Grand Slam Tennis

Grand Slam Tennis
Developer(s)	EA Canada
Publisher(s)	EA Sports
Platform(s)	Wii
Release date(s)	NA June 8, 2009[1] AUS June 11, 2009 UK June 12, 2009 JP July 2, 2009 INT June 26, 2009[2]
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single Player, Multiplayer
Distribution	Wii Optical Disc

Grand Slam Tennis (EA SPORTS グランドスラム テニス) is a tennis video game, developed by EA Canada,^[3] and was initially released for the Wii on June 8, 2009.^[2] Versions for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were planned to be released Autumn 2009, but they have been "delayed indefinitely". Instead, a sequel, Grand Slam Tennis 2, was released exclusively for those consoles on February 2012.^[4]

Some features for the Wii version include online play, Wii MotionPlus functionality, pick up and play, a Grand Slam career mode, and all four Grand Slam locations, including Wimbledon. The Wii version was also the first title in Europe to be bundled with the Wii MotionPlus.^[5]

The in-game music was created by Paul van Dyk, who wrote and produced all the tracks in the game.

Players

Grand Slam Tennis features 23 total players, including 11 retired legends and 12 of today's top players at the time of the game's release.^[6]

• Current Male Players: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Lleyton Hewitt and Kei Nishikori.
• Current Female Players: Lindsay Davenport, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova.
• Retired Male Legends: Pete Sampras, Björn Borg, John McEnroe, Boris Becker, Stefan Edberg, Pat Cash, and Michael Stich
• Retired Female Legends: Martina Navratilova, Justine Henin^{[nb 1]} and Chris Evert

Grand Slam Tennis also includes a "Create-A-Player" mode. In the "Create-A-Player" mode, players can create their own unique player for use in all modes of the game. The player can customize their created player with branded clothing, racquet styles, accessories and physical appearance. Up to nine players can be created at any one time. Pat Cash serves as the commentator even when he is playing in a match.

Venues

Grand Slam Tennis offers 12 different authentic stadiums from all four Grand Slam venues to play in, and is the first video game since Top Spin 2 to feature a licensed Wimbledon.

• Australian Open: Rod Laver Arena, Hisense Arena and Court 15.
• French Open: Court Philippe Chatrier, Court Suzanne Lenglen and Court No. 12.
• Wimbledon Championships: Centre Court, Court No. 1 and Court No. 3.
• U.S. Open: Arthur Ashe Stadium, Louis Armstrong Stadium and Court 9.

Modes

The game has numerous modes of play:

Play Now: This mode allows players to enter either a singles or doubles match. This mode is available for both single and multiplayer forms of play.The player is able to select their venue, and to choose settings such as set length, amount of sets, difficulty and the option of a tie-break.

Grand Slam: This mode allows players to embark on a career with their created player.The career involves travelling to each of the four Grand Slam tournaments and attempt to achieve the Grand Slam by winning every tournament. Each tournament begins with a warm-up match against a fellow fictional rookie of average ability. The player can then challenge a legend or current player to a match in an attempt to learn the players special ability, e.g. Rafael Nadal's forehand topspin, or Björn Borg's fitness. If the player is successful with their challenge, they may equip that special ability for use in future matches. The player can equip only one ability to start with, however as the player increases in skill, they will be able to equip multiple abilities at one time. Then the player will take part in a party style mini-game form of tennis along with fictional players, before starting the tournament. Every tournament starts at the round of 32 stage (round 3).

Party Mode: This is a collection of mini-games that are each a slightly altered form of tennis, with slight rule changes:

• Tag Team: 2 on 2 with players rotating and taking turns hitting the ball.
• Aussie Doubles: 2 on 1 and the players rotate after each set.
• Drop and Lob: use the drop shot and lob winners for double points.
• Champs: time based game, take turns swinging, win the rally to become a champ.
• King of the Court: beat the king to become king, only the king earns points.
• Net-masters: Net shots are worth double points.
• Triplets: Similar to Aussie doubles where (2 on 1) but the players do not rotate around.

Online:

Multiplayer

The game has been praised by critics for its addictive online gameplay. No friend codes are needed to play online, however an EA account is required if you want to play the full online experience. Online consists of ranked or unranked matches where you can play anyone around the world. Ranked earns the player points when they beat someone and these points decide what overall ranking you are in the world. Unranked matches are friendly and don't earn any points for the player's online profile. It is good for people who are preparing to hit the leaderboards. When players win ranked matches they do not only win points for themselves but also for their country. There is a national leaderboard which shows which country has the best players.

Reception

Grand Slam Tennis has generally received average to positive reviews, with a Metacritic average of 78%. Official Nintendo Magazine UK gave it 90%, IGN and GameTrailers both listed an 8.5/10, while GameSpot was lower with a 6/10. Eurogamer dubbed it "beautifully intuitive",^[7] and IT Reviews called it a "surprisingly strong tennis game and an interesting evolution of the Wii controller too".^[8]

Notes

References

External links

• Grand Slam Tennis