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I've always been a fan of tennis, though I do feel it's not on the same level as it once was in the 80s and 90s when I better appreciated the beauty of the sport. Playing it in a video game form is satisfying because I can not only play the way I want, but tennis also translates well into a sports game in HD. Grand Slam Tennis 2 gets most of that combination right, but some kinks get in the way. When you look at the aesthetics and presentation, you get all four Grand Slam tournaments, including Wimbledon, which is exclusive to this game. You also get some pretty big stars from the past and present. The likes of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal are joined by John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Pete Sampras. The same goes for the women, except the pickings are a lot slimmer - only eight players total. The mix in eras is great, but a wider selection would've been nice. There's no sign of Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Martina Hingis, Ivan Lendl and… well, many others. The short lists are glaring for today's stars too. There are eight players for the men, and just four for the women. No David Ferrer, Gael Monfils or Tomas Berdych. No Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur or Na Li. The sparse lineup on both sides is disappointing, but not altogether different from what other tennis games have done. It's just a shame that the Grand Slam courts are here without a wider range of players to play in them. Not that there are a ton of tournaments around the Grand Slams. Tourneys in Dubai, Shanghai, Geneva and Brighton, U.K. are the only other four you can play in. In other words, playing one year in the Career Mode means you'll go through all the tournaments, only to repeat the process again year after year. It's unfortunate, because having a few more tournaments available could've at least offered a chance to change things up a bit. Gameplay has two distinct methodologies, much like the rest of EA's sports games have adopted. You can opt to use the right analog stick or the face buttons for a more basic arcade-style feel. The mechanics around the stick are a little confusing at first, so without going into the Training sessions (where McEnroe yells and admonishes you for every failure), it will take too long to get the hang of it. Once you do, you start to appreciate the way it sort of flows with the game. As good as it is, it can be problematic because you have to be precise with both the type of shot you're making and its placement. That's a reasonable enough expectation for any tennis game, except that you may end up hitting a topspin stroke when you intended to slice the ball across the court. Using the face buttons all but eliminates this issue, but in that case, you have to direct the ball with the left analog stick while pressing the corresponding button. I found I ended up using a combination of the two - face buttons were good for rallies, while the stick was great for serving and volleying at the net. Serving is actually uniquely done here. You can be a little crafty by trying topspin or slice serves, but the way the bell curve works is different than other games. You can initiate a serve by flicking the stick down and then pushing forward as close as possible to the height of the curve for a powerful serve. Where you flick the stick up determines where you want the serve to land. It's an interesting mechanic and taking the time to handle it in the Training is well worth it. One thing about the Career Mode that is just downright bizarre is the way the difficulty works. You would think that creating a player and starting from the bottom would make winning tournaments a huge undertaking, but instead, you will likely breeze through the first year by winning almost everything. The reason why is because the difficulty starts at Rookie in the first year, which makes your opponents far too easy to beat. Imagine a player winning six Grand Slams in their first two years. Ridiculous, isn't it? This scenario is all too possible in Grand Slam Tennis 2, making the Career Mode almost pointless to continue on. But at least there's a saving grace with the online game and ESPN Grand Slam Classics, which lets you replay some of the most memorable matches of the last 30 years. These pit you in the middle of a match at a crucial point, like maybe down two sets to one or tied at a set apiece with a tiebreaker looming. Finish the more recent ones and you unlock some of the older ones. This, along with the online game, are much more gratifying and exciting to play through than the Career Mode. Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a fun game to play, though the holes I mentioned are unfortunate downsides to the whole package. The visuals and gameplay mechanics are mostly right on the mark, and it can be a great game to play head-to-head against a friend offline or online. Overall, it's not a great game, but there's enough potential here for really solid games in upcoming years.   Grand Slam Tennis 2 Format: Xbox 360 Publisher: EA Sports Developer: EA Canada ESRB Rating: Everyone Official Site: http://www.ea.com/grand-slam-tennis-2/1/shots-to-rule-them-all Rating: 7.5 / 10

 

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