Sega Superstars Tennis

Sports is the hardest thing for me to review. I'm not into anything besides college basketball and hockey so my knowledge of the rules is very limited. However, this isn't your typical sports game and while I still don't know the exact rules of tennis, you really don't need to know them to enjoy this game.

Following in the footsteps of their once rivals Nintendo, Sega has compiled their own cast of characters in a sporting game. It uses the same engine as the Virtua Tennis series which I do enjoy every once in a while despite not owning any of them.

Sega has taken a different approach with this game though. It's all a mishmash of mini-games and actual tennis which is actually kind of interesting when you think about it. One thing Sega does have going for itself is that it's characters aren't all that typical and the different game genres really helps this game stick out in the crowd.

They took some care with this title for once and it shows with the graphics. We have very sharp and colorful graphics. There are ten themed courts, all of which are interesting to see but I do wish that each game represented had it's own court and character but we can't ahve it all. Either way we do get some nice themes going with the courts and I like the cameos in the background.

The actual tennis in this game is pretty fun, if you like the sport. Bouncing a ball back and forth could be amusing I guess but to be honest I've never played the real sport so who am I to judge. However, my only problem with the actual tennis part of this game, which really isn't that big of a part to the game, is that the AI seems very spontaneous. Meaning the difficulty, even on easy, can hit so that your opponent will slaughter you in one match but in the next just fall over for you. I also had some minor issues with seeing the ball but I got over that and it was mainly due to a random yellow spot that appeared and I had thought it was an indicator for where the ball was going but then it just happened randomly s I have yet to figure out what that actually was about.

There is also a super power that you and your opponent can unleash. These will cause the ball to do wacky things that are more annoying than anything and I can't help but wonder how many times I screwed myself over by trying to do them. Thankfully you can turn these off in the options menu which I highly recommend doing.

Rest of the game seems to be about the mini games, which don't feel like normal mini games. The main part of this title is called Superstars which gives you themed challenges per title. be it Sonic, House of the Dead or Alex Kidd. It's pretty amusing really and for Sega fans it's a wet dream come true. Sega doesn't always follow through with what you have here but it could be worse.

The mini games aren't all that exciting but each world has it's own thing going for it. You may end up in an actual tennis match, be it singles or doubles. Or you just might have a full on mini game.

My personal favorite mini games has to do with House of the Dead. You have hordes of zombies coming at you and you are hitting these fireballs from statues into them and knocking them down. yeah, it isn't complicated but it's pretty sweet. Besides that we get a mini game where Sonic needs to dodge bombs and electric shots, all the while collecting rings (in true Sonic fashion).

We also have some bland mini games though. The Jet Set Radio games are kind of lame. They have you collecting paint cans while dodging the police. Not really true to the spirit but the game but in the next breath you also get to splatter paintballs so all isn't bad.

As you progress through the Superstars mode you unlock new courts, new characters and new music tracks to listen to. This is awesome because you get classic Sega tunes from all the games that are featured here. If only rest of the game had this much effort put forth it would have rocked even more.

So besides quick matches and the Superstars mode we also have on-line play. No one really plays on-line it seems and the few games I did get into had an unfortunate meeting with some nasty lag. You can also watch matches via Sega TV which is useless but cool none the less.

I can't sit here and say this is the best game ever because it isn't. For a Sega fan it's an awesome experience and I see them getting the most out of this title. If you don't know who Beat or Ulala are then this might not be for you. In the end it has some flaws but fans will eat this one up and the game play isn't too shabby to boot but the on-line kind of hurts the overall package.

Story - N/A
Graphics - 9/10
Sound - 10/10
Control - 8/10
Game Play - 7/10
Replay Value - 8/10

Final Score - 7/10