Grand Slam Tennis 2 Review
EA Sports take on Sega's mighty Virtua Tennis 4
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After a return to form for Sega’s Virtua Tennis 4, EA really have their work cut out for them if they want to take on the champ. In typical EA fashion, they’ve chucked a horde of player and tournament licenses and right analogue stick controls at the game in an attempt to dazzle us.
The first impression as I fired up the game was the usual disappointment with the menus that are the same clunky, basic ugly boxes we’ve seen FIFA drowning in for years. Yes, all the options you want are there, but why does every EA Sports game have to look the same?
EA’s new gimmick today is the Total Racquet Control system that allows players to use the right analogue stick for hitting the ball instead of face buttons. Don’t panic, there is a button setup too and you can even use both setups on the fly mid-match without dipping into the dozy menus.
At first, I found the analogue controls to be quite fun, with their intuitive setup involving flicking the stick in the direction I wanted the ball to travel with other shot types available by pulling back on the stick first or and using the shoulder buttons as modifiers. However, as I was making my way through the lengthy tutorials I found it very difficult to aim at some of the scoring tiles. After getting quite annoyed with this I reverted back to the soothing familiarity of the digital controls. Occasionally, I’d go back for an analogue serve as the backwards/forwards rocking motion feels pretty good if you’re not trying anything fancy.
Overall though, it’s all about the buttons. Flat, slice, and topspin shots are on the face buttons while L2 and R2 act as modifiers for lobs or drop shots respectively. Compared to VT4’s simple three button setup, the pad mapping can seem a little unwieldy, but it all gels soon enough. I’d even go as far as to say that I think EA have come out on top with one shot type; the drop shot. The narrow angles and severity of these shots surpass any other tennis game on the market and can be used consistently to crush the opposition in ways that never cease to look arrogantly cool.
The AI tends to linger around the baseline making drop shots a killer tactic. VT4 allowed you to rush the net constantly as the AI wasn’t great at punishing you for it. Grand Slam Tennis 2 will crucify you if you try and bully opponents at the net though, making this a different gameplay experience to VT4.
I did notice a few control issues during some matches that tested my patience. Sometimes players become rooted to the ground, requiring you to release the left stick and press again to get them moving. This wasn’t due them giving up on a killer shot from an opponent, just them completely spacing out for half a second. Thankfully this didn’t happen during any really important points but it’s annoying nonetheless. I tried with two controllers just to be sure it wasn’t a technical fault on my end, and then I noticed it happening to the AI too.
Commentary is provided by former players Pat Cash and John McEnroe. Not a bad line-up by any means, but the dialogue repeats very early on, even over the course of brief two set matches. More disturbing are some of the actual lines themselves. I wouldn’t go as far as to call the commentary during the women’s matches as sexist, but it’s certainly insultingly condescending. Commentary should have been a default victory over VT4 -as Sega’s game has none- but this is a poor effort.
Career mode insists upon using a created player so you climb the ranks from pro newbie to superstar. Matches and tournaments earn experince points and there are chances to earn bonuses by ticking off challenges like scoring five topspin shots or avoiding a break of serve.
The training mode to boost your stats during the career is painfully dull as it follows the basic target training of the tutorial. There’s just a complete lack of imagination. And John McEnroe’s ‘encouragement’ will make you want to wrap a racquet round his face.
All of this would have been more forgivable if Virtua Tennis 4 hadn’t revamped its career mode into an interesting board game concept that made you carefully plan ahead for training and matches on each turn. This is just dull in comparison.
Online multiplayer is pleasingly smooth and unlike many other EA Sports titles, it doesn’t require an online pass, so feel free to pick this one up pre-owned or rent it. Regular or created players can be used which means you’ll come up against some utter powerhouses, but even if you get a thrashing, you can restore some dignity with a few sly points.