MotionPlus is here, but is EA in the game?
By Ben Salter
This is risky business for EA. Nintendo’s new MotionPlus accessory is poised to be the console’s saving grace, and transform it into what it should have been when it launched two-and-a-half years ago. If it’s successful Nintendo may win back fans that jumped ship with a disappointing run of lackluster software; if it flops Sony and Microsoft are ready to pounce and take the motion control market with superior technology. EA have entered uncharted water by releasing the first game that makes use of the device, over a month before Nintendo’s first attempt, and with that they have become the test subject for the Wii’s serious motion gaming future.
Prior to the Wii’s launch tech demos of Wii Sports Tennis had us all up in arms about the possibilities. The reality is that since then nobody has been able to create a better tennis experience. The Wii Remote seemed perfect for the game, but it lacked the accuracy needed for the sport. If you elect to play Grand Slam Tennis without MotionPlus nothing has changed, and perhaps it’s even worth having a go with the Wii Remote on its own just to gauge how much of a difference the $30 device makes. The basic control instructions claim that swinging early with cause the ball to go left, on time will hit straight and late will cause the oversized ball to travel right. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t work. As was the case with Mario Power Tennis, the controls are too unpredictable when using just the Wii Remote.
Introduce Wii MotionPlus and all of sudden, for the first time in a Wii tennis game, you have easy control over which side of the court your ball lands. Want smack it back to the left-hand baseline? Aim to the left. Want to slice right? Aim to the right. It couldn’t be simpler, in theory. Unfortunately, lobs and drop shots are still controlled by holding the A and B buttons respectively. Considering MotionPlus claims to “respond to the slightest movement, motion, or twist of the wrist” it’s a shame this wasn’t controlled by the angle of your controller. For the most part the MotionPlus controls are very good. It’s easy to select a shot and execute it using topspin, backspin or as a flat shot, and most of the time it responds to your movements correctly. It took me a few minutes to get into a rhythm using MotionPlus and there’s definitely a learning curve if you intend to master the controls. After spending countless hours playing Wii Sports Tennis I found myself using wrist only, waggle, movements that don’t work using MotionPlus. All of the cool kids who thought they had figured out how to dominate Wii Sports with the smallest movements possible will have to relearn how to play Wii.
MotionPlus is by no means perfect in Grand Slam Tennis, but one could hardly expect that from the first title off of the shelf. On numerous occasions our swings were not recognised or the backswing prompted a shot to be triggered, despite the game’s instructions stating that the backswing would set-up the position for your actual shot (therefore is required to play as instructed). Neither of these happened too often, however, it happened enough for us to begin to notice it as a problem.
Serving appears to be exactly the same playing with just the Wii Remote or with MotionPlus installed. It’s completely based on timing, which is a shame because this makes it unreliable. When the Nunchuck is installed it would have been nice to have the option to throw up the ball with this hand. Why did I have to use my hand with the Wii Remote, or racquet, to trigger the ball toss when I had another motion controlled device in my hand which could be holding a virtual tennis ball? MotionPlus isn’t exactly 1:1, after all we may as well hit up the actual tennis court if we seriously want to play that realistically, but serving is about as primitive as it was in Wii Sports. EA lifted the bar for every other shot imaginable so it’s a shame that they left something as important as serving up to timing, rather than motion tracking.
Controls aside there’s a decent tennis game behind the MotionPlus test run. As is becoming the norm in (EA) sports games there’s a fully-fledged career mode in which you create a character and take them to the top. EA has it over their rivals by offering all four Grand Slams as playable events along side 23 licensed characters including current and past players. While there’re no small tournaments in between you take part in warm-up and challenge matches before each Grand Slam. Your character increases his or her stats by beating pros in challenges, and learning their special move, or just generally playing well. It’s not the most in depth career mode out there, but it does the job nicely. After completing all four Grand Slams you can go around and do it all again for a second year to continue upgrading your character. There’s only so many times that you can do this before it becomes tiresome, so don’t think you’re going to play out a 10 year career.
