Tennis Anyone?

Kosh

Kosh

CAGiversary!
With both Virtua Tennis and Grand Slam Tennis coming out at the same time. Which is going to be the tennis game to own for the Wii?

Both have Wii Motion Plus compatibility. I know Virtua has a big following and has always received great reviews. They both have some pretty big tennis names in them, but Grand Slam has all the Grand Slam courts available.

It's going to be a tough choice. What would you choose if you could only get one?
 
Which is the EA one?

That will be the one to get since Sega hasn't been too hyped to show off theirs.
 
I think I'm going to have to wait for the reviews to decide which one to get. Both place a huge emphasis on WM+, so it will be interesting to see which game gets the controls right.
 
[quote name='ProfWho']Which is the EA one?

That will be the one to get since Sega hasn't been too hyped to show off theirs.[/QUOTE]


Grand Slam is the EA one. That's the one I'm leaning towards, too.
 
I was a little taken aback, though, when I read that EA tried to design Grand Slam so that WM+ users wouldn't have an advantage over non-WM+ users. The idea being that most probably wouldn't have more then one M+. Instead EA is sayng that they designed it so that WM+ gives a different feel, but does not give an advantage/play any better. What? Maybe what I read was bogus, though. In fact I can't even remember where I read it. So take it with a huge grain of salt. Still, it makes me want to wait for reviews. Truth be told, though, I'll probably wait for a new Mario tennis game from Nintendo anyway. :)
 
I bought GST with the Amazon deal, I like the look of it a lot more and from the previews I read, it was the better title.
 
I'm going to have to wait for some reviews. My dilemma includes Virtua Tennis for the PS3 as well as the Virtua Tennis/Grand Slam Tennis debate.

I'm considering getting Virtua Tennis for PS3 (I liked VT3) and Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii.
 
It's a close call and I'm going to wait for 'real' reviews. Both VT and GST have online play. VT does have more 'fun' single-player games. I don't care about the 'look' at all--the gameplay/control is first and foremost for me!
 
Some reviews have come out for Grand Slam Tennis and a few are trickling out for Virtua Tennis; it's still tough to say:
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/grandslamtennis
http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/virtuatennis2009

There have been some very positive reviews for GST, but right now, the scores have been across the board. For VT2009, there has only been a few reviews from some small European sites so far, one of them just seems to be a general multi-platform review rather than something Wii-specific.

From the reviews, it sounds like...
Grand Slam Tennis:
- A pretty big point of contention among the reviewers: Controls take some getting used to, since it seems that even with Motion+, it still uses buttons for some swing types, and you apparently don't have 100% control over the ball (A hands-on, at Destructoid I believe, talked about how they purposefully tried to hit the ball so that it would go out, but it didn't, hinting at some fool-proofing in play). There is no WM+ Training mode. Still, looking at the IGN and GamesRadar reviews, if you get the hang of GST's quirks, then it should be very fun with WM+.
- The Create-A-Character/Career Mode seems straightforward: You start off with a weak newbie, gain level stars and signature moves by defeating pros in exhibition and tournament matches. There are Challenges and Minigames, but I think these are in separate modes.

Virtua Tennis 2009: Some hands-on articles at other sites (IGN UK, AU, Nintendo Life, VideoGamer).
- Unlike GST, this one uses full motion controls when WM+ is attached. An in-game WM+ control tutorial is available.
- The World Tour mode is a bit different from GST's career mode in that it throws minigames and training segments into the mix to help build up your character. Money is earned from winning matches, and can be used to buy new gear.
 
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I'm a big Virtua Tennis guy personally, I'll be playing the Wii and 360 versions tonight. :) Started on the Dreamcast and I'm glad the game is still mostly similar, gameplay wise.

That said, I'll be totally up front here - I work at SEGA and have gotten to play and see some of the game already, so I'm a little biased. Interested to see how the two review!
 
Some of the user reviews coming in on Amazon are complaining about the WM+ controls not being true 1:1, and some inadvertent hitting of the ball if you wind up too much, plus no backspin, in the EA game (Grand Slam). That being said, I still want to believe that's the game to get, since it doesn't sound like VT, in my opinion, hasn't changed enough since the version I got on the XB360 two years ago.
 
I've never been crazy about sega sports games. They've never felt good to me and I've never been crazy about their character modeling (they always looked disproportioned and with hunchbacks - especially their mlb offerings). VT is usually their best work, but that's not saying much. EA, for all the crap they put people through, really do have sports locked down in terms of look and felt IMO.

