Developer: Decathlon Games
Platforms: Meta Quest 2, PS VR2 (Reviewed)
Genre: Sport
Publisher: Perp Games
Tennis On-Court is the VR version of a tennis simulator on PS5 VR2. The game allows for it to be played in an arcade or realistic mode; it lets you decide your realism to suit your taste.
The graphics and character rendering have much to be desired; the models have this weird robot feel to them, and the quality of the face rendering is poor; it looks okay. The game allows you to customise and update the character’s look and feel to your desire.
Once I got over the shocking-looking characters, I played the tutorial, which was much needed after my first attempt at playing against the AI, which didn’t fare well for me. The tutorial covers all aspects of the game, with a few arcade games to help you hone your tennis skills before unleashing your skills against the computer. When you use the VR world of tennis, you will stride out one of the 6 six stadiums that allow you to play on clay, grass or hard surfaces. Like the character models, the crowd is very wooden and adds minimal atmosphere to the proceedings. Once you play against the AI, you can knit all your skills together, from serving, forehands, backhands, lobs and the odd underhand serve. The game is enjoyable and has a steep learning curve, but VR games generally have a more significant learning curve, as controls in all games are different. If you don’t go for assisted movement in a tennis game, you must position yourself for the right shots, which takes time.
There are lots of options in terms of how you play the game. First is the arcade or realistic mode, and then your movement can be automatic, manual or teleport, depending on the level of realism you want.
The game features 1 vs 1, with a choice of 4 difficulty levels; again, you can play the AI that suits you best. I find the most accessible setting a challenge, so beware of the simulation nature of the game. An online mode allows for singles versus games and doubles, too. I didn’t find any games online, so your mileage may vary, too. But these are excellent features.
It’s a mixed bag, but I mainly refer to the lacklustre characters and crowd models; I expect much better. There is customisation on the characters, but the look of the characters is meh. The positives – from a gameplay point of view, the simulation nature of the game is to be admired and, with all the adjustable features, it allows you to play a tennis VR game that suits you. However, even though there is an arcade, it still feels like a tennis simulator, which is good. I enjoyed the hyper-realistic nature. If you want to play realistic tennis in VR, this does a great job on the gameplay front.
Overall: 7/10
Enjoys more than the odd game, long time gamer, somewhat a technologist and everything else in between.
Also enjoys a good solid game of FIFA online. Currently PS4, XBOX 360 and STEAM.
