Davis-Cup Tennis
Reviewed by Michael LoCascio
Davis Cup Tennis is not only the best sports game to have
ever been released on the Turbografx-16, it's also the best
tennis game to have appeared on any video game system. As a
fan of the sport, I was enthralled with this title, but even
friends of mine who weren't into tennis were impressed by
the action and realism that can be found in the game.
Options are aplenty. Up to four players can compete in many
different types of matches. You can play in singles or
doubles exhibition matches, or you can enter various
tournaments (among them, of course, is the Davis Cup
competition). There is also a special championship mode in
which you can create a player (you get to make up his name,
choose his nationality, and assign him ability ratings), and
participate in one tournament after another. As your
player's career goes on, his abilities increase. Your goal
is to win as many championships as you can and attain the
Number One ranking in the world. The game also features a
training mode in which you can work on various aspects of
tennis that may be giving you problems. Among the other
options in the game are match length, ball speed, and screen
view (split or single).
Other than the Davis Cup tournament, the game doesn't make
use of real names for the various competitions and
competitors. However, hard-core tennis fans will find plenty
of connections to real tennis contained within the game. For
example, the four main tournaments in the game take place in
England, France, Australia and the United States. These
tournaments are obviously intended to represent Wimbledon,
the French Open, the Australian Open and the U. S. Open,
respectively. Each of the tournaments take place on the
appropriate surfaces as well (for instance, Wimbledon takes
place on grass). NEC took a similar approach with the
computer-controlled players in the game. Every player has a
nationality, a ranking, and a first name. You can be fairly
certain that the last name of Number One ranked Ivan is
'Lendl', and the last name of the Number Two ranked
player, Boris, is 'Becker'. There are plenty of other real
life players that can be discovered this way - American
legends John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors are among them.
The game controls extremely well. There are a variety of
different shots at your disposal. Whether you want to lob
the ball over your opponent's head or smash it right past
him, the fluid controls allow you to do it all. Graphics are
solid - players look and move like real people. The sounds
in the game are absolutely spectacular - it sounds as if a
real tennis match were taking place on your TV screen.
This game is a must-have for anyone who enjoys the sport of
tennis. It's enjoyable, fast-paced, and incredibly
realistic. I only wonder about one thing: why didn't they
include female players in the game as well?
Overall: 9 out of 10
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