It’s very challenging, and even with the tutorials, I feel it could do with some aids, like those when taking penalties in FIFA 18.Īn arrow showing where you’re aiming your serve or a power bar indicating how much power you’ve put on your serve would be helpful to hone in on perfecting your serve. I still haven’t got the hang of serving in this game. This can be quite jarring in the middle of a rally, when you’re expecting to put your opponent away, and instead, sending them a dolly to smash back into your face.
Tennis World Tour attempts to address this shanking issue by tamely, placing your shot straight into the middle of the backcourt instead of where you’ve actually tried to place it. If the circle turns red, chances are you’re going to shank the ball behind the baseline or into the tramlines. More risky groundstrokes are performed by holding down the desired shot button, where a small circle indicates how hard you’re going to hit your shot and how effective it’s going to be. To perform a shot, all you need do is press the flat shot, slice, lob or drop shot buttons and your player will obey.
Hastily selecting Roger Federer, in my first of many exhibition matches, I proceeded to crack cross-court forehands against the hapless AI opponent. Having played tennis in the past and watched the sport for many years, one thing Tennis World Tour does well are its groundstrokes. Groundstrokes are largely there, serving on the other hand… The commentary snippets they’ve acquired from the great John McEnroe get tired, very quickly – and to make matters worse, sometimes they’re completely out of context.
And for some reason, I can’t shake the feeling that the character models are just a little off.Īudio in this game is a total disaster. Some of the animations in the game are a touch goofy, especially when backpedalling to make a groundstroke. The visuals are particularly poor, and are reminiscent of the previous console generation. For instance, Wimbledon is named the Supreme Court – easily mistaken as a part of the judiciary system.īut perhaps the biggest issues with presentation centre around graphics and audio.
It also doesn’t have any official stadia or events, instead opting for a Pro Evo-styled approach of naming. It only has around 20 or so licenced players from the tour, with big names such as Serena Williams, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray missing from the roster. My first impressions of Tennis World Tour weren’t great. So, I go into this review fully invested into the sport, and a huge fan of tennis games in general – but with a catalogue of gameplay, presentation and technical issues, I can’t help but be disappointed with Tennis World Tour. ( Although, Federer clearly is the G.O.A.T.)Īnd the 2008 Wimbledon men’s singles final, is one of the greatest matches in tennis history, hell, even sporting history. Tennis is my favourite sport and has produced many, many memorable moments in my life.Īs a matter of fact, the first time I ever picked up a tennis racquet was because of the epic five-setter played between a 19-year-old Roger Federer and ‘Pistol’ Pete Sampras, two of the greatest male players the sport has ever seen. I had high hopes for Tennis World Tour in the build-up to reviewing the game.