Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip

by Sony

Product Features

• Play with up to three other people in four-player doubles matches in multiplayer mode
• Enjoy tennis in true Hot Shots style
• Meet a loveable and wacky cast of characters
• Compete on multiple courts in a variety of spectacular locations
• Perform well to unlock items

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B002CYW514
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 4.2 x 0.6 inches ; 3.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: June 29, 2010
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,518 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #26 in Video Games > Sony PSP > Sports
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The ear-deafening cheers from the crowd have died down, as you bounce the ball in preparation of your serve for championship point. You toss the ball into the air and strike it with the sweet spot of the racket. The ball rockets toward the other side, barely missing the top of the net. It strikes the court just inside the line and bounces toward the end line. Your opponent reacts too slowly, and just misses the ball for an ace. The crowd erupts as you fall to your knees, toss your racket aside and savor the victory of your first major tournament.

Play with up to three other people! View larger.

Enjoy tennis in true Hot Shots style! View larger.

Compete on multiple courts. View larger.

Meet a loveable and wacky cast of characters. View larger.

Synopsis Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip applies the proven Hot Shots formula to the game of tennis. Choose from a loveable cast of wacky characters as you play tennis on a variety of courts in multiple locations. The easy pick-up-and-play controls provide an addictive gameplay experience on the PSP. Whether you compete alone or play with up to four friends in doubles matches in multiplayer mode, the entertaining Hot Shots style keeps serving up the fun. Features: Play with up to three other people in four-player doubles matches in multiplayer mode Enjoy tennis in true Hot Shots style Meet a loveable and wacky cast of characters Compete on multiple courts in a variety of spectacular locations Perform well to unlock items

Product Description

Take the proven Hot Shots formula of realistic game physics and loveable animated characters and apply it to tennis. What you get is an addictive colorful "pick-up and play" experience especially built for the PSP! With multiple characters and courts to choose from, unlockable items to collect, and multiplayer action, Hot Shots Tennis is destined to be a favorite for consumers of all ages. It's Tennis . . . Hot Shots Style!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome, addictive title!, July 11, 2010

By 

IT SuperFreak (San Diego, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (Video Game)

I've been a huge fan of the Hot Shots Golf franchise on PS1, PS2, PS3, and PSP systems. Having played every single HSG game, I'm very familiar with the theme and the unlock structure of these games. Hot Shots Tennis follows a very similar structure since they are created by the same producer (Clap Hanz). There is one big exception -- Story mode. The single-player campaign mode is structured around a story of a world-travelling tennis star (you) visiting various locales and meeting different players. The story itself is comical and generally trivial, but it does provide a fresh presentation that enhances the overall feel of the game. Through the Story mode, you encounter opportunities to play both singles and doubles matches against AI players presented mostly at random, which I think is great. There is a slight 'sandbox' feel to this setup as well; within each location, you can roam/explore the map, find hidden bonuses, and choose which AI character to play a match against. At times you are given side quests that are not related to tennis at all, but provides interesting diversions from the 'tennis' aspect of the game.

As for the gameplay itself, the physics of striking a tennis ball is handled extremely well for both singles and doubles matches. In comparison to Virtual Tennis: World Tour on the PSP (which I've played and completed years ago), there is a much higher variety of possible outcomes when you try to hit the ball. The same goes for the AI as well. The controls are handled well, and the AI is not as 'cheap' as VT:WT, meaning the AI player does not consistently return 90% of your shots, is not able to cover the entire court with ease, and does not smash every single lob you hit as VT:WT seemed to do. One minor thing that is inferior to VT:WT is that there are NO mini-games to build your skills; all skills must be earned by playing matches with the AI, which is not really a big deal I don't think. One comment about the partner AI in doubles match - the AI is superb, moving around the court and covering open areas as you might expect in a real match. I was quite impressed that the AI seemed to know exactly when to move to the net or return to the baseline in different situations.

After trying the demo, I was not sure what to expect but I took a chance, and I am thoroughly impressed by this game now after playing about 5 hours total. One note about the game format -- the full game can be downloaded from PS store for the same price ($19.99) as the UMD version, but it requires 1.1GB of space in your memory stick. I opted for the disc version since I did not want to purchase another MS just for this game. Also, I was pleasantly surprised that the UMD includes an option to install a ~450MB file to memory stick that reduces disc reads significantly as compared to many other PSP UMD games I've played; as a result, the load times are very short.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this game to any fan of tennis or even Hot Shots Golf. If you have doubts, download the demo from the PlayStation store first. You will be hard-pressed to find another game as entertaining as this on the PSP!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best game on PSP, July 15, 2010