I bought GST because of the assorted EA store deals making it a no-brainer. Also, Johnny Mac is in it! The thing with VT is that it has always had something of a quirky movement mechanic. It's really its own thing with the momentum of the player and the timing of starting and finishing your strokes. VT has always felt really unnatural to me as a tennis player. GST so far has been much more straightforward in that regard. That's not to say it doesn't have its quirks and learning curve, but the "feel" of it is more natural to me. As for the WM+, my experience has been it's not so much that it gives you a 1 to 1 swing to screen, but that it makes it more swinging as opposed to jerking/flicking like you used to in order to get the registered movements.
 
I have to say that GST sounds like a disappointment. Why not go full-on with the M+? I have to presume that this design is part of their effort to "not give WM+ users an advantage". I.e. making the game not as good as it could be for WM+ users. I just don't understand that approach at all. Go whole hog with the thing, please. Maybe 2011?
 
OK, picked up GST (49.99) and WMP (19.99) at lunch today. Pained me to pay full price, but I couldn't otherwise get it by the weekend. Thought about getting the Tiger Woods golf bundle for WMP, but can't convince myself I really want the golf game.

So anyway, hopefully I'll get a chance to try it either tonight or over the weekend.

Between this, the sale at gamestop on RB/GH bundles, and the new iPhone, I'm tapped out!
 
I'm starting to think that yes, I should have gotten TWG10 instead of GST. I played about 2 hrs tonight and I can't say I'm loving it. I played exclusively with WMP tonight, so over the weekend I'm taking it off to try without. I played without the nunchuk. I found that you do have to be careful not to take too big a back swing or it will complete your swing. I had issues with it over-running to balls and hitting a forehand instead of a backhand when it was on my backhand side and that is how I was swinging. I found I had to be conscious to bring the remote back to a neutral position deliberately between shots. I have a natural top spin swing and I can barely get it to register that I am hitting topspin. It always registers slice. I tried my sensor bar both below and above my tv.

I'll play it more, but I may be looking up Target's policy on game returns. (It's probably not that good is it.)
 
That really blows. Maybe they did a rush job on the WM+ support? Or is your WM+ not actually working? Why does it have to "complete your swing"?
 
Just my take after a few matches (around 6 or 7) in GST:

I really wish I could gush about this game, but at the same time I don't wan to rag on it too much, 'cause it's still a bit premature.

But...I really don't feel like the game is representative of what they advertised, unless I'm just expecting too much. The swing mechanic isn't 1:1. I can't count the number of frustrating points I've lost because my character has run around a backhand to a forehand side when I've deliberately switched my Wiimote+ to the backhand side.

Serving is a bit of an issue since I have to motion a few times for it to register that I'm trying to toss the ball up.

I even tried to see how the character replicates my movement when waiting for a serve. Spun my WMP around and it didn't show on screen. Prepped to my forehand/backhand side...spotty at best. I'd bring the racket to neutral in front of me and the guy would have it twitching a bit on the forehand side.

There were times when it'd work really well and I'd feel like I was actually playing tennis, but most of the time, I feel like I have to lessen my swinging motion for it to actually register. And yes, going too fast on the backswing does sometimes make the character actually swing. It's hella fun when you're swinging and it hits the lines though. More than Wii Sports tennis, this does a great job of making you actuallly have to swing fully instead of just flicking your wrists.

Maybe I have to play with the advanced control to get what I expect (with nunchuck), but when I tried that it still wasn't what I expected. That said, I'll give it a few more tries to learn the intricacies of the controls and post an update.
 
EDIT: I should have prefaced this with: this is all pure speculation, and probably ill-informed speculation. I may well be WAY off myself here. :)

EDIT2: I've decided just to delete this post for now, because I really think I have no idea what I'm talking about, no matter how good it sounded. :) I don't actually know what kind of information a gyro provides.
 
[quote name='crunchewy']That really blows. Maybe they did a rush job on the WM+ support? Or is your WM+ not actually working? Why does it have to "complete your swing"?[/QUOTE]

What I meant was; if you take too big of a back swing - say you have a loop backswing to take the raquet back, the WMP may register all the movement and think you are making a swing so it will do the forward swing too, completing the shot. So you have to be careful to do a short/small/efficient back swing motion to get ready for the ball or else the WMP will have completed the entire swing by the time you are ready to swing forward for your shot so you completely swing at air.

I'm going to give it another try tonight or over the weekend, but it is entirely possible I'll put the game up on ebay.
 
[quote name='SteveMcQ']I can't count the number of frustrating points I've lost because my character has run around a backhand to a forehand side when I've deliberately switched my Wiimote+ to the backhand side.

