Developer: Big Ant Studios
Publisher: NACON
Platform: Switch, PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Tested on: PC
Tiebreak: Official game of the ATP and WTA – Review
Back in the day, EA Sports ruled the roost when it came to licensed sports simulator games, but in recent years Nacon has taken over the throne for anything that isn’t soccer, it seems. Whether it’s cycling, rally, or handball, Nacon has got you covered. Their latest release is Tiebreak: Official game of the ATP and WTA. Developed by Big Ant Studios, Tiebreak aims to be the definitive tennis simulator. We’re not tennis experts ourselves, but when we were given the chance to take a look at the game, we gave it our best shot. Was it a game, set, and match?
Story
The closest thing to a story that Tiebreak has to offer can be found in its so-called Djokovic Slam Challenge mode. Named after the ATP’s highest-ranking player of all time, Novak Djokovic, this mode lets you relive 25 iconic moments from his illustrious career. It starts with the Australian Open in 2008 and goes all the way up to this year’s Olympic Games in Paris. While there isn’t a real narrative thread here per se, it does serve as a trip down memory lane for anyone who has been following the ATP for a long time. It also doubles as a way to unlock some of the game’s most iconic players, who can be used in the Career or Tournament modes.
Graphics
We have mixed feelings about Tiebreak’s visuals, but a good chunk of our remarks may be the result of playing the game on unoptimized hardware. If we compare our own screenshots to footage from the PS5 or high-end PCs, things look drastically different. Then again, Tiebreak is also available on the Switch and we can only imagine that that version looks significantly worse. That said, Tiebreak does nail the look and feel of a real-life tennis match. Camera angles match those of the sort of footage you’d see on a sports channel, with on-screen info and screen transitions completing the look. Each player was individually animated too, to match their real-life counterparts’ movements and strategies. At a glance or from a distance it’s very convincing, although machines with lower-end specs sacrifice detail to maintain performance. Things fare slightly differently when the camera zooms in on the in-game character models, as these look uncanny. Visual performance is good, with no lag or frame rate issues.
Sound
Sticking to the sports broadcast look and feel, Tiebreak’s audio is sparse but realistic. Music is absent, but the grunts and groans of players, the enthusiastic applause from the crowds, and the narration make for a convincing soundscape. It’s definitely a case of less is more.
Gameplay
Tennis games have been around since the dawn of video games. Sure, Pong is technically a ping pong game, but it’s close enough that we can consider it the father of all tennis titles. We’ve come a long way since then, and Tiebreak aims to be the most realistic and fleshed-out tennis simulator yet. There are a variety of modes here, ranging from the aforementioned Djokovic Slam Challenge mode to career mode, tournament mode, and of course, online multiplayer. The meat of Tiebreak can be found within its career mode, where you can either step into the tennis shoes of famous players from around the world, or you can craft your own new tennis legend. The stats of the real-life players are based on their exploits on the courts, with the developers supposedly combining real-world data to carefully reproduce each player’s signature techniques and strategies with AI to deliver the most accurate digital opponents yet. Meanwhile, creating your own player gives you a bit of customization. It’s a nice touch, although the lack of a progression system makes it so that there isn’t a real sense of reward or progress when playing through career mode. In the end, your player will be just as skilled as he was at the beginning. It’s baffling, because you do “level up” as you win matches, but this does not affect gameplay. Being a “level 3” player only seems to count for bragging rights instead.
The biggest strength of Tiebreak is its wealth of content, but of course, the core experience needs to be just right in order to take advantage of everything there is in the game. Unfortunately, said core experience does not live up to expectations. Don’t get us wrong: it’s not a bad game as far as tennis simulation goes, but there are some things the game just doesn’t do very well. The terrain you play on does not affect anything whereas in real life, playing indoors vs. outdoors would matter. For all the fanfare that was made about AI opponents that would mimic strategies from their real-life counterparts, there didn’t seem to be a whole lot of difference between them. Perhaps these differences are too subtle for an outsider like us to notice. What we did notice was that ball physics seemed ever so slightly off. It doesn’t help that unlike in most other tennis games, you aren’t given a whole lot of information. There is no in-game gauge here to help you figure out the strength and speed with which you hit. While we appreciate the idea of getting rid of on-screen clutter for realism, this is still a game, and not a real-life tennis match. Pressing a button is not the same as swinging your arm, where you can actually feel the physics.
It’s not that you’re entirely left to your own devices: Tiebreak’s tutorial mode is excellent and covers pretty much everything you need to know. And if you do happen to make it through the entire smorgasbord of tennis matches and tournaments that the game has to offer, you can even create your own tournament and share it with the Tiebreak community. In this regard, Tiebreak gets a lot right. We’re just hoping that there are going to be some significant changes down the line that make the core experience more enjoyable, even if it means sacrificing realism. At an RRP of €49.99, Nacon and Big Ant Studios owe players that much.
Conclusion
It seems that somewhere in the process of developing Tiebreak, Big Ant Studios lost sight of the fundamentals of their tennis simulator. Yes, it looks and sounds the part. Yes, all your favorite tennis players are here, and there are tons of matches to play and modes to discover. The Djokovic Slam Challenge is the closest Tiebreak gets to being an interesting and fun tennis simulator, although that mode doesn’t offer enough to carry the entirety of the game on its shoulders. We hope that with a few updates down the line, Tiebreak can redeem itself as the definitive tennis simulator that it aims to be. Right now, however, the ball lands on the wrong side of the mediocrity line. Tiebreak is not a bad game all things considered, but there is enough wrong with its fundamentals to not outright recommend it either.
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