Tennis World Tour – Review

Name: Tennis World Tour
Developer: Breakpoint Studios
Publisher: Bigben Interactive
Released: 01.06.2018
Platforms: PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch
Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
Acquired: A copy of this game was provided from publisher for review purpose

Tennis World Tour, a spiritual sequel to Top Spin, has finally hit stores. I love tennis, although I have fallen a bit off the sport after Agassi and Mauresmo quit, and I have countless hours in Top Spin, Virtua Tennis, etc. Hearing that Tennis World Tour would take up the legacy of the Top Spin-series got my heart pumping, but did it live up to my expectations?

Story

The career mode in Tennis World Tour is relatively good. You can’t participate in every single tournament, as this will tear your body’s fitness down to a minimum, and then you might be put on the sideline for several months. And of course that will ruin your development as well.

One thing I wish the developers had added to the game is the possibility to smalltalk with the other players (like Virtua Tennis 3 did), although it’s unimportant, it would give me a closer connection to the game, and let me feel like my character actually belonged in the tennis-circus.
6/10

Graphics

The graphics are the game’s best feature, although it’s far from approaching the limit of what the PS4. It’s good looking and more importantly it runs very smooth.

The fundamental issue with the game’s graphics is the lack of customizable faces for your character. I kept meeting clones of myself during my career, and it feel very old school when you consider how far other games has gotten with their customizability. Another thing I noticed is the fact that the net stayed hard even when you hit it.
7/10

Gameplay

I’m sorry to say this, but the gameplay in Tennis World Tour is one of the most considerable disappointments I’ve experienced this year. I experienced quite a few bugs, only one of the game breaking, though. Most importantly though the game is really boring. I found myself struggling to get through a tournament without having to take a break.

Another problem I had with the gameplay was the fact that it was almost important to understand where my shots would end up. Even though I was aiming to the left of the field, almost half the times the ball ended up to my right. To begin with I thought it was because my character was an amateur, but it didn’t get any better even though my skills did.

Lastly, I dearly missed the opportunity to play doubles tennis. The developers have said it will be available as a free download at a later point. However, it merely adds to the feeling that the game isn’t finished in development yet.
4/10

Controls

Regrettably, the controls are mediocre at best. It feels unresponsive, and some of the button pushes are completely ignored by my character. In addition my player kept running after I had let go of the analog stick.

The system in itself though is intuitive, with each button having its own purpose, such as slice shot, lob shot or powershot. The serving too is quite intuitive. However steering the shots, I’ve yet to get the hang of. Lastly, I want to mention how slow the characters are to react to the controller inputs, I’d say it takes somewhere in the likes of a second from me push a button until my player reacted.
4/10

Replay Value

Personally I didn’t find the replayability very high, the career mode takes a lot of time, and isn’t good enough to retain my interest for more playthroughs. The same undoubtedly goes for the tournaments outside of the career too. I didn’t feel I got anything from playing something else than the career, especially since the game hasn’t gotten a doubles tennis mode yet.
5/10

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• Story 6
  6/10
• Graphics 7
  7/10
• Gameplay 4
  4/10
• Controls 4
  4/10
• Replay Value 5
  5/10

Verdict

The base of the game is there, but it has the feeling of still being in beta. Tennis World Tour can develop into something great, but it lacks way too much content at this point. It also needs bug fixing and a more customizable player-character. The controls too require a lot of work, as this was the major issue with the game. All in all though, I can’t really say that this game lives up to its expectations, but hopefully it is worth a try in a few months.

Overall

5.2/10

5.2/10

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Pros

• Cool career mode
• Has its own training mode, so you can discover various techniques

Cons

• Bad controls
• Few options when creating a character
• Very few licensed players