Court of Appeals
Namco is prepping Smash Court Tennis 3 for a PSP release and we take a peek at its progress. Hands-on deets inside.
Published: June 29, 2007
For years now, if you wanted a go-to tennis game, SEGA's Virtua Tennis, which since its inception has somehow managed to perfectly blend arcade speed with more sim-like control and a suite of mini-games that had a way of digging its hooks into both vets and newcomers alike. With the PS3 version stumbling a little with a lack of online play, there's certainly room for something different. Sony's Clap Hanz studio is working on providing an alternative on the PS2 with Hot Shots Tennis, but on the PSP, it's actually Namco Bandai Games that's offering something new.
Right from the start, it's fairly obvious that Smash Court Tennis 3 is no VT clone. The players are a little more rigid, move with a more realistic speed and generally just behave a bit more lethargically. What this means is that the focus has shifted from just running to a place and mashing a button to more technical, timed button presses. It's an interesting diversion, and through the game's whopping two dozen-strong tutorial lessons the basics of control and holding and releasing the four face buttons to set up lobs, slices, drops and power shots all becomes clear.
The difference between a held shot (the timing of which all but necessitates going through the tutorial levels and even then was a little iffy for us) and just tapping the button is the core of the game's depth. If you're on the run, a tap is crucial, but the idea here is to be predictive, setting up for a shot, holding the button as it comes in and then using the analog nub to aim a cross-court crush. Even on the easier difficulty levels, the AI demonstrates at least a fundamental knowledge of these techniques (though it seems the easier you go, the more lazy and unwilling to chase shots they'll be).
Though the game offers the requisite one-off modes like Arcade for tournaments and Exhibition for setting up your own rules, not to mention Ad-Hoc multiplayer (though we've only got one copy of the game in the office right now, so that was out), the bulk of anyone's time with Namco's version of portable tennis, however, is going to be spent in the surprisingly deep Pro Tour Mode. Here you can use a basic create-a-player system to create a guy or gal, decking them out with various basic accessories, hair styles, faces and so on. We ended up with a little blue-haired, blue-clad, ponytailed cutie and took to the clay to knock around some felt.
The actual progression of events isn't anything new; you start ranked at 250 and have to inch your way up through nested tournaments every week to pocket cash and earn upgrade points. Since you earn experience with each match, there's reason to jump into full on bracketed tournaments, but beyond netting basic funds and experience points, you'll also earn stat upgrades for upping various shot types, movement speed, net play and so on, but you can also sacrifice these points for a smattering of specific situational bonuses like getting a big bump in skills when you're fatigued or gaining even more power when you manage to go on a points scoring run. The addition of these specific skills actually gives the game an interesting touch, and do serve as something different from the usual mini-game system for upgrades that Virtua Tennis has had for years.
Speaking of, Smash Court Tennis 3 does have a trio of basic tennis-themed diversions. Culling from their arcade history, Namco managed to wrap the basics of court play around Galaga and Pac-Man and included something called Bomb Tennis to mix things up a little more. The first is more or less as it sounds, and plays the most like an actual game of tennis, though there are extra targets to hit. The real danger comes in clearing out all the bonus targets at which point saucers will try to snap both players up with a tractor beam, so constant movement is a must. The Pac-Man variant is arguably the best of the bunch, turning the court into a maze rife with dots that are gulped down as you hit a little Pac-Man back and forth, adding to a combined pool where the winner for that particular shot will pocket (it's also the deciding factor for the game). Fruit adds extra abilities and ghosts will attach to players and slow them down. In a nice little touch, power pellets will still turn ghosts in to targets.
Bomb Tennis is fairly simple; each player gets three lives and with every shot they miss, a random smattering of bombs will drop. The tennis ball is swapped out with a bomb too, and the harder it's hit the faster the fuse drains. The game, then, plays a little like a game of Hot Potato, but if you can manage to time a shot right, detonating the tennis bal--err bomb will cause a chain reaction. Since explosions are the only thing that can drain a life, this isn't a bad strategy.
