Developer: Big Ant Studios
Publisher: Nacon
Platform: PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch
Tested on: PS4
Tennis World Tour 2 – Review
Continuing the long-standing tradition of video games that let you live out the career of an athlete in your chosen sport, Breakpoint Studio brought us Tennis World Tour in 2018. A game where you can live, breathe and sleep tennis, it’s all about becoming the best star athlete you can be and crushing all your opponents on the tennis court. Tennis World Tour 2 tries to expand on the formula, adding gameplay elements and smoothing out those things that could have been done better in the first place.
Story
In the career mode, it’s all about forging your own path. After making a character, you set off to become the best tennis player the world has ever seen, but it will be an uphill journey. You get to control everything, from base things such as your seasonal planning, which matches to play and what equipment to buy, to more advanced decisions, such as hiring a manager and choosing sponsors. More plot than this has never been required of sports games and Tennis World Tour 2 is no different. There is no real story and no options to interact with other tennis players, develop relationships, or anything like that. Your character overall has very little personality.
Graphics
One of the more noticeable improvements on the previous entry has to be the graphics of the game. Despite being released on exactly the same consoles and with barely a two-year gap between them, Tennis World Tour 2 just looks a lot better. The animations run so much smoother and do not have as many awkward transitions or hitches. The style is really realistic and the likeness of well-known tennis players from across the globe is well done. You can tell the developers have tried to add some diversity in the courts you play in, though, in essence, they’re all mostly the same with different coloring.
Sound
Music is woefully lacking in this game. Aside from some fast-paced techno for the menu and selection screens, the matches themselves will deafen you with their lack of a soundtrack. This is probably intentional since it might distract the player and once again adds to the realism. At least you won’t be in complete silence: the tennis players will grunt appropriately while playing, the crowd is eager to cheer on every impressive shot and while it’s impossible to pay attention to what they’re saying, the commentator is back to remark on everything you’re doing.
Gameplay
Tennis World Tour 2 is a sports game that can be enjoyed in a number of different ways. The most comprehensive mode would definitely be the career, which as mentioned above allows you to customize your own character and try to launch them from relative obscurity to World Championship level, through playing matches and managing their career. There’s also the option to play single matches with one of the pre-made characters based on real-life tennis players against the AI, or try multiplayer mode to play against others instead, with up to four players in double matches.
The gameplay mostly suffers under its wonky controls. Running across the court and into the right place is easy enough – especially since your character locks onto the ball when you get close to it and automatically gets in position to hit it. But for the hitting itself, which can be done in a few different strokes depending on which button you press, there seems to be a timing issue. This can often lead to frustration when you feel you were on target, but your shot falls short of the net or bounces out of bounds. Aiming where the ball has to go is also harder than it should be.
Another strange addition is the card system. A lot in Tennis World Tour 2 depends on your character’s stats. Stats can be influenced by things such as your height, exercise and equipment, and even the weather. When the court is wet or there’s a hard wind it would play a little differently than on a sunny day. But the skill card system takes this to the next level. Cards can be bought outside the matches in a pack that you open to get a random selection of cards. Take these into the match and you can deploy them at the perfect time to boost your stats or lower those of your opponent. While not the worst thing in the world, it feels like a strange addition to a tennis game that is pretty realistic in all other regards.
Conclusion
Tennis World Tour 2 is bound to leave you with an overwhelming sense of mediocrity. While not the worst tennis game on the market, it fails to impress and wears its welcome thin quickly. The career mode is mostly playing matches and clicking pop-ups and while the other modes can be fun with friends, playing against the AI is hardly rewarding.
Tennis World Tour 2 - Review,
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