Tennis 2K2 Review

Tennis 2K2 honors the look and feel of the original Virtua Tennis, but the innovations made may not be enough to warrant a purchase for those veteran Virtua Tennis players out there.

If you look at any genre of sports video games, there is always a wealth of options. From F1 racing to football, there's something for the simulation junkies, those looking for arcade-style gameplay, and everyone in between. Tennis is one of the few sports for which this does not ring true, where the only game in town for a while has been Hitmaker's tennis game, Virtua Tennis. It's been two years since Virtua Tennis originally came to the Dreamcast, and now Hitmaker has blessed the Dreamcast with a sequel in the form of Tennis 2K2. While the game offers improved graphics, an expanded roster of players, and tightened gameplay, the changes made may not be enough to seduce fans of the original Virtua Tennis.

The biggest change that has been made to the Tennis formula in 2K2 is the addition of a full roster of professional female tennis players, including Monica Seles and Venus and Serena Williams. This addition is a bit of a conundrum, as it doubles the number of selectable players right off the bat, but the inability to play cross-gender matches limits the impact that this change might have had on the game. Though the vast difference between the speed and strength balance of male and female players explains this decision, it still would have been nice to be given the option.

The gameplay modes found in Virtua Tennis return in Tennis 2K2 virtually unscathed. The three primary modes remain as tournament, exhibition, and world tour. In the tournament mode, you play against a series of tennis pros, with the goal of rising to the top of the ranks. The exhibition mode lets you choose an opponent and the venue for a single two-out-of-three match. The world tour mode is the deepest of the three and is the only one that has received any significant changes. Instead of limiting your choice of players to the roster of tennis pros, the world tour mode features a simple create-a-player function, giving you the ability to name and customize the physical appearance of your own player. Like in Virtua Tennis, you build up your player's stats by playing a variety of court-based minigames, which improve the abilities of your player and serve as an excellent primer for those brand-new to the game. Once you and your fictional tennis pro have gotten the hang of things, you can compete in actual tournaments. Winning these matches will net you a cash prize, which can be used to buy better equipment and to hire tennis pros to play with you in doubles matches.

The game's AI in this year's Tennis is a lot sharper than the AI in Virtua Tennis, and opponents will begin preying on your weaknesses much sooner than before, though this doesn't affect the learning curve dramatically. The control feels tighter, handling even more like an arcade game than the arcade-born Virtua Tennis. Players are less prone to having to dive to make a shot, and their turnaround time from moving in one direction to another is a lot shorter. And unlike in Virtua Tennis, players are more adept at dealing with balls that go behind them and can make desperate over-the-shoulder shots to keep the game going. These changes definitely mark an improvement for the series, though it may take some time for die-hard Virtua Tennis fans to adjust to the slightly faster game mechanics.

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Tennis 2K2

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