World Court Tennis
Reviewed by Michael LoCascio
For a system that was hailed as being high-powered and state
of the art, the TurboGrafx-16 featured plenty of games that
looked like they belonged on an 8-bit system. World Court
Tennis, a miserable excuse for a 16-bit sports game, was one
of those titles. I am completely serious when I say that
this game has no redeeming features, and that there isn't a
single good reason to go out and buy it, even if you are an
ardent fan of the sport of tennis.
Well, to be fair, maybe there was one decent feature: the
option of allowing four players in on the action
simultaneously. This lone bright spot is basically
nullified, however, when you realize that none of your
friends would ever want to play this horrific game. If
you're really lucky, you might be able to bribe your little
sister into playing - but there's no way she'll ever fall
for that despicable trick more than once.
The first awful thing you'll notice about World Court Tennis
is the game's ridiculous appearance. This is a 16-bit title
that actually features slow, stupid looking-players with
absurdly huge heads - the type of graphics that were
outdated even by NES standards at the time. You'll soon find
out that the sound effects follow suit perfectly: all of the
dinks, bloops, and blips will take you back to the glorious
early days of the NES (some of you older gamers may even be
reminded of the Atari 2600 upon hearing this discordant
clamor). The controls are inadequate as well; your players
will typically be too slow to get to the ball once it's hit
to your side of the court, and even if they do make it on
time, they'll be lucky to hit it back over the net. There
are plenty of fictitious players that you can select from,
each with different strengths and weaknesses, but they all
swing so meekly that it'll make you wonder if these guys
have ever picked up a racket before. Making matters even
more frustrating is the fact that your player will often
completely miss the ball even when he or she is in perfect
position to make a return. When forced to switch sides (from
the near end of the court to the far end), it becomes
virtually impossible to hit the ball back to your opponent.
World Court Tennis includes a role-playing 'quest mode'
that is very similar to the adventure mode featured in NEC's
Final Lap Twin game. As a young, aspiring tennis player,
your goal will be to defeat any and all challengers that you
meet up with en route to becoming the tennis champion of the
fictitious world in which you live. You'll begin your
adventure in your home town; upon departing, you will find
yourself on a world map screen. You'll subsequently make
your way from one town to another, challenging all of the
local tennis champions along the way. Random battles occur
in the form of tennis matches. For each match that you win,
you'll be awarded prize money that can be used to purchase
better equipment (such as rackets, shoes, etc.). Although it
may seem a bit silly, the quest mode at least represents a
sliver of creativity on the part of the game's designers.
Unfortunately, the actual matches that take place in quest
mode are plagued by the exact same problems as those that
occur in normal modes, and chances are you won't want to
play the game long enough to complete the journey.
World Court Tennis is an absurd excuse for a 16-bit game and
it doesn't do the sport of tennis any justice at all. If you
own a Turbo and you're a tennis fan, you're still in luck:
Davis Cup Tennis is the best tennis game ever made, and you
shouldn't hesitate for a moment to purchase it (if you can
still find it). This, on the other hand, is absolute trash
that nobody should waste their time on.
Overall: 2 out of 10
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