Grand Slam Tennis on the Wii
In case you're unfamiliar, Grand Slam Tennis was one of the first games to make use of the Wii Motion+ add-on that vastly improved the fidelity of motion controls.
The device itself is interesting to read about in the age of household VR. There was a lot of talk from developers at the time about how the device was capable of full 1:1 motion capture but it wasn't used because they didn't think people were ready for it. As a result, I don't think any of the 40 or so games that are compatible with Motion+ actually realised it's full potential.
I've only played two other games with support for this peripheral; Red Steel 2 and Zangeki no Reginleiv. Both were excellent and the enhanced controls genuinely added a lot to the experience.
I don't play tennis. Real tennis I mean, outdoors, in the world. I've played a fair bit of squash in my time but me and tennis aren't friends. But I like a tennis game, I think it's a sport that translates to the video game medium really well - which shouldn't be a surprise really because, y'know, Pong.
Structurally Grand Slam Tennis is very much your average tennis game. There's all the usual game modes you would expect: Tournament, doubles, singles, online multiplayer, and all the rest.
Being a Wii title the focus is heavily on multiplayer but, thankfully, the tour mode does offer a decent amount of entertainment for the single player.
There's even a simple character creation tool that when used allows you to track the calories you've burned during play - it's a very 2009 gimmick, but I must admit it's one I quite liked. (109, in case you're wondering).
The single player tour is comprised of the usual Grand Slam events (all licensed) each of which is embellished by three exhibition matches as a warm up to the main event. They usually have some special rules such as 'Tag Team' where you and your partner hit alternate shots, or 'Champ', the rules of which I didn't quite grasp but it had something to do with winning rallys. In these events you can win stars to boost your characters stats but, full disclosure, I've yet to win a match so I don't actually know how this works.
Grand Slam Tennis is a difficult game to get your head around. It doesn't help that there's no tutorial mode other than a couple of flash card style infographics that sometimes appear between matches. I'm yet to launch a decent looking serve and I've even disconnected the nunchuck so the game will handle movement around the court for me; I've basically gone full noob on this while I learn the idiosyncrasies of the controls, and I'm getting better, I've actually won a few games now - even if I have yet to put together a match victory.
The thing is, when you get into a rally and it's all getting a bit Boris Becker, more often than not the ball does what you want it too. More than once I've been wrong-handed and the weird panicked flick action I've made has translated into exactly the sort of shot I envisaged, and that's pretty remarkable.
It's clear these controls really work very well, but in the absence of a proper training mode, mastery of them is going to take some time.
I think I'll give it that time though. Despite my abject failures so far I'm enjoying the game a lot. It looks great too, with it's cartoony caricatures that enable you to face off with Rafa Nadal or Serena Williams one minute and Jon McEnroe or Pat Cash the next. Talking of Pat Cash, he provides the commentary, it's awful. turn it off.
When the game was released a lot of people were miffed at the idea of spending £40 on a game and then £20 each per Motion+ accessory. I picked up my copy for £1.50 and paid less than a fiver for the newer controller type that had the capability built in. Which all makes this a much more viable option for anyone wanting to dust off the Wii for a family tennis tournament while everyone is stuck at home.
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