Hot Shots Tennis is the next in the long line of games from the Hot Shots series from Clap Hanz. With the very strong success of the series worldwide for the PS1, PS2, PSP, and soon the PS3, it was only a matter of time before the series branched out from golf into other sports. Clap Hanz continued with the proven Hot Shots theme in this new setting. How did it pay off for them? Here is a breakdown of some of the facets of Hot Shots Tennis for the PS2:

Presentation and Graphics: Hot Shots Tennis sports some of the better graphics we’ve seen on the PS2. Granted, there isn’t as much going on as in God of War or Gran Turismo, but Clap Hanz made their style work perfectly. The characters and environments looks very crisp, especially upscaled to 1080p through a PS3. There were times when I honestly forgot this is a PS2 title. There are some spots where jaggies are fairly evident, which is to be expected on the PS2. Otherwise, the game looks terrific. 4 of 5

Sound and Music: Hot Shots Tennis doesn’t stray far from it’s roots in the sound department. You get to hear different impact sounds depending how well you strike your shot, just like in Hot Shots Golf. Each character makes his or her own noises when they swing hard, and they all have their own funny little lines when they hit a great or horrible shot. The background tracks are pretty standard for the Hot Shots series as well. Clap Hanz stuck with what works, and it doesn’t feel stale at all. Along with the players, you also get a few different referees in the game (similar to multiple caddies in Hot Shots Golf). Each referee provides their own style of commenting, which can change-up the flow of the game for you. 4 of 5

Gameplay: The game controls in a similar fashion to most tennis games. The X button provides your standard topspin shot, the Circle button provides a backspin, and the Triangle button provides a lob shot. Serving is handled with the same buttons mapped to the same types of shots. There is a lot of timing involved with getting your serve right, which makes it more difficult than other more traditional tennis games. Once you figure out the timing, serving is very fun. When you hit an Ace, half of the time it will smash your opponent in the face, causing them to make a funny “Ughhh” sound.

The game’s main feature is the Career mode. In true Hot Shots fashion, you start from the bottom and battle your way up by winning matches against other opponents. In the process, you’ll unlock new power-ups, characters, costumes, and venues for play. Outside of the Career mode, there is a Practice mode as well as the standard Multiplayer mode. 4 of 5

Multiplayer: Hot Shots Tennis offers 2 to 4 player offline multiplayer (Multitap required on the PS2 for more than 2 players). No online gaming modes are offered, which is a shame. This game would be a blast online against friends. Given the game’s price point and the PS2 online network being free, I could see a huge amount of people playing this game online at any given time. Sadly, this has never been offered in a Hot Shots game, so we’re stuck with the offline multiplayer modes. If you have friends to play with offline, it’s very fun. However, this isn’t the case much of the time. 2.5 of 5

Lasting Appeal: The single player career mode provides a good deal of depth and should give up to around 20 hours of gameplay (more or less) depending on your skill level. Past that, unless you have friends locally who like to play tennis games, there’s not much Hot Shots Tennis has to offer. Sadly, this has been the downfall of all games in the Hot Shots series. 3.5 of 5

Final Word: For $29.99, this game is a steal. If you enjoy tennis games and/or Hot Shots Golf, I would strongly recommend giving this game a try. With it’s crisp graphics and gameplay and traditional Hot Shots flare, Hot Shots Tennis is one of the best PS2 titles to come out so far this year.

Overall: 4 of 5

1 = Not worth the bandwidth.

2= Demo is enough, not worth your money.

3= Game is good, depending on the price, seriously consider picking it up.

4= Worth your money. Should provide some good times for quite awhile.

5= Buy the game. Lock your door. Pick up a case of beer. This could take all night.