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SEGA Superstar Tennis is the first collaboration of
SEGA’s A-Lister’s (and a fair few of their B-Lister’s, also) on the
Current-Generation, aside form Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games.
While SEGA Superstars, the Eye-Toy release on the
PlayStation2, was received well by the press, sales of the title
were
 short-of-the-mark to say the least. SEGA Superstar Tennis
hopes to avoid that issue utilising two major changes in it’s’
journey to market. Firstly, the title is launching on Wii,
NintendoDS, PlayStation2 and, of course, Xbox360 simultaneously.
Secondly, the marketing budget for the title is far from slim, and
includes a rather generous TV campaign.
While throwing more money at the marketing side of the
release may draw more of a return, it won’t necessarily improve the
game. Thankfully, SEGA Superstar Tennis had a few tricks
up-it’s-sleeve. The bulk of the gameplay works in a very traditional
manner, opposed to that of
Top Spin 2. Pressing the A Button
once to start a Meter, and again to stop when Serving; only the X
and A Buttons are used in-game. With the direction of return hits
dictated by the Left Analogue Stick and the power by your position
to the ball when the button is pressed, smash shots can be executed
when knocking the opposing player off-balance; a small marker will
appear on the field, and moving onto it before returning will
initiate the smash shot. Drop shots can be executed by returning
with the X Button and swiftly following with tap of the A Button.
In addition to the basic swings, each character has a Power Move.
The Power Moves each player has at their disposal work incredibly
similarly to those seen in
Mario Power Tennis. The player
charges-up their Star Power, designated by a glowing star underneath
their on-screen avatar, and presses L Trigger to execute. When doing
so, a short Cut-Scene will initiate, and grant the player with a
themed ability for a short period of time. These abilities range
from dazing the receiver, to creating lightning on the Court, and at
first can be very disorientating not only when opposing them, but
when using them also.
The title features several gameplay modes; Match, Tournament, Games,
XboxLIVE!, and the main aspect of the Single-Player,
Superstars Mode. This option sees the player battling through a
series of SEGA-themed tennis events and Mini-Games, receiving a
rating upon completion. The difficulty appears to be adaptive during
Matches. Failing a Match will result in the difficulty dropping
slightly, whereas winning without conceding a point will raise it.
However, the same cannot be said for the Mini-Games, and while one
may be frustratingly difficult the next may reward you with an AAA
Rank upon your first attempt.
Online Matches are superb, and it’s both here and with the
same-screen Multi-Player that things really heat-up. Frantic tussles
in both Doubles and Singles Matches with no Lag and minimal
Frame-Rate issues; SEGA Superstar Tennis is a wonderful title
to add to your party game collection. Sitting snugly alongside the
likes of
Fuzion Frenzy 2,
Viva
Piñata: Party Animals
and Scene It?: Lights, Camera, Action!, SEGA Superstar
Tennis increases the appeal of the Xbox360’s “casual” game
line-up no-end.
Whilst quite clearly not pushing the Xbox360, SEGA Superstar
Tennis looks good, and there’s simply no denying it. The
Character Models are well drawn and pleasingly chunky, and the
Courts show just enough attention to detail to not be too
distracting. Although clearly on superior hardware, SEGA
Superstar Tennis’ closest release date rival happens to be none
other than Nintendo’s
Mario Kart Wii, and graphical
capability is the one area where it clearly outshines Nintendo’s own
star. The sound quality too is in good shape, with specific-game
themes and their remixes when necessary, and a-typical SEGA J-Pop at
other times. The characters voice-acting is all present-and-correct
as should be expected, and plenty of them retain their typically
annoying quips.
SEGA Superstar Tennis is a pleasant outing for SEGA’s
heritage, full of one-liners and in-jokes, and the cameo appearances
of titles such as After Burner and
House Of The Dead
is often heart-warmingly nostalgic. Indeed, even the Achievements
will bring a smile to those in-the-know thanks to their eloquent
obscurity. A piece of fan service and an easy title to pick-up, a
cynical journalist may suggest SEGA Superstar Tennis was a
title invented purely for western sixteen-to-twenty-four year-old
males to utilise in an attempt to encourage their girlfriends into
playing videogames. I’ll just say that it’ll nicely fill a gap until
Virtua Tennis 4 arrives.
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