I was recently perusing my PS2 collection and noticed that I had a game for every letter of the alphabet except ‘E’ and ‘Q’. Having a bit of an obsession with this kind of thing (as anyone who read my post on 'Xtreme Games' will know) I immediately set about putting this right.
I was always a big fan of ‘Everybody’s Golf’ on the original PlayStation. It’s a great, relaxing game to play alone, or a screaming deathmatch of rage and frustration when playing a friend - although that may have been due to my propensity for taking the flashiest, riskiest shot available while Dave, the friend who I’d more than likely be playing against, had a tendency towards a more practical approach. This led not just to many hours of entertainment, but also the coining of the verb to ‘Don Johnson’, a reference to the fine movie Tin Cup, meaning to play the safest, or most boring, shot available.
So with this in mind I ordered a copy of ‘Everybody’s Tennis’.
I’ll be grabbing a copy of ‘Quake Revolution’ at some point to round out the full A-Z, but as it’s not something I’d be in any hurry to play I figured this is not the time.
Right away this is pure ‘Everybody’s’ style - a very Japanese mix of almost too cute characters, laid back muzak, and comic book sound bubbles at every opportunity.
It does, however, all seem a bit sparse.
Going back to Everybody’s Golf, released ten years prior to this, it had two modes for standard single player golf, multiplayer, and an 18 hole Mini golf course.
Everybody’s Tennis offers just a challenge mode and multiplayer. The only addition to that is a training mode, but it’s rudimentary at best.
The whole game has the feel of a product intended for online play, but even that isn’t an option, and as much as it wouldn’t be much use to me now, in 2007 it would have been a notable omission.
Luckily, when you start playing, ‘Everybody’s Tennis’ is every bit the polished and entertaining product you would expect from this team.
Challenge Mode involves picking a character and rising through the ranks. There’s no levelling up per se (as seen in more recent games under this umbrella) but the structure is more akin to that of the old PlayStation game whereby new characters with stronger abilities are unlocked for play as you progress, thus enabling you to beat the later, harder CPU controlled characters.
The play is very much in the Virtua Tennis model, with direction of shots chosen on the d-pad, and their accuracy determined by timing. It’s mostly very satisfying to play - but I wouldn’t recommend use of the analogue sticks as the angles are very sensitive, particularly on the serve, where the game seems especially pennikkity over the diagonals.
The animations are fun, with dynamic replays highlighting exciting moments in an attempt to build the drama (although I could do without the inclination towards upskirts with certain characters). Discovering each player's strengths and weaknesses keeps things interesting to an extent, but unfortunately the game, on the whole, is a little on the easy side.
Considering there is really only one option for a single player game (there’s not even a knockout tournament) the problem of the Challenge Mode’s lack of challenge is exacerbated.
I tore through the first dozen characters, using the weakest available avatar, with no problem at all.
Even with a game with controls this tight and presentation this slick is going to struggle to stay entertaining when there is no difficulty curve to overcome.
Part of the problem might come from the existence of ‘Everybody’s Tennis: Get a Grip’, the 2010 sequel to this game for the PlayStation Portable. That game follows in the footsteps of ‘Mario Tennis Power Tour’, offering a deep, almost RPG inspired, single player mode where your character develops over time and can even explore an overworld between matches.
I must admit that when I bought this PS2 game I assumed it had come after the PSP one, so the lack of content seems particularly jarring - but I maintain this is a light offering, and even if there were more content the difficulty would need to be significantly increased for it to be worth playing at any length.
As it stands ‘Everybody’s Tennis’ is probably a fun two player game, but there are better Tennis games available for the PS2 that have more content and more challenge.
I was always a big fan of ‘Everybody’s Golf’ on the original PlayStation. It’s a great, relaxing game to play alone, or a screaming deathmatch of rage and frustration when playing a friend - although that may have been due to my propensity for taking the flashiest, riskiest shot available while Dave, the friend who I’d more than likely be playing against, had a tendency towards a more practical approach. This led not just to many hours of entertainment, but also the coining of the verb to ‘Don Johnson’, a reference to the fine movie Tin Cup, meaning to play the safest, or most boring, shot available.
So with this in mind I ordered a copy of ‘Everybody’s Tennis’.
I’ll be grabbing a copy of ‘Quake Revolution’ at some point to round out the full A-Z, but as it’s not something I’d be in any hurry to play I figured this is not the time.
Right away this is pure ‘Everybody’s’ style - a very Japanese mix of almost too cute characters, laid back muzak, and comic book sound bubbles at every opportunity.
It does, however, all seem a bit sparse.
Going back to Everybody’s Golf, released ten years prior to this, it had two modes for standard single player golf, multiplayer, and an 18 hole Mini golf course.
Everybody’s Tennis offers just a challenge mode and multiplayer. The only addition to that is a training mode, but it’s rudimentary at best.
The whole game has the feel of a product intended for online play, but even that isn’t an option, and as much as it wouldn’t be much use to me now, in 2007 it would have been a notable omission.
Luckily, when you start playing, ‘Everybody’s Tennis’ is every bit the polished and entertaining product you would expect from this team.
Challenge Mode involves picking a character and rising through the ranks. There’s no levelling up per se (as seen in more recent games under this umbrella) but the structure is more akin to that of the old PlayStation game whereby new characters with stronger abilities are unlocked for play as you progress, thus enabling you to beat the later, harder CPU controlled characters.
The play is very much in the Virtua Tennis model, with direction of shots chosen on the d-pad, and their accuracy determined by timing. It’s mostly very satisfying to play - but I wouldn’t recommend use of the analogue sticks as the angles are very sensitive, particularly on the serve, where the game seems especially pennikkity over the diagonals.
The animations are fun, with dynamic replays highlighting exciting moments in an attempt to build the drama (although I could do without the inclination towards upskirts with certain characters). Discovering each player's strengths and weaknesses keeps things interesting to an extent, but unfortunately the game, on the whole, is a little on the easy side.
Considering there is really only one option for a single player game (there’s not even a knockout tournament) the problem of the Challenge Mode’s lack of challenge is exacerbated.
I tore through the first dozen characters, using the weakest available avatar, with no problem at all.
Even with a game with controls this tight and presentation this slick is going to struggle to stay entertaining when there is no difficulty curve to overcome.
Part of the problem might come from the existence of ‘Everybody’s Tennis: Get a Grip’, the 2010 sequel to this game for the PlayStation Portable. That game follows in the footsteps of ‘Mario Tennis Power Tour’, offering a deep, almost RPG inspired, single player mode where your character develops over time and can even explore an overworld between matches.
I must admit that when I bought this PS2 game I assumed it had come after the PSP one, so the lack of content seems particularly jarring - but I maintain this is a light offering, and even if there were more content the difficulty would need to be significantly increased for it to be worth playing at any length.
As it stands ‘Everybody’s Tennis’ is probably a fun two player game, but there are better Tennis games available for the PS2 that have more content and more challenge.
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