Outside of the single player career there’s multiplayer, quick play, online and fitness options. Multiplayer includes a traditional game of tennis with a series of other party games (although I would hardly call them a party). This includes 2 on 1, volleying being worth double points and ‘King’ where only the ‘king’ player can score points. These mini-game type modes are actually playable with the assistance, and accuracy, of MotionPlus but this means you’ll need to invest in additional peripherals if your friends don’t have their own. EA also decided to jump onboard the Wii + fitness bandwagon. A fitness mode calculates how many calories you’ve burned in your Grand Slam Tennis matches. You can set yourself goals over a time period and the game will track your progress in every game mode, as long as you use the same custom character. However, it’s just an estimate as there’s no need to input an age, gender, height or weight and there’s no way for the game to know how much effort you’re putting in.
Online is a bit of a mixed bag living in Australia. The system itself is great, headlined by the fact the EA have used their own username system rather than Nintendo’s annoying friendcodes. Playing against friends is great (in Australia) and EA spoil you with a whole range of stats that are tracked on your online account. However, playing against a random opponent is another story. The game automatically sets you up with someone overseas for a county Vs country set-up. The idea behind this is that you earn points for yourself and your country by winning. In theory it’s a good idea, but there’s far too many dropouts and laggy matches, or balls moving abnormally fast or slow (that really disrupts your rhythm) for it to be any fun. If you find yourself a good connection it’s a great online sports title.
You’re either going to love or hate the presentation of Grand Slam Tennis. It’s obviously aimed at a more causal audience, and granted the Wii is limited hardware wise, but EA haven’t quite hit the nail on the head. Characters are a hybrid combination of Miis and real life people, which results in some very simple looking tennis pros. I can’t help but feel they should have gone for actual Miis or at least more realistic backgrounds, if not character models, rather than somewhere in between. In keeping with this theme the tennis ball is oversized, which does make it easy to see for the casual player. The crowd is made up of 2D cut-outs, similar to what you would expect on the PS2, or even the PS1. Had they included more detail here the rest may well have looked much better. Oddly all menus must be navigated using the D-pad, which feels a little awkward. It seems odd that EA would ignore the analogue stick on the nunchuck, as serious players are going to plug in straight away, and the Wii Remote’s IR pointer.
The sound isn’t too much better as it is comprised of the same commentary lines rehashed time after time. There’s hardly any commentary at all and the little content that is there is weak. If you win a match using a custom character the commentator will say something like “Player 1 advances to the next round” which sounds terrible. The laid back soundtrack is fairly generic and nothing special, but that’s not to say it’s bad, it’s fine for a game of tennis. The tennis sound effects aren’t too shabby, and the crowds certainly sound better than they look.
The Final Verdict
Grand Slam Tennis is the best, and most realistic feeling, tennis experience currently available on the Wii (at time of writing Virtua Tennis was not released, and not taken into consideration). It’s a good first up effort from EA using Wii MotionPlus, and while it’s not perfect is shows that the device has potential. The career mode offers all four Grand Slams, and 23 licensed players but lacks depth due to nothing beyond that. Multiplayer is fun, if every player has Wii MotionPlus, as is online if you have a good connection. Overall it’s the best tennis experience on any platform so far this generation.
Gameplay
8.0/10
The MotionPlus + Nunchuck controls are the best of any tennis game this generation. Career mode offers all four Grand Slams and 23 licensed players.
Graphics
5.5/10
I’m not convinced this was the right way to go. Every visual is intentionally simplistic but considering MotionPlus caters for the more serious gamer it seems like an odd approach. The character models themselves aren’t too bad, but mixed with some terrible backgrounds it doesn’t work as it should.
Sound
6.5/10
The commentary is terrible, the soundtrack is fine but forgettable and the tennis sound effects are decent.
Value
7.0/10
It really depends if you have 4 x Wii MotionPlus for multiplayer. Otherwise the career becomes repetitive and online varies depending on the location of your opponent.
Overall
7.6/10