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»Pocket Tennis Color
"It’s got a lot of faults. Get it? That's tennis humor!"
You know, there is
one thing about the NGPC library which bothered me most of all. And no,
it’s not the lack of representation of a certain genre. Quite the
opposite, actually. There were at least three sports titles released on
the NGPC in America. Sure, Baseball Stars makes sense – it was pretty popular on the NES – and Neo Turf Masters was a remake of an old pre-Neo Geo arcade game, but Pocket Tennis? Why not another remake? Why not Street Hoop Pocket? Hell, I would have even taken a Super Sidekicks game. But Pocket Tennis? Why?
The game is hard to describe. Remember those old Tennis games on the SNES? Pocket Tennis Color is
pretty much that. What’s that? You don’t have any idea what I’m talking
about? Well, I’ll use a more modern analogy. It’s like Mario Tennis with a few major tweaks, like a lack of power shots, power-ups, special modes, and 3D graphics. That’s PTC in a nutshell.
There
are two game modes in all: Exhibition and Tournament. They’re exactly
what they sound like - Exhibition allows players to play a single match
against either a computer-controlled or human opponent, while
Tournament mode forces players through a slew of computer opponents to
claim their title as the best Tennis player... to ever beat a few
AI-controlled opponents in a video game. Yep, PTC isn’t quite known for its variety.
Like
in most NGPC games, the graphis have got both good and bad qualities.
The actual characters suffer from a visual limitation commonly seen in
2D fighters on the system: something I’ve referred to as “two-tone” in
previous reviews. Considering the odd color choices for some characters
(especially in their alternate costumes), I can safely say it’s far
more evident this time around. On the other hand, the courts do look
pretty nice, although the colors are a little pale. Unfortunately, I’d
say that the menus end up being the best looking aspect of the game,
and while that’s typical on this system, it’s still disappointing.
The
sound’s pretty forgettable, unfortunately. Nothing about it is really
that bad, but nothing stands out either. I mean, in this case, I think
it would be better if the music was nerve-wracking; at least if that
were the case, then there’d be an actual point to it. Instead, there’s
nothing to prevent you from turning your sound off...or leaving it on
for that matter. It’s a shame; I almost wish the music was bad. At
least in that case, it would have had an impact on me.
There’s nothing to really say here about the
replay value. On one hand, it’s good for a quick session of gameplay,
if video tennis is your thing. Unfortunately, that’s really the only
case for replay this game has. There’s no real hook to the game, which
isn’t helped by the fact that it’s pretty much a half-baked idea in the
first place. Honestly, I think they could’ve done a better job
marketing a stylized version of Pong. Come to think of it, that’s actually a much better idea.
Overall,
it’s not so much that this game’s bad, but there’s a lot working
against it. The engine is outdated, there’s no replay incentive, and
the graphics and sound are barely passable. This game could have really
benefited from a few mini-games, like a survival mode where players
would be forced to return an infinite amount of serves until they screw
up or trying to serve a ball so that it lands in a certain area of the
court... don’t give me that look. They did that kind of thing in MotM, so why wouldn’t it work in a game that actually needs some gimmick to make it worthwhile?
Article by: Wolfdogg
Posted on: Sep. 25th, 2007 |
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Review Recap |
| Gameplay |
| It plays kind of like those old Tennis games on the Super Nintendo. Take this however you will. |
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Graphics |
| The gameplay environments look okay, but the characters suffer from the classic NGPC “two-tone syndrome”. |
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Sound |
| Neither the music nor the sound effects are terrible, but they don’t really stand out either. |
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Replay Value |
| Eh, it’s not bad if you’re craving a quick fix of old-school virtual tennis. Unfortunately, that’s really the only case I can see anyone playing this game for a long duration. |
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