...but most of the time, I feel like I have to lessen my swinging motion for it to actually register. And yes, going too fast on the backswing does sometimes make the character actually swing.

[/QUOTE]

Yup. These are the 2 most frustrating points for me so far.
 
If they fail games WITH the M+ then I am going to be done with the Wii.
The M+ is like.. a second chance for me. I'll be getting Tiger Woods today, so I'm excited to try that out.

They just need to just make all games required to use M+ (Games that would use "waggle", of course).

They should have waited for THIS to release Mario Tennis (NEW PLAY CONTROL!!)...unless they are going to end up releasing another Mario Tennis..and Golf. I rather have Mario Baseball with this, but no, they had to go and release a crappy one already :nottalking:

/ramble
 
[quote name='texasnightowl']What I meant was; if you take too big of a back swing - say you have a loop backswing to take the raquet back, the WMP may register all the movement and think you are making a swing so it will do the forward swing too, completing the shot. So you have to be careful to do a short/small/efficient back swing motion to get ready for the ball or else the WMP will have completed the entire swing by the time you are ready to swing forward for your shot so you completely swing at air.

I'm going to give it another try tonight or over the weekend, but it is entirely possible I'll put the game up on ebay.[/QUOTE]

Ok, but that doesn't make any sense. It shouldn't be "registering it as a swing". If you move your arm the racket moves and if it hits the ball it hits the ball and if it doesn't it doesn't and you can always move your arm back and swing again. Hell you should be able to swing and swing and swing over and over and over again if you want, with the game matching your motions on screen. If it does hit the ball it takes into account how fast you were moving, etc. There should be no "registering a swing" - that sounds like a completely half-assed use of MotionPlus. Totally disappointing. I hope they get it right for '11.
 
metacritic only has 3 reviews, but I notice that "N-Gamer" (unfortunately must be a magazine as there is no link to the review) has the summary:

What Virtua Tennis lacks in panache or style, it makes up for with substance, including a comprehensive World Tour mode and the best tennis controls on Wii. [July 2009, p.62]
Click to expand...

That's promising. They gave it an 88 (presumably out of 100). Of course best controls, relative to the apparent controls in GST, is, uh, relative.

The other two reviews they list, one in German, one in Dutch, don't actually seem to be about the Wii version and only one of them even mentions it in passing, noting that a Wii version exists this year. Incredible, although perhaps they just got the game there before the WM+ was released. Mind you, I'm looking at them with babelfish - I can't read German nor Dutch.
 
Well, that is promising. However at this point, I'm more likely to just buy Virtua Tennis 2009 for my ps3.

I glanced through the metacritic listed reviews on GST. I wish I read Swedish so I could read more of the review from Gameplayer Sweden. The quote from them was:
With the intention to bring the most authentic tennis experience to date, EA Sports launches Grand Slam Tennis for the Wii. Although the ambition shows in many of the game's features, it stumbles on the most crucial of them all, controlling the game. Therefore, it all ends up being a pretty mediocre experience.
Click to expand...
 
well virtua tennis sucked for me. the controls are just horrible. for some reason i just keep hitting too far out of bounds.
 
I got GST from GameFly today. I think I echo the statement with the backswing deal. I'm gonna have to cut back a little on that. I still need a little time to play more (watching Stanley Cup Game 7 right now), but the fact that it registers that backswing as a full swing gets frustrating as hell after a while.

I need more time. I especially want to check out the nunchuck option and the online mode. Since I don't have the manual, am I supposed to be holding the Wiimote with the buttons face up, or on the side? Does it particularly make a difference?

And power serves. I can't seem to get that one down.
 
Regian: Buttons face up; ie. "A" button should face the ceiling.

I played a bit more tonight. Started off with WM+ attached. Major issue continued to be with movement...AI would run too far/around one side to hit the opposite shot or hit an awkward shot. Really frustrating. Went to the practice court and changed ball machine options to send me backhands only. I'm turned to hit a backhand and the freaking figure on screen was in a position for a forehand and wouldn't change! I held the remote steady pointing at the screen through 3 or 4 balls and it did not correct itself.

So, I took the WM+ off.

Played much better as far as movement (didn't over run balls) and hitting either a forehand or backhand as appropriate. AND, it started registering my forehand with topspin (my natural stroke) more! But, overall, without the WM+ it seems like the balls had less "zip". But overall, playing withOUT the WM+ was much less frustrating!

I'm going to continue playing over the weekend. I guess it might be possible that my WM+ is a dud. If I continue to find my consistency is better withOUT the WM+, then the WM+ may be going back to Target next week!
 
