Many people would put tennis into the second tier of sports in America. With no American man the dominant force anymore, people turned a blind eye to tennis. The recent Wimbledon matches and budding rivalries have made the sport something to behold as of late and 2K could not have picked a better time to release their second next gen tennis simulation. Is this game an ace or is another unforced error for a sport trying to make its name in the gaming world? It’s more of a safe drop shot.

Tennis games should always look great because there is not much happening on screen besides the actual match. This game has some amazing player visuals. Any tennis fan will be immediately be able to recognize their favorite players. The animations are amazingly fluid and on a HDTV, you can walk past and think you are watching a real match. The courts look decent, but the crowds are very bland. The in-game sounds are also very last gen. The music is halfway decent, but you can’t tell whether you are in a contested tennis match or sitting in a Quiznos. Tennis crowds are always very passionate on hinge on every volley. This game fails in that attempt.

The gameplay will take some getting used to, but overall is very good. You need to anticipate rather than react. You will have to press the appropriate shot button before the ball even bounces to return it. This takes some getting used to. Serving is very easy, which is a good thing. The game would be awful if you double faulted every time. You can hold down the trigger buttons to put a little extra onto each side, but don’t expect a lot of accuracy. You margin of error is much less and I would only do so when you have a lot of court to shoot at. You have a wide variety of shot types and this makes the game. Better than average players will see it as a chess match within a game and this is essential in a sport where technique is paramount.

There is a long career mode which starts off a little slow. If you play through the boring parts, you will be on your way to a fulfilling game mode. There are no fun mini games and outside the career mode and the standard versus, there is not much going on. There is online play, but that’s always a wild card. It could be tough to find a good match sometimes and other times no problem, which is a constant theme in any online play.

There is one of the best tennis simulations on the next gen market. True fans of the game will pick this up and enjoy it. True fans of tennis would also rather play the real thing, so it’s tough to find that person who loves the sport, but is too lazy to play it. For the wider casual fan base, give this a definite rental. The controls are tight and it’s a polished game. The crowds were disappointing and no mini games hurts, but this is an otherwise solid game and a great step for the franchise.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10

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