 |
|
 |
| |
Chad's Mario Tennis Review
Cameo games have traditionally never been too spectacular in the graphics area. While I prefer this model over previous cameo offering, my post-Donkey Kong 64 standards will go unsated until at least Banjo-Tooie. The models here are a slight improvement over Mario Golf's (Donkey looks like an actual gorilla now, rather than a Lego man), but the only real spectacular aspect of the game's graphics are the lighting effects. Not only does the game feature brilliant "hit-the-ball" flashes, but it has those realistic character-shaped shadows that everybody seems to love. They weren't used consistently through the game, but it's wonderful when they are.
8.5
This is quite possible Mario Tennis's low point. Camelot doesn't seem to have a very good grasp on the audio portion of game development. The music is incredibly repetitive, and becomes annoying after a few rounds. The absolutely horrid part, though, are the character voices. They suit the characters well, don't get me wrong, but each character has about four sound samples that are constantly reused throughout the match, and it can be a little grinding on the nerves. Of note, though, is the fact that they used Yoshi's "Yoshi's Story" voice for this one, rather than his "Mario Kart 64" synthetic voice. Too bad they didn't give Donkey his rightful grunts. Damned carburator voice...
7.6
As every other review you'll encounter says, this is where Mario Tennis (and all of Camelot's other Mario sport tiles, for that matter) shines. The play control is spot-on, with the A and B buttons doing most of your actions, and the control stick, appropriately enough, controlling your character. Camelot did a great job varying the speed and aligity of each player, which adds replay value to the game. No matter how good, every character has a weakness. In Mario Golf, once you got Metal Mario, the only reason you would play with another character is if you're a Donkey Kong-biased prick like me. Wonderful.
9.8
There have been Tennis games before that are reportedly very similar to Mario Tennis, but I've never really played any of them, so I can't be a judge on that. This game, however, isn't just an updated clone of the Virtual Boy game "Mario's Tennis". They added some features, such as Ring Shot and Pirahna Challenge, which were quite fun. Bowser Court, however, fell flat. There was just too much going on to pay attention to. Overall, the game was quite original for Nintendo systems, but as far as the entire gaming community goes, it's just another water molecule in the ocean of nameless sports games.
8.3
Okay, I've somewhat praised Mario Tennis through my review. But I'm actually not very pleased with the title. The game is incredibly fun for the first few hours, but after a while you find playing it become more and more of a chore. This wasn't the case with Mario Golf because of the varied landscapes, but in Mario Tennis you have differently colored flat plains. Not exactly pleasing to the eyes for long durations. As a result of the enjoyability lasting for only a few hours, the game was incredibly overhyped at E3, because everybody who played it did so for no more than an hour. In my opinion, the game suffered from its own overhyping, as I was expecting far too much from it when I got it. Give me Mario Golf any day.
7.2
|
|
|
 |
|
 |
|
|
