A few weeks ago, we gave you a look at the first screenshots of the inaugural edition of EA Sports’ new tennis franchise, Grand Slam Tennis. In my post, I said that I found the images “impressive” because EA is being smart with the game’s look -- since realistic graphics don’t really make sense (or work) on the Wii, Grand Slam Tennis features stylized visuals. That puts the focus on the gameplay instead of the graphics, and that’s never a bad thing.
Now we’ve got two minutes of video from the game, and I remain impressed -- the game looks very fluid, the variety in shots is apparent (slices, drop shots, etc.), and I love how the HUD disappears during volleys. It’s also cool to be able to immediately pick out who’s who just from their faces and clothing; the video features Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, John McEnroe, and others. I’m now even more excited to see how Grand Slam Tennis turns out -- so far, all signs point to a very realistic simulation of the sport.
Samit Sarkar is a founding Destructoid editor and go-to Sports guy. Samit was the son of the Duke of Knees, rescued from a burning village in the afghan desert by a golden condor. He is an ace Backgammon player and lost both legs in a whaling tour. He lives for free in a nursery in Scotland where he teaches monks how to capture butterflies without hurting them.
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YES!!! Serena/Sharapova porno moaning. I think EA is smart going with this style of visuals. And I see this could be a pretty big hit, so long as they market it properly...the hitting seemed weird on a few of those though.
That looks excellent, pretty much how I would imagine an update of Super Tennis would look.
If they can nail the controls then I'm sold on day one, I know that this is going to use the MotionPlus doohickey but will there be an option for standard controls? Is the character movement controlled by the player or is it similar to Wii Sports where the computer moved your character.
Also is Jelena Jankovic in it? I love Jelena Jankovic.
@comradetrotskii: Oh yeah, it'll definitely work with standard controls -- it has to. MotionPlus is an add-on, and EA can't force gamers to buy it just to play their game, especially because the damn thing may not even be out by the time the game is released (mid-June). And no, it's not like Wii Sports; this is a real tennis game. Nunchuk controls movement; Wiimote controls racket. Not sure about Jankovic, though -- they haven't released the full roster.
By standard controls I actually meant the classic or Gamecube controller, I should have made that clearer. That shouldn't really matter though if we are getting the nunchuck for character movement and remote for shot selection.
I'm pretty much sold on this already and have set my expectations to this being the best tennis game ever, you should definitely be collecting some sort of commission from EA :P
Is this for the Wii? Cause the graphics look kind of bland and the audience look really flat. The sound effects sound nice, but the grunts the tennis players make can get a little annoying.
EA's really been stepping up to the plate on Wii. Nicely done.
It's already been officially confirmed that Grand Slam Tennis supports the standard Wii controls as well as MotionPlus. Fortunately, based on hands-on impressions, both controls are said to work really well.
@Chronic Logic: Did you read the post? :) Yeah, this is only for the Wii. I mean, the game will also be coming out on other platforms, but it's coming out on the Wii first, and EA hasn't said anything about other versions aside from the fact that they exist and will be coming at a later date.
@comradetrotskii: I doubt that you'll be able to play the game with other controllers. It seems to be designed around the Wii Remote.
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Contest:
8:30 PM on 04.06.2009
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If they can nail the controls then I'm sold on day one, I know that this is going to use the MotionPlus doohickey but will there be an option for standard controls? Is the character movement controlled by the player or is it similar to Wii Sports where the computer moved your character.
Also is Jelena Jankovic in it? I love Jelena Jankovic.
I'm pretty much sold on this already and have set my expectations to this being the best tennis game ever, you should definitely be collecting some sort of commission from EA :P
It's already been officially confirmed that Grand Slam Tennis supports the standard Wii controls as well as MotionPlus. Fortunately, based on hands-on impressions, both controls are said to work really well.
@comradetrotskii: I doubt that you'll be able to play the game with other controllers. It seems to be designed around the Wii Remote.
Also, I find it funny how I could tell it was Serena vs Sharapova just on grunts and screams.
Hopfully the motion plus adds somthing to the experiance.