Players look like real life counterparts…with a bit of a clay texture to them. Match intros/cut scenes are when the game is at its best. Presentation wise, Tennis World 2 is solid. (Stadiums included with the stadia pack DLC did possess character, however.) Perhaps subsequent title updates will make better use of the legends pack DLC. Tennis World Tour 2’s player and court models are likewise near-mirror to AO Tennis 2. Tennis World Tour 2 playable guys and gals are a glaring contrast to the robust roster of AO Tennis 2, one buoyed by oodles of user contributions. While the game’s roster is decent, it’s missing much at present. Upgrading to licensed equipment (that improve player skills) is likewise insanely difficult to acquire, even entry level ones. Simulating matches doesn’t help speed things up: your player will inevitably lose the match and any chance at accruing points. There is also limited incentive to grind toward better skill attributes as it powered by a microtransaction system requiring way too many in-game experience points.
Career mode players – with limited initial skills (and hampered by the game’s already bad controls) – literally can’t keep the ball on the court. Looking deeper, Tennis World Tour 2’s career mode likewise suffers from what could have been, a surprising step down in features from the player management engine of AO Tennis 2. Top Spin’s level up minigames are legendary top notch. Both were ridiculously addictive due to dynamic play and tightest controls. These foibles would be acceptable is Top Spin and Virtua Tennis didn’t solve them decades ago. Akin to singles, points are typically achieved via unforced errors. Doubles is on a sister weird autopilot of lightning fast net volleys and/or top spin shots to the far court. Most points are won simply by waiting out unforced errors. Moreover, said control issues remove any reward for working court corners, slices, drops, and/or charging the net. These issues force players to default playing deep baseline center also going ultra conservative on serves. Why feature Nadal as if you can’t properly unleash him? Third, there is little to no difference when traversing clay versus hard/grass courts. Similarly – and even with a sprint button – an omnipresent sense of muddiness removes any thrill of chasing down balls and/or what should be exciting volleys. For example, and far too often, players get stuck in a choppy sidestep animation and/or miss swinging at the ball entirely.
Across all difficulty levels, players are besieged by a horrible animation assist hiccup, one that removes any sense of control freedom. Perhaps the biggest offender lies in player movement around the court. Ball control weaknesses are most evident in training tutorials, where what should be challenging ball/serve placement minigames are instead endlessly frustrating. Net volleys? Laser sharp, lightning fast, and completely unrealistic.
Related, racket feel is practically non-existent, with the quest for accurate ball placement and swing power hair pulling wrong. What results is a maddeningly difficult time controlling how/where balls go, and a plethora of unnecessary unforced errors and service faults. The same holds true for serves, and frustratingly so.
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Swing windows are flat out illogical, as discrepancy between a poor and stated ‘perfect’ shot do not correspond to on-screen visual representation. The biggest culprit lies in Tennis World Tour 2’s wonky swing mechanics and general player movements. Execution, however, is a much different story. Sensitive swing and serve timing based on real life physics, an array of career mode customizations, widest stadium and court type selections, and a balanced roster of current players are would-be prescriptions for a great tennis game. Sadly, this wasn’t the case with 2K…nor is it here with Tennis World Tour 2.Ĭonceptually, Tennis World Tour 2 should be a much better game. Much like when 2K poached NBA Live’s top talent, hope rang eternal that snared devs would bring the best of the former with them…while maintaining highest points of where they went to. Oz based Big Ant Studios -developers of original Tennis World Tour competitor AO (Australian Open)Tennis 2 – are now the brains behind Tennis World Tour 2. Modern videogame tennis is an incestuous circle, it appears.