With Tennis On-Court, the Montois from Fishing Cactus are tackling virtual reality and sports simulation. If, technically, the game is a total failure, the gameplay has some strengths to highlight.
Virtual reality tennis games on PlaystationVR 2 are very rare, if not non-existent. The Mons studio Fishing Cactus and Decathlon (yes, the sports equipment manufacturer) are coming to exploit this market with Tennis On-Court. A little virtual reality game therefore, which is aimed at all fans of the yellow ball: those who prefer an arcade game, or those who prefer pure and hard simulation.
First of all, we prefer to warn you. Don’t expect to play Roger Federer and face Novak Djokovic on the Suzanne-Lenglen court at Roland Garros. It’s very simple. No real professional tennis player, whether man or woman, is present in the game. The Grand Slam Internationals are present, but it is not a question of official stadiums nor official names, Fishing Cactus contenting itself with a simple “France” for Roland-Garros or “United Kingdom” for Wembley. We suspect that official stadium or player licenses are expensive, but some semblance of content would have been nice. Instead of the big names, we will have to make do with the hidden sponsorship of Decathlon. The name of the brand appears absolutely everywhere and all of the equipment that can be attributed to our player is stamped Artengo, the Decathlon brand.
In fact, only two players are available: a man and a woman. Each can be personalized according to your wishes, but in a fairly limited way. When you decide to do a 1v1 or a 2v2, they are almost the same avatars that you face. What’s quite funny is that before a match, during the draw, it can sometimes be the same two characters who face each other. Options for customizing your avatar are offered to you, but these are really very meager and not very varied. The haircuts are disgusting and the Artengo brand equipment offered is of no interest since we never see our avatar. A menu in which we will only stay for a few minutes as the interest is almost zero.
The SAD seems constantly tuned to favor us. We have never lost the draw.
The opportunity to talk about the content of Tennis On-Court. In addition to the total absence of known faces or stadiums, the title is quite stingy in terms of game modes. Except for 1v1 solo or online and the tutorial, it is possible to participate in 2v2 online matches against friends or pure strangers. Finally, a tournament will be offered to you in the 4 difficulty modes of the game, and divided into 5 opponents.
Very clearly, the lack of content will play tricks on the title. We quickly got around it, and we didn’t really want to stay there for several hours. If the motion sickness is rather well managed and is only felt after around thirty minutes, it is mainly boredom which will prevent us from grinding the game from top to bottom.
Regarding the gameplay, the title is almost flawless. The only error that we could criticize is a completely strawberry AI, with movements that are not realistic or fluid. For example, when you hit the ball, the opponent does not move directly but almost waits for the first bounce to start moving.
In terms of immersion, finding yourself on a tennis court is quite exciting, especially since the title is very demanding in simulation.
Tennis On-Court offers you two types of gameplay: arcade and simulation. The simulation very clearly gives you the impression of being with a racket in hand on a tennis court. The ball physics are impressively realistic, and the slightest wrong arm movement will send the ball into the stands. More realistic, but also more demanding, the simulation mode will not be accessible to everyone. To begin, a novice should then favor the arcade mode, more fun and less penalizing.
The ball physics, we were talking about, is just perfect. Before serving, for example, you have 20 seconds to bounce the ball and get a perfect grip on it. If you play in simulation mode, you must adjust your shot to the nearest cm to avoid making a mistake. The grip of the racket is also very respectable, and we can even do backhands with one or two hands by bringing the two controllers together.
It’s very simple, you really feel like you’re on a tennis court. If we put aside the total lack of license and famous faces, Tennis On-Court is a real tennis simulation, there is no doubt. It’s a shame, however, that the graphics don’t allow us to push the level of realism even further.
Slow motion allows us to put ourselves in the shoes of the spectators and see in more detail the filthy graphics and animations of the game.
Imagine a Playstation 2 game in which you immerse yourself in virtual reality. That doesn’t make you want it, does it? Well, that’s the impression you get when you enter the world of On-Court. It’s just ugly and featureless. The stadiums are inspired by the real Grand Slam fields but less well, and the characters present in the game are filthy. The developers modeled two or three different spectators and distributed them here and there in the stadium with just messed up animations.
And it’s not just viewers who have dated animation. The opposing player is also a complete failure. His movements just aren’t smooth at all. And the worst is during slow motion, where we find ourselves in the stands alongside the spectators. It is at this moment that we realize the lack of technical quality of the title.
During the draw, the soundtrack, which was already not notable, interrupts in a strange way and gives way to complete and utter silence. The audience’s ovations start late. The draw, moreover, let’s come back to it, is very poorly calibrated. Out of the ten games we played, it was favorable to us 90% of the time. Several small details which are perhaps not important, but which, taken together, seriously spoil the immersion of a title which, we remind you, is nevertheless sold for €35.
Conclusion
We’d be lying if we said we didn’t have fun playing Tennis On-Court, and that’s definitely the main thing in a video game. Exuding realism in the physics of the ball and the hits with the racket, Tennis On-Court stands out as a pure and hard tennis simulation, with the possibility of playing in a more arcade mode, and therefore more fun, for novices. . However, it is indeed the gameplay that saves the day, since it is the only honorable point of the title. The graphics are simply terrible, as is the soundtrack which is really not remarkable. The content offered to us is starving, with three real small game modes, similar to each other, and a glaring lack of licenses and player customization options. The fact remains that, for €35, the bill is relatively steep for a title that we quickly got around to and with which your gaming sessions will very rarely exceed an hour.
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Tennis On-Court
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On aime :
Ultra demanding and realistic gameplay
Very real sporting sensations
We “almost” feel like we’re in a Grand Slam
We like less:
Ultra-dated graphics
No officially licensed names
Three unique true game modes
Very limited player customization options
A totally strawberry AI
2023-10-24 00:33:42
#Test #Tennis #OnCourt #tennis #Geeko
