Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a sport game that is published by EA Sports and developed by EA Canada. It is available for the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Grand Slam Tennis 2 offers hours and hours of gameplay, with all 4 major grand slam tennis tournaments being implemented into the game from the likes of the US open, French open, Australian open and Wimbledon. You are also treated to a career mode that lasts 10 years in game. The other playing modes offer even more hours of gameplay to this game with ESPN Classic mode and an online mode which can played over Xbox Live or PlayStation Network.
During the career mode there are numerous mini challenges to complete such as ‘Get 3 Aces’ or ‘Get 2 Lob Winners’. The career mode allows you to customise and create your own character to take all the way to tennis success, as an added bonus you can use Gameface Tools (This is an Online feature) to create a character that looks like you. The career mode also gives you an option to set the length of each game you play, consisting of short to long, containing one set to 5 sets, with a medium setting that provides a 3 set game.
The games main feature that stands it out from all the other tennis games like TopSpin or Virtual Tennis is the new controller system that EA has rolled out for this game, called Total Racket Control. This control system allows you to play the game without the use of buttons. Pushing forward delivers flat shoots, whilst flicking forward give a top spin shoot, and pulling back provides a slice shot. This system takes a fair while to get used if you are used to mashing buttons to play. Never fear though, all these shots are mapped on the A, B, X &Y buttons, whilst the left analogue still provides the character movement like normal.
The graphic of the game are fantastically realistic, with 25 licensed characters to choose from and play against, these include the likes of Andy Murray and Venus Williams, but also includes classic players Boris Beaker and Pat Cash amongst others. These characters are designed to contain almost every detail of your player and you opponent’s character. EA’s new P.R.O. AI provides realistic movement of the characters that mimic the movement of the tennis players in real life. This is reflected in the players play styles as well. If you try and use a different play style that for example Andy Murray does not use then your character will be all over the place and will not work as well as his standard play style (Is this a good thing yes in some ways no in other ways)
This realism adds to the gameplay and adds a sense of real tension in the game, and the rhythm of the game that would be seen in a real tennis match. Graphical let-downs are the backdrops (Backgrounds) of the gameplay area. Whilst the main focus of the game is the characters you play as and against, the rest of the area is let down with poorly textured crowd areas, and non-playing characters remain static throughout the game causing an almost creepy feeling from them, especially the ball boys who remain In a in game position throughout the entire game. These characters are also poorly textured, causing a blot on the otherwise near perfect graphics.
Overall this game is enjoyable, and presented to a high standard. The new controls system, whilst taking a bit to learn (with the help of tutorial sessions) makes the game very enjoyable to play and handle. The addition of plenty of ESPN licensing would make you believe you are almost at the game, and the near seamless perfect controls and movement’s from the characters really makes this a top notch game. Overall I score this a well-deserved.
Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.
