SEGA is no rookie when it comes to tennis games; they are behind the Virtua Tennis series, which in recent years has proved enjoyable on the PS3 and even better on the PSP. With Superstar tennis however, SEGA replaces the realistic players and stadiums, with many of their all time classic characters and their respective worlds. SEGA have also proved themselves when developing mini-games, for example Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games has been selling solidly since its release. So basically, if you combine tennis gameplay, with some of SEGA’s classic characters and throw in some mini games then you have SEGA Superstar Tennis.
From the off Superstar Tennis offers a number of ‘worlds’ to play in and a few characters to play with. More of both are unlocked the further you advance along the games main ‘campaign’ mode. Each world is themed to one to one of SEGAs many franchises, they vary to the obvious, such as Sonic, to the more obscure titles, Puyo Pop Fever for example. Each world contains one or more tennis courts in the style of the game; Sonic features one of his in the style of Green Hill Zone.
The characters involved are a mixture of the memorable and the more obscure. You can have the ultimate grudge match of Sonic verses Dr Robotnik, decide once and for all, all over a game of tennis. Sidekick Tales, Ulala, NiGHTS, Beat, even Aiai from Super Monkey Ball among others are all playable from the off. As mentioned others are unlockable and tend to appear at regular intervals. Only to unlock them, they have to be beaten in a tournament, basically win three games in a row, which you will find out is not the hardest achievement.
The games played in each territory also vary, all however are tennis based. Generally they contain a mix of singles, doubles and mini games. The games of tennis themselves actually have surprisingly little depth, even for such a ‘casual’ game. Moving is controlled with either the left analogue stick or the d-pad; they also determine in what direction the ball is hit. A topspin shot is played with X and a slice with square, with simple combos by combining the two. L1 enters the ‘Superstar State’, after winning a few shots a meter builds up and when full, the player has the option to enter this super mode. It only lasts a few seconds, but while it does each character can pull off unique special shots. Not only this, but obstacles infect the opponents side of the court, making stopping this shot even harder. But that’s the jest of it, so when playing it really only comes down to your positioning on the court, once this is all figured out, the matches shouldn’t be much of a problem.
The second gameplay element are various tennis based mini-games. These vary between different worlds, however mostly they involve hitting tennis balls at stuff. In the House of the Dead themed world, tennis balls come at you from two different directions and you smack them at approaching zombies, shuffling from the other end of the court. Power-ups appear which aid in a variety of ways, for example splitting the ball into three or increasing its size. New zombies eventually appear, fat ones, and the ones that throw stuff at you. New game modes also appear, such as having to clear out a route for civilians to escape. These have some novelty value at first, and can be quite entertaining. However more often than not, they turn out to be simple variations on the same theme.
Perhaps a better aspect of the game is in its multiplayer modes. And indeed getting four people round and having a knock around is always fun. However perhaps more so towards the younger audience, who might appreciate the simple controls more. The simple tennis mechanics gives multi-player a limited life-span, even the online, which otherwise works well. The main problem with trying to play online is generally the lack of people, this makes getting into games difficult. If you don’t actually fancy playing then there is the ability to be a voyeur and simple watch other peoples games.
On the whole, Superstars graphics are generally good. Most of the backgrounds are well detailed, The Green Hill Zone court worthy of particular mention. Fitting with the games image, the colours are very bright, sharp and there is no noticeable slowdown. They are not fantastic by any stretch of the imagination, but certainly do the job they were asking for. Obviously more courts and more mainstream SEGA characters wouldn’t have gone a miss.
The games sounds are not as good as the graphics unfortunately. The games score is alright, however with most things in this game they have to be unlocked. So you could be listening to the same track over and over until others are available. In addition the voices given to each character are very limited. After only a few games with one person you will hear everything they have had to say. This happens even quicker if you end up playing against the same character, my first game was Sonic v Sonic, he said nothing new after that.
There is plenty to do in Superstars, it’s just a case of will you end up doing it. The tennis is simple and leaves no real challenge; as a result the multiplayer will also tire soon. So it mainly comes down to your love of tennis based mini-games. Additionally there are no real extras to speak off, so no extension of the game that way. There is no install onto the HDD, so it is just insert and play, load times as well are relatively short.
So a game the younger audiences may enjoy more, though anyone with a love for SEGA will get a kick from seeing their favourite franchises in action. The tennis itself is simplistic and rather easy to get to grips with, both a good and bad thing. It doesn’t have the depth which has made SEGAs other tennis titles so attractive, so it wears thin quicker than it should. Multiplayer can be a laugh, but again not for long. Unfortunately this is a wasted opportunity to make the most of SEGAs best characters, in what could have been an interesting tennis adventure.
Following news that Sega is planning on bringing 20 Dreamcast games to XBLA, and the possibility of Saturn games to follow, NowGamer went straight to Sega and asked them how they mastered the art of fan service.
A dead cheap PlayStation 3 triple-game pack will be released on June 25 to boost the coffers of GamesAid - the UK games industry charity for children and young people.
The pack includes Tomb Raider: Underworld, Sega Superstars Tennis and FUEL. They'll all be bundled up into a charitable ball that can be yours for £29.99.
I wished they would have picked 3 good games...
How about:
Uncharted 1
LittleBigPlanet GOTY Edition
Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Three games that are both good and cheap!
Due out on 25th June for £29.99, the GamesAid Triple Pack consists of Tomb Raider: Underworld, SEGA Superstars Tennis and FUEL.
Yes! Three games from three different publishers! The key to this miracle is that all the profits go to GamesAid charities.
