrating.

I'd suggest waiting for Sega Sports Tennis (aka Tennis 2K2).

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