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| Source // EA |
Motion controls and a tennis game were such an obvious pairing that Nintendo themselves made sure to include the sport in a few Wii titles of theirs, but the addition of the Wii MotionPlus controller meant even more accuracy in terms of what inputs could be captured and used in a game.
And so EA sought to capitalise on it all with Grand Slam Tennis a cartoony looking but deadly serious simulation of tennis, and all the spins and slices your backhands can manage. Do I know what a spin or a slice is? Have you not seen how many tennis games the 1001 list has seen me suffer through already?
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| Source // EA |
Frustrations
While I do have a Wii MotionPlus controller, I don't have a copy of Grand Slam Tennis, and if there's one thing I've learned about Wii emulation, it is to avoid as much swinging as possible, and so I'm not going to be playing this game in any form - not that I mind too much.
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| Source // EA |
From what I've seen and read of Grand Slam Tennis, it is on the smaller side of tennis titles, but like the bigger console offerings, it doesn't shy away from trying to recreate the physics of tennis to an absurd degree, and with the Wii MotionPlus, it has something that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 simply can't compete with.
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| Source // EA |
That it can still suffer from wonky input accuracy and calibration issues is a given, but this is a game where you can physically set yourself up for a backhanded shot with a dollop of topspin and see that translated into your cartoony tennis champion walloping the ball back across the net with a backhanded shot with a dollop of topspin, or at least something closely resembling that, it's not perfect.
Of course, it would therefore help if you were physically capable of pulling off these types of shots, and understand how and when to use them. It's almost like, apart from the running, you need to know how to actually play tennis to play Grand Slam Tennis.
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| Source // EA |
As such, the difficulty is on the higher end for a Wii game, but multiplayer support will even things out a little if you happen to know someone who also likes tennis. I don't, so it's good that I can't play this as a single-player either.
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| Source // EA |
That aside though, Grand Slam Tennis seems to be viewed largely favourably. Difficult, yes, but no other game will let you see how you'd do at Wimbledon in this way, with motion controls.
Final Word
For tennis fans who owned the required kit, Grand Slam Tennis is a pretty big step up from what you'd find elsewhere on the Nintendo Wii, but you do need to be committed to the sport to get the most of out it, and even then you'll come across the odd spot of bother regarding your Wiimote.
I can't say how well it runs, but at least they've opted for a cartoony aesthetic, rather than push the Wii to breaking point. It's a look that almost suckers you in before the demanding controls are revealed, by which point there's no turning back.
If I ever come across a copy of Grand Slam Tennis, I'd have to be mighty desperate to play some tennis to give it a go, but that's rather unlikely. Probably shouldn't rule it out, but let's be honest, it's not high on my list of games to get back to.
If it looks like something you might be interested in, though, don't let my negativity convince you otherwise. Grab some new balls and start serving.
Fun Facts
Matches are commentated on by Pat Cash. Even when he's on the court, swinging a racket. Talented bloke.
Grand Slam Tennis, developed by EA Canada, first released in 2009.
Version watched: Nintendo Wii, 2009 (IGN)