Game: Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip
Genre: Sports
Developer: Clap Hanz
Publisher: SCEA
System: PSP
Release date: 2010
I've been a tennis fan ever since I watched Steffi Graf win Wimbledon back in 1989. That match did more than make me a fan of tennis, though; it also made me a fan of tennis games. Unfortunately, most of the tennis games that were available at the time completely sucked. In fact, the only good ones I can think of are Nintendo's Tennis for GameBoy (released in 1989) and Namcot's Pro Tennis World Court (aka World Court Tennis, released in 1988) for the PC Engine/ TurboGrafx-16. Thankfully, a number of truly great tennis games hit the streets the world over following my introduction to the genre--games such as Nintendo's Super Tennis (released for the SNES in 1991) and Human's Final Match Tennis (PC Engine, 1991). Well, after playing through--and thoroughly enjoying--it, I can without hesitation add Clap Hanz' Hot Shots Tennis: Get a Grip to that hallowed list. If I were forced to succinctly describe this game, I'd say it's a mixture of Super Tennis and Nintendo's Mario Tennis titles (especially the Nintendo 64 entry)--topped with a sprinkling of Pro Tennis World Court. I picked those three games as points of comparison because Hot Shots Tennis has an accessible quality to it like Super Tennis, plays and feels like the Mario Tennis games and features an utterly crazy, travel-around-the-world "story mode"--which tasks players with spreading the love of tennis to the depressed and otherwise downtrodden (read more about this mode here)--that brings to mind Pro Tennis World Court. You don't have to play the game's story mode, of course; also available is an exhibition mode, in which you can play singles or doubles matches against a number of computer-controlled opponents, and a multiplayer mode, in which you can compete against friends (or strangers, I guess) locally and globally using Sony's adhoc Party service. If you're anything like me, though, you'll spend the bulk of your time playing through Hot Shots Tennis' story mode--beating opponents, buying and collecting gear (including crazy "outfits" like panda suits and tutus) and visiting all kinds of weird and wonderful locales (like the top of a skyscraper, a river-side stadium and a rural farm). The only negatives I can ascribe to this adorably odd game: 1) It doesn't include a traditional career (aka "world tour") mode, and 2) Too many opponents turn to the hit-a-drop-shot-and-then-lob-over-your-head tactic.
See also: Previous 'Great Gaymathon' posts
7 comments:
I've been using that "drop-shot-then-lob" technique in the PS2 version...I was hoping they wouldn't turn the tables on me. I'm sad the PS2 version doesn't have a store. I just unlocked 2 costumes by beating matches...which is less fun than spending reward money on what I truly want. But it's still a great tennis game.
Ha! Well, using it against the computer is fine, Justin. My problem is that nearly every opponent in the PSP version uses against you -- and often! Really, it should be possible to make the AI more intelligent than that...
Anyway, the PS2 version doesn't have a store? Man, that sucks! I wonder why the PSP version has so many cool elements that aren't in the PS2 version? Oh, well, at least you're enjoying it. I just wish you got to experience the wackiness of the PSP version.
Me, too!
Question for you: how long have there been ads on your blog? And on a hopefully unrelated note: as of about a week ago, your blog has been loading at dialup pace...like...a day and a half and if finally comes up. Okay, maybe it's thirty seconds...but...it's the only page I regularly visit that does that.
Well, shit! It's been slow for me for the last week or so, too. I was hoping it was just my computer, but I guess that's not the case. I've been looking at blogger's help site to see if anyone has reported having a similar problem with slowness, but nothing has popped up yet. So, I guess I'll have to contact them myself. It can't be because of the ads, as I literally only added them yesterday afternoon, and the site has been slow for about a week. Ugh.
One more thing, RE: the ads: I just added them to the site last night. I'm not at all sure that they'll be here for the long haul. Really, I decided to try them out because my followers and page views have been growing by leaps and bounds in the last few months, and I thought it could be worthwhile to try them out -- you know, to (maybe) make enough money a month to buy a game or something. If that ends up not being the case, though, I'll drop the ads like a hot potato :)
Oh, I think things should be back to normal now. Let me know, will you?
It seems a script related to MyBlogLog, which Yahoo shut down in late May, was the culprit, in case anyone cares. I had no idea such a thing would bring the blog to a screeching halt!
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