SEGA Superstars Tennis

Rose tinted specs off. Scores in.

	Version Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii, DS	Developer Sumo Digital	Publisher SEGA	Genre Sports

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We were able to unlock everything in under ten hours, though, and this was the main enjoyable element because we wanted to see every single bit of classic Sega stuff that has been included. There really is some excellent and surprising stuff in there, dating as far back as mid-1980s arcades and Master System games. We won't mention many of them here (and really they cannot possibly be a secret to anyone who's been following the game). One is Virtua Cop, essentially a series of shooting challenges in which the player moves a (rather well programmed) cursor over parts of the opening scene from Virtua Cop's first level to 'shoot' the bad guys. The point is that none of this has anything to do with tennis, it's just a great excuse to revisit a lot of what has been great about Sega for years and unlock tonnes of associated characters, themed courts and recognisable music.

As a fan, I was obviously left wanting more. But to include everything I want from the Sega archives would simply be an impossible task. There are, however, a couple of ideas, which while successful, are underdeveloped. The 'trick shot' in Super Monkey Ball is a snooker-based thing that finishes before its really started and I was left thinking, "Wait! You had the right idea with this and should have done a few more of these missions for it to work." In other cases, a world's theme does not actually have its own stage associated with it, but really that's just being picky for the sake of it.

A slightly less light-hearted complaint I had relates to a couple of the missions, particularly Jet Set Radio. One graffiti mission requires literally a flawlessly precise and fast execution of the tagging process but the game doesn't emphasise how perfect you need to be; many players will stand no chance of working out how they are supposed to complete the mission, let alone actually be able to do it if they know how. Whether this was an intentional design choice I am not sure, but it seems to go against the design philosophy of the rest of the game that awards grades from E to A and though to AAA for exceptional performance, yet on this mission there is literally no room for error and I can see a lot of frustrated players at this point (something confirmed by looking on forums). The mission measured my mettle and my patience more than my skill. A pity, as the graffiti/tagging missions are otherwise a great idea and, like several of the hidden games, really help you to learn very precise control of where you want your ball to go.

It's a shame, then, that the extreme level of precision and skill you will have learned by the time you finish Superstars mode is really surplus to requirement in the core tennis game. The tennis action is not bad; it's just not enough to justify long-term playing of matches, either with friends or in singleplayer, once you've lapped up all the Sega goodness on offer. In singleplayer, the tennis matches themselves are also excessively easy to win in any mode of the game. In addition the special moves that you are able to pull of when powered up, while looking awesome and providing fan service that makes me smile, seem to me to be of little strategic value to a match half the time.

The game is slightly dumbed down from Virtua Tennis, and while it initially feels oversimplified, you soon get used to how it's actually supposed to control and it feels reassuringly responsive and deep once you've got the hang of it. But I just don't see where the longevity is supposed to come from; there's no way anyone is going to play this competitively in any serious way and I can't think of many people who will do so purely because of the Sega themes. In raw gameplay terms, something like VT3 or Rockstar's Table Tennis are far more addictive for competitive play.

It's a little difficult to judge the game because of this. The production values and colourful, detailed graphics are awesome, and obviously with my Sega hat on I would give it 11/10 and back this game at any price (indeed, if you love Sega as much as I know half the audience of this site does, you're in the "don't think, just buy" category), but trying to be serious for a moment, can it be recommended to anyone else? Well let's think about that. If Wii Sports can gratify the younger gamers to the extent it has, then I don't see how this can't better it (especially the Wii version) because there's a whole lot more on offer here and much richer, more engaging design. It's definitely fun to play. The only other group left are the 'serious' gamers who AREN'T as bothered about Sega. Can it be recommended to them? It's certainly worth a play through because of the excellent design ideas and exemplary mission mode. So unsurprisingly, I'm going to recommend it.

It's not trying to be anything it isn't, and for what it's supposed to be it's brilliant.

I am very eager to see where the 'Sega Superstars' series goes next, as it's clear Sumo has proved it can do ANYTHING with Sega and there will surely be further collaborations along these lines coming next.

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