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SEGA SUPERSTARS TENNIS XBOX 360 REVIEW |
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Sega
Superstar Tennis is a light-hearted tennis game
that is definitely geared towards a crowd of
casual players. It’s packed with a never-ending
variety of challenges and cool mini games. On
one hand, you’ve got eight stages of diverse
competition for multiplayer revelry, each
offering a unique twist of tennis madness. One
stage such as the Puyo Pop Fever has you hitting
groups of matching colored balls, sort of like a
modern version of Tetris where you have to match
as many Puyos as possible to score combos and
clear the wall. On the other hand, you’ve got
Superstar mode, which would be considered a
single-player “career” mode, where you unlock
most of the game’s remaining features such as
new tennis courts and characters.
It’s easy to see that the real excitement of
Sega Superstar Tennis comes from the multiplayer
experience. This particular portion buckles in
more bliss than any other options being offered
in the game. Though the single-player modes have
its own appeal, Sega Superstar Tennis really
comes alive when it is played with friends. With
a lineup of nostalgic mascots and bubbly
characters, you are in for a festive show. Those
seeking a casual single-player experience will
definitely like what Superstar mode has to
offer. This portion is made up of 14 different
worlds where each location is based on a famous
Sega title. What we love about this particular
mode is that it combines tennis with gameplay
according to the franchise that the place is
based on. For example, in Sonic’s stage, you
collect rings while trying to avoid moving
projectiles, a reminiscent of what you’d be
doing on the old Sonic the Hedgehog games.
Another example is the Jet Set Radio stage, and
if you’ve ever played the game Jet Set Radio,
you know the theme is mostly about painting
graffiti. Here, you’ll pickup cans and hit the
opposing court with the right colors. Our
current favorites at the moment are Virtua Squad
and Curien Mansion. In Virtua Squad, you take
out the bad guys by locking at them first, then
hitting them straight with the tennis ball.
You’ll find that the theme here revolves around
Virtua Cop. In Curien Mansion, your objective
couldn’t be simpler: hit zombies to stop the
shambling horde from reaching you! What’s nice
about this particular challenge is you get
power-ups every now and then; they range from
sizing up your tennis ball to shooting three
balls at a time. |
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PRODUCT
OVERALL RATING: 8.0 OUT OF 10 |
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Sega
Superstar Tennis’ controls are very simple to
pick-up, however, there are some occasions when
a button to swing doesn't quite respond to your
command. This incident happens rarely and
apparently it’s a computer’s attempt to cap the
scores from your hitting all the winning shots!
This “capping” can be rather cheap, especially
when you’re playing for the championship point
where your opponent could suddenly catch up with
you to a deuce. What sets the game back is the
inability to effectively use volleys and drop
shots at the net. We could have easily won a
match if it weren’t from the “soft” rallying as
we were closing in on a sharp valley to the
opposite corner of the court. Nevertheless, the
controls are easy to pick up and the relatively
balance gameplay makes up for an exciting turn
of events on the court.
The character lineup of Sega Superstar Tennis is
fairly diverse. There are 16 in all, eight are
already available, and the other eight are
hidden. The starting eight includes Sonic, AiAi,
Nights, Ulala, Beat, Amigo, Tails, and Dr.
Eggman. You can unlock most of the remaining
characters including Shadow, Gilius, Mee Mee,
and Pudding in the Superstar mode. Each
character specialty is broken down into speed,
power, spin, control, and all around. But what
you didn’t know is that each character is
equipped with a special move that is unleashed
by pressing the LT or the RT button. But you
have to charge your “star” first before you can
begin to execute such special maneuver.
Graphically, the game looks decent overall, with
a dash of lighting effects here and there.
However, it’s good to see the characters have
received great amount of details and incredible
animation, especially when they power-up their
special move.
An example of this incredible animation can be
seen with Sonic, who lights up in Dragon Ball Z
fashion after activating his special ability.
The same goes for certain characters, and these
kind of creative visuals certainly add a lasting
appeal amongst casual gamers. It’s also nice
that Sega made the tennis ball clearly visible
during the rallies. It could have easily
disappeared into the background filled with
contrast but thankfully that is not the case
here. As for the audio, it’s cutesy and
attractive. Many of the soundtracks are tuned to
the music of classic Sega games with a little
bit of remix on the side. The sound effects are
alright; you wouldn’t really feel the impact
unless you switch your vibration on. Sega
Superstar Tennis is not your traditional tennis
game but it is definitely family-oriented and
aims for those casual gamers at heart. The
single-player experience is fun overall but in a
nostalgic way. Multiplayer is a blast and it’s
very easy to pick up on the gameplay. This is
certainly a relatively solid party game. |
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