This is all interesting, thanks for everyone posting comments. I have been going nuts trying to decide if I want to buy GST before the EA Store's free shipping deal goes away (since I got my stash of EA Cash Cards) but it sounds kind of hard to call. Of course, getting the game for $22.50 at launch is a big deal but I have to ask-- for those that have it, is it fun, or are the controls just so bad that it's not really even particularly fun to play? I always found the VT games "fun" even if they weren't perfect, so I don't necessarily need 1:1 WM+ controls but if the game is more frustrating than fun it's not worth burning EA Cash Cards on...
 
The more I play GST, the more I like it. I tried playing without the nunchuk, but I find that it's much, much more responsive with it. Regardless, there's quite a learning curve - probably 1-1.5 hours of solid playing before you really start to get a feel for the game. However, once you get the controls down, it's extremely gratifying. My one quirk is that I'm a lefty in real-life tennis, however, it just isn't as responsive for me in the game, so I've switched over to righty for GST. Oh, and online is a blast - I tried it out earlier today and could easily play it for hours on end.
 
Updated impressions: PLAY THIS GAME WITH THE NUNCHUCKS!!!!

After my frustrations playing this game with solely the WMP, I decided to try it earlier this evening with the nunchuck plugged in. A good deal of my issues with the game were resolved having control of where my character was going. Did I win any of the four matches I played? No. But the difference with nunchuck-play was that my frustrations didn't lie so much with the controls, but with my skills with the game.

Lots of points, I'd swing far too late and miss the ball. Also, I noticed shot placement was even more precise causing quite a few of my shots to land just outside. Other problems were with the nunchuck being being attached to the Wiimote. Having that cord there really prevented me from taking a full backswing. I felt like I really had to tone down my actions, which caused late swings. I'd also get back into the Wii Tennis habit of not fully swinging, but rather flicking my wrist, which doesn't register as well.

That said, there's still a few nagging issues. I'm still miffed that it's not really 1:1, which is mostly evident when I'm waiting for service. It's still spotty registering whether I'm set up to the forehand or backhand side. That's not so much a problem though when I'm running around on the baseline.

One big problem I consistenly had though was when my character was running from the left to the right baseline for a ball. Most times when I'd get there in time to set up a forehand, my character would spin around to the backhand causing the ball to land behind me. Through four matches, it must've happened at least five times. Why it does that on the right side of the court, I really have no idea. It's very odd.

Anyway, I'm much more pleased with this game after using the nunchuck. Do I wish the Wiimote exclusive play wasn't as wonky? Yes. Are there still some problems? Yes. Is it more fun with the advanced set up? Yes.
 
Surely someone else must have gotten VirtuaTennis by now? How's it play? There's a few reviews on gamestop from people that seem pretty positive. One thing one person notes is that you must "calibrate" the remote before every point. I actually like that. One thing I've noted about Tiger Woods 10 is that the Disc Golf works so well in part because of the, initially seemingly pointless but not, "pick up the disc" step that you must do for each throw. That is actually a calibration. MotionPlus can accurately track motion, yes, but only relative to whatever direction it was pointing initially - what it can't do is tell the Wii which way it is pointing relative to the screen. So that pointing at the disc on screen step calibrates the direction the remote is pointing initially, via the infrared/sensor bar. So it sounds like VT uses the same trick. I do worry, though, how quickly it gets out of sync - on a long volley back and forth will it eventually not respond like you expect? I don't know.
 
In case anyone else is interested, it seems WMP actually "recalibrates" after each and every shot. I'd get the problem when after a shot, the on-screen player would get stuck to either side a little bit and slightly adjusting the Wiimote (and I mean very slightly) will bring the racket back to center.

I get really good results if I make sure to bring the racket back to the neutral position after every shot. Getting set-up early for the swings also seems to give me the best results on swings. It would really help if EA came out and showed people how the game is programmed to play. I know that's a ridiculous thing to say for a sports game, but it's evident they programmed it to be played slightly different from the way some people might play it naturally.
 
After reading the reviews (good and bad) and looking at the videos (GiantBomb's especially), I think that it all comes down to this when deciding on a tennis game:

Want to play multi-player more than single-player? Go with Grand Slam Tennis. The online mode uses EA's quick servers, and the local multi-player uses split-screen; whereas VT2009 forces a player to play on the back-court in local multi.

Want to play single-player more than multi-player? Go with Virtua Tennis 2009. It's a matured series and the reported depth for the World Tour mode shows it, as you have a variety of tournaments, unlockables, and activities in this mode. GST's career mode is reported to be much more basic and straight-forward, something I'd imagine that they will improve in the sequel.
 
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