Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament

by EA

Product Features

• game created by Namco
• Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 contains 16 real top tennis players. The players included in the game are: ATP Players * United States Andy Roddick - Power Serves * Spain Juan Carlos Ferrero - Strong Forehand * United Kingdom Tim Henman - Serve And Volley * Australia Lleyton Hewitt - Baseliner * United States James Blake - Hard Hitter * Russia Marat Safin - Hard Hitter * Germany Tommy Haas - All Around * France Richard Gasquet - All Around

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00005YVU3
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: March 26, 2002
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,144 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament is a fully licensed title that features eight top-ranked tennis professionals. You can take the court as Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Patrick Rafter, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, or Anna Kournikova. There are also four original players. You can compete in four tournaments, including Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, and the Australian Open. Other features include realistic motion-captured animation, accurately modeled and textured players, and authentic sounds. Five game modes include arcade, pro tournament, challenge mode for beginners, exhibition mode, and time attack mode. The game supports up to four players, with a multitap for doubles competition. There is also a bonus Trophy Room where you can win prizes based on your winnings.

Amazon.co.uk

Having already proven themselves in the PS One tennis-game arena, Namco's developers have transferred their skills to their new PS2 release, Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament. And while they've dispensed with the cartoonish look of their earlier efforts, they have retained the crucial playability and fun factors.

The PS2 gives the developers more scope, and they've clearly taken advantage of it. The graphics, front end, and audio are all a bit smarter, while the choice of players and tournaments has been broadened. Indeed, the expanded single-player game--complete with bonus challenges, such as point targets for a certain match--is a real delight to play. Naturally, in multiplayer, things get even more fun, and it's well worth buying a Multitap to enjoy the game to maximum effect with four players.

The one thing that slightly holds the game back is the quality of the competition. The game lacks some of the pace and energy of Sega's excellent Virtua Tennis 2, so while Smash Court Tennis is more than enough fun, it's not quite the number one seed.

Yet, replete with official tournaments and players, Smash Court Tennis is an easy game to get into, and one that offers a significant challenge. Its predominantly arcade-style approach ensures that it can be enjoyed by fans of the sport and more casual players alike. And it's worth buying simply because it's one of the most compelling multiplayer games to date for the PS2. --Simon Brew

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Tennis Game on the PS2 (For Now), March 27, 2002

By 

Chas Oliver (Roswell, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament (Video Game)

First things first. This game has already been released. The release date was 3/21/02. Look for it at EB Gameworld or Best Buy.

Smash Court is a very good game. I't currently the best tennis game availalbe for the PS2.

Pros:
4 different game options
players are very realistic. Timing plays a big part in the strength of shots
Great training modes
3 types of shots lob, spin, topspin
Play is fast and fun with fast load times.
You can compete against top professionals in the 4 most prestigious tournaments. Along the way you win prize money that allows you to buy all sorts of goodies.
Anna Kounikova!

Cons:
The graphics could be a little better
Only 4 courts to play on (But you still get grass, clay, and regular courts)
If it matters there are only 8 total players to pick from

Bottom Line:
If you have to have a Tennis game immediately Go buy Smash Court right now. It's a great game with a ton of replay value.

BUT!!
If you can wait. Sega is releasing Tennis 2K2 for the PS2 in late spring or early summer. To be honest 2K2 will be better. Better Graphics, more options, deeper game play. If you can wait I would advise it. Sega is the leader in Tennis.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament into a brick wall., June 14, 2002

By 

Emeril (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament (Video Game)

As a diehard tennis fan and player I've been waiting for a good tennis video game to emerge. Unfortunately this is not it. Graphics and audio are good. Player characteristics are neat. Venues are very good. But just try beating Andre Agassi in the Semi Finals or even Martina Hingis for that matter. The action bears little resemblence to real tennis. The computer player pops winners down the line or cross court before you can blink. It's virtually impossible to maintain a rally of any kind. And believe me I've tried. Not only is the computer player on speed but the human player's character is conversely on sleeping pills. They should rename this game Frustration Court Tennis Pro Tournament.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Could be much better, March 30, 2002

By 

John (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament (Video Game)

Smash Court is a decent game, but it could stand some improvement. The graphics are great and smooth, so no real complaints there. The controls are also pretty good, the player is pretty responsive to the controller. The game does have faults though. First, there are only 8 players, 4 male and 4 female. So, when you play a tournament, you always play the same people in the last 3 rounds (first rounds are fictional players). Would have been nice if they had a few more to add some variety. Then, there are only 4 tournaments, and that's it. It's not like a circuit where you can go up and down in rankings and play other games in between. It's the four tournaments and that's it. Plus, it's not like a regular match where you have to win best of 3 or 5 sets, you only play until you win a certain amout of games. What is cool is for winning tournament games and completing in game challenges, you get points and unlock prizes, such as photos, new outfits, and new camera angles (including first person point of view, which is freaky). The computer player in tournament mode is hard, very hard. It isn't unbeatable though, you just have to work at it for quite sometime. The computer player isn't superhuman, like in WTA Tennis, it's just very smart and catches on to your techniques, so you have to change your strategies many times during a match and you have to look for the players weaknesses. What's aggrevating is the service return. When the computer returns your serve, don't plan on getting it most of the time. It's just blown right past you. That gets annoying after a while. This game has great potentinal, but it falls a bit short. If they gave you more players, a better tour set up with more tournaments and a circuit, gave you full matches, and toned down the AI a notch, the game would have been great.