We're not quite sure if Smash Court Tennis 3 is quite our style, but we'll admit that if nothing else, the game takes some time to get used to, and we're still learning. The mini-games are nice distractions, but the Pro Tour Mode will be the real test of the game. We'll have a final verdict when the game ships in a few weeks.
Right from the start, it's fairly obvious that Smash Court Tennis 3 is no VT clone. The players are a little more rigid, move with a more realistic speed and generally just behave a bit more lethargically. What this means is that the focus has shifted from just running to a place and mashing a button to more technical, timed button presses. It's an interesting diversion, and through the game's whopping two dozen-strong tutorial lessons the basics of control and holding and releasing the four face buttons to set up lobs, slices, drops and power shots all becomes clear.
The difference between a held shot (the timing of which all but necessitates going through the tutorial levels and even then was a little iffy for us) and just tapping the button is the core of the game's depth. If you're on the run, a tap is crucial, but the idea here is to be predictive, setting up for a shot, holding the button as it comes in and then using the analog nub to aim a cross-court crush. Even on the easier difficulty levels, the AI demonstrates at least a fundamental knowledge of these techniques (though it seems the easier you go, the more lazy and unwilling to chase shots they'll be).
Though the game offers the requisite one-off modes like Arcade for tournaments and Exhibition for setting up your own rules, not to mention Ad-Hoc multiplayer (though we've only got one copy of the game in the office right now, so that was out), the bulk of anyone's time with Namco's version of portable tennis, however, is going to be spent in the surprisingly deep Pro Tour Mode. Here you can use a basic create-a-player system to create a guy or gal, decking them out with various basic accessories, hair styles, faces and so on. We ended up with a little blue-haired, blue-clad, ponytailed cutie and took to the clay to knock around some felt.
The actual progression of events isn't anything new; you start ranked at 250 and have to inch your way up through nested tournaments every week to pocket cash and earn upgrade points. Since you earn experience with each match, there's reason to jump into full on bracketed tournaments, but beyond netting basic funds and experience points, you'll also earn stat upgrades for upping various shot types, movement speed, net play and so on, but you can also sacrifice these points for a smattering of specific situational bonuses like getting a big bump in skills when you're fatigued or gaining even more power when you manage to go on a points scoring run. The addition of these specific skills actually gives the game an interesting touch, and do serve as something different from the usual mini-game system for upgrades that Virtua Tennis has had for years.
Speaking of, Smash Court Tennis 3 does have a trio of basic tennis-themed diversions. Culling from their arcade history, Namco managed to wrap the basics of court play around Galaga and Pac-Man and included something called Bomb Tennis to mix things up a little more. The first is more or less as it sounds, and plays the most like an actual game of tennis, though there are extra targets to hit. The real danger comes in clearing out all the bonus targets at which point saucers will try to snap both players up with a tractor beam, so constant movement is a must. The Pac-Man variant is arguably the best of the bunch, turning the court into a maze rife with dots that are gulped down as you hit a little Pac-Man back and forth, adding to a combined pool where the winner for that particular shot will pocket (it's also the deciding factor for the game). Fruit adds extra abilities and ghosts will attach to players and slow them down. In a nice little touch, power pellets will still turn ghosts in to targets.
Bomb Tennis is fairly simple; each player gets three lives and with every shot they miss, a random smattering of bombs will drop. The tennis ball is swapped out with a bomb too, and the harder it's hit the faster the fuse drains. The game, then, plays a little like a game of Hot Potato, but if you can manage to time a shot right, detonating the tennis bal--err bomb will cause a chain reaction. Since explosions are the only thing that can drain a life, this isn't a bad strategy.
We're not quite sure if Smash Court Tennis 3 is quite our style, but we'll admit that if nothing else, the game takes some time to get used to, and we're still learning. The mini-games are nice distractions, but the Pro Tour Mode will be the real test of the game. We'll have a final verdict when the game ships in a few weeks.