Grand Slam Tennis

I love tech gadgetry and will jump at any excuse, no matter how minor or obscure, to indulge myself in a new purchase. So when the opportunity came along to satisfy this need in support of gaming, I think I found myself in some sort of Nirvana – well for a few minutes anyway.

Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii support the new Motion Plus controller attachment which “…  makes it possible to spin your racket and control your in-game player with superior responsiveness and control.” I was sold! A quick trip to the local World of technical gadgetry and I was tooled up.

First a little bit about the Motion Plus. I like it, I like the way it makes the controller feel a little more balanced in my hands and lends a little more substance to the movements. Make sure you put the strap on when using it though.. more weight means it’s more likely to break that vase / picture / china dog / digital photo frame, should it slip out of your sweaty paw!

Now then, the game.

Manuals are, as we know, for girls and teachers. A gross generalisation I know but it’s there nonetheless. I am neither a girl nor a teacher so I got stuck straight in and figured things out.

This isn’t as ‘blokey’ as it sounds. I’m of the firm belief that games in general, and games for the Wii in particular, should be simple to understand and dive straight into – no-one wants to study for an hour to find out how to move and shoot! Grand Slam Tennis initially took me by surprise as I was not immediately presented with the usual opportunity to create my character but was show a start menu which allowed me to practice or play in matches. The practice here is a little limited I have to say, with nothing but a ball machine and a limited set of options to work with. I felt confident after 5 minutes of superb returns and quit out – mistake no. 1.

Diving straight into a match I chose a player at random from the names of the greats, or at least those greats who’ve agreed to be digitised here, along with an opponent and got stuck in – mistake no. 2.

I got slammed and smashed all over the court in my first game, my performance was truly abysmal and I left the court, and my living room, shaking my head. The ball machine had not, in any way at all, prepared me for a real match and I needed to step it up. I also needed to get a bit more control over my hand movements now that the Motion Plus is attached, the difference is striking! After a break I came back and had another go, same players and similar result but this time I managed to pull back a few games and felt like I’d achieved some progress… time passes… game 6 and I’ve won! My arm is stiff and sore and I’ve shouted at myself until the cats think I’ve got Tourettes but I’ve won!

Now then, how about that character creation? Going into the locker room I spin through the usual set of face, hair, skin, gender and clothing types and come out feeling fresh and unskilled. You start this game with no skills at all and pick them up by beating the in-game players. Bear in mind though that you can only assign up to 3 skills to your player at any time so it’s important to find about about your next opponent and get the right elements prepped in the Locker Room otherwise your wicked serve will simply be melted by a demon forehand return. You do however set a ‘type’ for your player; serve and volley, all court, etc and this helps to initially define what the character will be more deft at achieving. I still lost though. Every game, badly. It was dis-heartening.

The thing about this game is that it makes you want to get better, it makes you want to think about how and when you time your shots, whether you slice, lob (A-button) or drop shot (B-button). It makes you want to work on your follow though to place the ball correctly over the net and all of this is without using the advanced movement features support through the nunchuk! When just using the Wii-mote the game – based on your position on the court, the direction of the incoming shot and the stroke you ‘should’ play – will move your character for you into around about the right place. With the nunchuk plugged in this element of control is handed over to you. You move your player with one hand and make your shots with the other, this is MENTAL hard and I, at the moment, find it a little beyond my levels of mastery, although it does let you play to your strengths. If you prefer forehand you can hover mainly to the left of the court and vice versa, this adds a different dimension to the play and does let you develop your character to suit your style.

For now though, I’m going though the grand slam tournament, my Wii-mote arm is pumped solid and I’m sweating like a fat bloke in a sauna but I’m making progress.