By 

S. Hu "beachboy" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (Video Game)

This is one of the few games that I bought right away after trying the demo. The gameplay is awesome, it's really easy to get a grip of the controls. The graphics is the best part, you'll have so many different characters and tennis courts to unlock. You can buy accessories as you earn points after winning matches. The game has multiple modes you can play in. And if your friends have the same game, you can play together thru ad hoc up to 4 people. After playing a bunch of rated Teen or Mature games, it's really fun to enjoy this relaxing game.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cheap portable fun, March 30, 2011

By 

Dan - See all my reviews

= Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip (Video Game)

First things first, I've never bothered (or wasted my time tbh) to write a review on Amazon for anything prior to this. With that aside, let me start by saying that I love pretty much all things tennis related. I'm a pretty serious follower, I've played for over half my life, and these things have translated into me enjoying quite a few tennis video games over the years as well.



Now on the review -

If you aren't familiar with the Hot Shots franchise (which I wasn't very muchso with at the time I bought this either), then let me give you a little idea of what to expect. The game has a cartoony feel to it, the players, courts, and even the ball look fairly childish. But don't let these facts dissuade you, underneath the silly outer shell is something much more juicy.

Another thing to note about the Hot Shots aspects of this game is that there is customization involved. Almost RPG type game aspects you could say. You level up each player's individual Loyalty (which is basically based on how much you use a player), and based on that you unlock different things, like additional item slots, extra racquets, new shot types, etc. The item customization is very deep, you can easily lose hours to trying to find better stat combinations.

Now, all the bells and whistles aside, the game as a tennis game plays quite well. I've played quite a few tennis games over the years, heres a semi short list of noteworthy games for me-

Final Match Tennis(J) - 1991 (PCE)- FMT
Super Tennis - 1991 (SNES) - ST
Mario Tennis - 2000 (N64) - MT
Top Spin 2 - 2006 (XBOX360) - TS2
Grand Slam Tennis - 2009 (Wii) - GST
Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip - 2010 (PSP)- HST:GAG

Now, with all honesty I can't say HST:GAG is the best tennis game I've ever played, but its definitely one of the best of this generation. For me, its without a doubt the best portable tennis game, and one of the best of the last 10 years.



The things I think about when I figure out how good a tennis game really is are a combination of the following-

realism (this includes a couple key aspects for me, which are player/court roster, and ball/court physics)
difficulty (this is restricted to just playing a game's AI, but still can be pretty important)
fun factor (how much a game keeps your interest, how much re-playability it has)

Now, based on this short (but key, for me determining whether I think the game is good or not) list, I'll give you an idea as to why I've probably put a few hundred hours of my time into playing this great game.

Firstly, the realism aspects may seem unimportant at first (but if you've played Grand Slam Tennis on Wii you'll kind of understand what I'm talking about here), but the more you really think about it, the more important it can become. Using GST as an example, if you've ever played it or seen youtube videos of it you'll know what I'm talking about when I say its not very realistic. The players and the ball take up much more space than a real player or ball take up on a tennis court, this results in highly unrealistic play such as people being able to camp the service line and being unlobbable/passable. That to me is not fun, playing a game that doesn't "feel" like I'm playing tennis.

HST:GAG on the other hand, does this much better, the players and ball are proportioned much more realistically in relation to the size of the court. The players in this game are all fictional, but if you look close enough, you can see some similarities between a few of them and current pro tennis players.


The next thing, difficulty, is probably the most lacking of the three for me in this game. Once you get the game down, even the hardest AI level doesn't pose much of a consistent challenge. This can become a problem if you don't have access to Ad-Hoc (like myself) which is the only way (unfortunately) of playing this game in multiplayer mode. If you desire a truly challenging AI game of tennis I suggest checking out FMT which is a Japanese game that is 20 years old. The AI in FMT is harder than 90% of the people I've played against online in tennis games over the years.


Finally, the fun factor. Like I said, though, despite the AI challenge not being as high as it could be, it keeps me coming back. I've probably logged 500+ hrs into this game and don't see a drop in enjoyment any time soon. Its a great PORTABLE source of tennis fun. And for 20USD or less, its hard to go wrong.


Now, the ending of any review is the scoring. HST:GAG is a tennis game so my scoring is based solely on that fact. I don't think its fair say, to compare this game to Final Fantasy 7, or Super Mario 64, or Metal Gear Solid. So my score is based on how this game compares to other TENNIS games and thats all. Overall, this game is my 2nd favorite tennis game (of ALL time!) so based on that I'd give it a 91/100.

If you enjoy tennis games, or are looking to try one out for the first time, I HIGHLY suggest this game, you won't be dissapointed!