You Know What? Tennis Games Still Suck

Tennis might not be to everyone’s tastes, but it is to mine. I like all that it entails: I like the class, I like the tension, I like the rivalries and above all else, I like Roger Federer. The man oozes style on court and he’s as sure footed as a ballet dancer to boot. Above all else, he’s a damn fine player. So, in short, I’m a tennis fan. And given that I endorse videogaming to an unhealthy degree, you’d think that I’d collect tennis games like a rabid taxidermist.

Instead, I approach them with caution. I know the sport so well that any inaccuracies and any wonky player animations cause me a great degree of pain. I bought Virtua Tennis 3 when it first came out and quickly plonked it into my Xbox 360, but after being harshly assaulted by an arcade mishmash of manic music and overly bright colors my caution was justified. To their credit, Sega got a few things right. The game looked nice and it played a frenetic brand of tennis, but it wasn’t a brand that was particularly suited to a connoisseur of the sport. Hitting the ball and seeing an arcade splash of white “impact dust” (for lack of a better word) hardly helped matters, while the music in the background had to be quickly and unceremoniously muted.

My outlook on the tennis/videogame horizon was further darkened when I downloaded the Top Spin 3 demo some days back. Yes, it’s only a demo, but I’d like to think that a company would ensure their demo is fairly representative of the full thing. What I got was a far deeper, more sim-like experience, but one that was no more impressive. While Top Spin 3 certainly tries to cater for the hardcore tennis fan it fails miserably in one key area: player animations. Animations are my pet peeve. If Federer doesn’t look right when he’s stroking his forehand gracefully over the net, then I don’t want to play it. I don’t want to be constantly reminded that I’m only playing a videogame and I most certainly don’t want to take two hours to learn the bare basics. A game should be easy to play but difficult to master. Top Spin 3 most certainly isn’t.

While I appreciate the obvious effort that went in to its construction I’m left with the feeling that tennis games today are still glorified ping pong affairs, because while Top Spin 3 keeps it in-depth, it fails to make the visual leap forward and while Virtua Tennis 3 looks graphically appealing, it’s far too arcadey. Yes, Top Spin 3 was just a demo, but I’ve seen trailers online and it appears they simply haven’t got it right. And that baffles me. How hard is it to motion-capture something and make it look right? Federer’s forehand doesn’t look like the sweeping stroke I’m used to. It looks like a hammy poke that’s reserved for the club players.

I’m in the enviable position of being able to dole out criticism without having to do anything about it. I don’t know how to develop a better tennis game, but I don’t think anyone else does either. I do, however, know what the current crop is missing. I’d love to see a game that balances between the fun, slip-in and slip-out play of Virtua Tennis 3 and the deeper aspects of Top Spin 3. I want there to be an arcade mode and simulation mode and I want Roger Federer’s forehand to look like Roger Federer’s forehand. Is that too much to ask?

I played a game some years back called Dream Match Tennis. Despite its small budget and non-commercial status it was insanely addictive. If a small team can do so much with so little, surely the bigger companies can take greater strides towards tennis/videogame nirvana? Until that day comes, I’m sticking to the real thing.

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