Let's take the field!
Everybody's Tennis immediately imposes immediacy and simplicity, offering in practice only one game mode proper ("Challenge"), surrounded by the possibility of becoming familiar with the control system ("Training") and the inevitable multiplayer (available only locally, however: the online has not been entered). While not a real career mode, the Challenge contains numerous elements that involve the "growth" of the characters we use, but above all the unlocking of new tennis players, new fields, new clothes and so on. It starts with only two characters available, both balanced in skills (a boy and a girl), then as you progress through the tournaments, new tennis players are unlocked. The total number of characters is fourteen, but the game very often offers them to us in different variations, especially during the early stages. After a certain number of tournaments, the variable elements begin to be other: fields of different consistencies, different playing positions (for a long time we will be used to playing only in the lower part of the screen, then things will change treacherously), even unfavorable weather conditions. The encounters are of medium duration, generally best of five games or less, and the game is calibrated so that the difficulty increases very gradually. Even before starting a new tournament we are explained exactly what our opponents will be able to do from that point on, with lots of advice on how to win in the most intricate situations. [C]
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Front and back
Far from wanting to be a rigid and realistic tennis simulation, Everybody's Tennis still boasts a solid and thick gameplay, characterized by numerous variables. There are only three buttons of the Dual Shock 2 that we are going to use, in this case X for the fast shot, Circle for the damping and Triangle for the "lob", with the left analog stick responsible not only for the movement of the character, but also for directing the shots. If the mechanism of quick exchanges, first to the right and then to the left, is assimilated very quickly and ensures the victory of numerous matches, mastering the techniques that involve alternating damps and long throws is more difficult but also knows how to generate greater satisfaction in case of success. In any case, don't think for a moment that all the characters of Everybody's Tennis will let you play the same way: each is equipped with certain characteristics, which make it more skilled in the background game rather than at the net, stronger in the jokes rather. that quick in movement, and so on. You will not even need to do direct tests to test these skills, since the game will immediately show you every tennis player for what are his strengths. The last element to consider, but certainly not least, is the timing of the impacts between the racket and the ball. If in Wii Sports this dynamic actually determines the type of shot, in ET it is no less and can really make the difference between a deadly shot and a dull one, which will be easily countered. In the moment of the joke, our character will express the result of the blow through an onomatopoeia, and the same will happen to our opponent: the right glance will make us understand the nature of his shot, therefore.
Technical realization
On a visual level, the new title of Clap Hanz presents itself in the best way for what its intentions are: the character design is the master, with very nice characters, well animated, which boast a certain number of expressions and the whose design style is typically Japanese. Scenarios have been built around them, numerous and endowed with peculiar characteristics that go beyond the playing field and that are shown in the shots that introduce each match. In one of the stages there is even a railway track near the camp, and the noise of the train imposes itself strongly during the first exchanges ... even if, on closer inspection, there is no locomotive passing! Certainly ET is not Gears of War, and maybe inserting a moving convoy could have affected a fluidity that always remains at excellent levels and does not suffer any decline, despite an excessive use of special effects to represent the shots. It must be said that the characters could also have been more numerous, but given the excellent characterization work done on those present, it is a criticism that may not even be moved. The sound sector perfectly matches the spirit of the game, and the proof lies in the disconcerting simplicity of some music, which does not leave its mark but does not even appear "out of tune" in the context of the matches. To top it all there are good quality effects and a spoken Spanish not without defects in acting, but all in all above the average we are used to.
Comment
Those looking for an “alternative” videogame, light in content but really fun and engaging, should seriously consider Everybody's Tennis. The new product by Clap Hanz perhaps lacks in the lack of alternative game modes, but it boasts a really solid gameplay, which will conquer even those who do not like tennis or who, on the contrary, are passionate about it and prefer the most realistic simulations. Technically valid and dubbed in Spanish, it doesn't last long in single but can guarantee numerous multiplayer challenges. For the next episode it will be reasonable to expect an online mode as well as the presence of substantial game options, but in the meantime it is difficult not to get caught up in the spectacular exchanges of this newborn, at least in our territory, tennis series.
- Pro:
- Good character design
- Unexpected playability
- A game suitable for everyone, really
- Against:
- Only one game mode, basically
- Missing online
- The characters could have been more
After the popular Everybody's Golf series, the developers of the Clap Hanz team have finally decided to broaden their sporting horizons, trying their hand at a tennis title that bases its appeal on immediate playability, comic graphics and a thickness that one would not expect. . A tennis game for everyone, really.
