#Grand slam tennis 2 pc review pro#
#Grand slam tennis 2 pc review series#

Dragging him around the court is like pushing a boulder downhill - the first few steps are a real struggle, but it's easier once you've picked up momentum. Because his groundstrokes are so powerful, EA has nerfed Nadal's movement. Yet, if you're up to the challenge, it hobbles you in other ways.

#Grand slam tennis 2 pc review pro#

There's a tendency to slow tennis games down to allow players to react - on the lower levels returns take a little longer to come back, but on Pro and Superstar difficulties the game moves at a satisfying lick.

It doesn't help that your returns seem to arrow magnetically towards the centre of the court, even when you're trying your damnedest to power a passing shot down the line.ДЄt least Grand Slam Tennis 2 attempts to match the furious pace of the real thing. CPU opponents on the higher difficulties have a knack of standing at the perfect spot to flick away cross-court volleyed winners while being able to scamper back for smashes that rarely miss. Sure, a well-placed lob can do the trick, but getting enough distance to clear opponent but not baseline is an arcane art. In Career and ESPN Grand Slam Classic modes, you can earn extra points for achieving bonus objectives - like hitting a given number of backhand winners. Witnessing the likes of Murray and Nadal rushing forward on every rally is all the evidence you need to prove early suspicions that net play is overpowered. Curiously, on the lower difficulty levels your opponents play more like the real thing, but in Pro and Superstar modes it seems everyone fancies themselves a serve-volleyer. If it often feels like you're facing reskins of the same two or three players, the on-court action all but proves it. There are exceptions, with Andy Murray proving appropriately inconsistent, thundering down double-fisted backhand returns and making far too many unforced errors. Where are Djokovic's elastic-limbed stretches, or Nadal's buggy-whip follow-through? The shrieks and grunts that accompany each shot might be authentic, but too often the animations - even when it comes to celebrations - are generic.

Indeed, that's a persistent problem - Roddick's whip-crack serve slams down with a ferocity that no other player can match, but it'd be even more satisfying had his technique been properly replicated.ДЇor a company that prides itself on verisimilitude, there are a number of glaring omissions. Sampras' loose-shouldered, almost simian posture while receiving is spot-on, yet his service action is robotic. But there's not enough care in the animations. Player likenesses are generally very good, particularly when it comes to the classic characters like McEnroe and Borg. Naturally, the visual style is more realistic here, but that serves only to highlight what's missing.Д®ach of the major tournaments has three licensed courts, though the clay at Roland Garros looks much lighter here than the real thing. The first made a bit of a splash on Wii as the first title to support the original, unwieldy MotionPlus dongle, and it played a solid game, with acceptably precise motion controls and a caricatured look that was a perfect fit for its host console. Essentially, this is a debut all over again. Grand Slam Tennis 2 has but a single predecessor, and that was a Wii game. But FIFA has been benefitting from its maker's iterative approach to sequels for years formerly raw and unfocused, it's been tweaked and refined over the years into the well-oiled machine it is now. It's a brand thing, and it's a bland thing, too - all crisp, sterile menus, ESPN swooshes bookending replays, tournament icons swooping in after every point, licensed players and stadia.

Grand Slam Tennis might as well be called FIFA Tennis. Perhaps unsurprisingly, EA Sports has gone for something in between, but it's another sports game it most resembles. On one side of the court there's the zesty arcade brio of Virtua Tennis, with the controlled, sim-like approach of Top Spin on the other.

#Grand slam tennis 2 pc review series#

Making a new tennis game must be a daunting prospect given that two series have, like Novak Djokovic turning the screw on a flagging opponent, already got every angle covered.