Grand Slam Tennis 2 - What Went Wrong?

[ps3veron]

Well said folks, this game had amazing potential. As much as I like TS4, EA added quite a few presentation notches. We're talking ESPN commentary, official licenses and I for one loved the idea of that racket swing.

I still own the game and play it from time to time. Problem is, IMO it feels a little on the arcade side.

Not such a bad thing considering how much fun it can be but I would have loved a little bit more depth.

I'll say this though, EA's online is much better than 2Ks on this game. I don't know but I still really like this title.

[Mos1ted]

I don't currently own a tennis game, but Top Spin 4 has been on my radar for months. I just have a hard time finding a pre-owned copy where I live.

I was actually looking forward to Grand Slam Tennis 2, but given EA's mass appeal approach to the vast majority of its games, I knew that GST2 wouldn't hold my interest in the longterm. This day in age, I'm only interested in buying games that I can play and enjoy for months down the road.

I'm hoping EA sees this as a sign that trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator isn't always a good strategy, especially in a sport that isn't mainstream to begin with.

[taiketsu]

@Mos1ted: I picked mine up, used, at $25 last year but the game is worth so much more. If you've followed tennis since the 90s, you'll really appreciate how they've implemented serve and volley, and how it compares to the pure baseline styles used by the likes of Nadal.

[fakeimmigrant]

The problem comparing GST with TS and VT is the fact that this EA's first real attempt at an HD console tennis game. Even though they originally cancelled a 360/PS3 tennis game to hit stores after the Wii version a few years ago, EA Canada was learning. Both Top Spin and Virtua Tennis have been around for a significantly longer amount of time and both series have had their ups and downs. Top Spin 2 and 3 weren't nothing to write home about but Top Spin 4 was a huge improvement and significantly user friendly. Grand Slam Tennis 2 was really easy to grasp but yes, the career mode was really bad.

Depending on how much longer EA has the Wimbledon license, I still expect another tennis game from them in the next 2-3 years. Thankfully, Tennis games aren't released yearly and I believe three tennis games can co-exist, especially since each offers such a different experience.

One thing the author failed to point out was pricing. GST was priced at 50 dollars, and I think that was a really poor move by EA. A new sports franchise like this should have hit stores at 40 dollars, if not less. Asking gamers to jump into a new franchise at a high price point was a poor marketing decision. I am certain that price was a factor in the poor sales.

[rangerrick012]

Quote: Originally Posted by rman

Wow! Top Spin out sold MLB The Show..crazy.

To be fair, TS is on both platform, while MLB is on only one. On the other side of the coin, tennis is a global sport while baseball is mainly American and non-existent in most of Europe, which also plays into FIFA's huge sales over Madden and NBA 2K.

[tril]

Top Spin is solid. and 2k did the smart thing by not offering a yearly release. I feel that tennis games in general is great for head to head competitons at family gatherings.
The career mode is awesome and its great to know that I continue this mode at a leasurley pace, knowing that there wont be a yearly release.
I thought about grand slam tennis, but
1. I dont play tennis games on a consistent basis.
2. this article just killed any thought of purchasing the game

[tinpanalley]

I will never stop being irritated by the fact that sports video games are rated in most places for their franchise options which are just options. They should be rated for the gameplay. Period. I made a whole bunch of players with faces to replace the ones in the game, I load up any major I want, I put the players where I want them, and I get great results with my created players. The game plays fine. No game of tennis has ever been realistic. In my opinion (just my opinion) it plays better than TS4 VT or any other game EXCEPT for Smash Court on the PSP which even has Hawkeye challenges.

[rangerrick012]

Quote: Originally Posted by tinpanalley

I will never stop being irritated by the fact that sports video games are rated in most places for their franchise options which are just options. They should be rated for the gameplay. Period. I made a whole bunch of players with faces to replace the ones in the game, I load up any major I want, I put the players where I want them, and I get great results with my created players. The game plays fine. No game of tennis has ever been realistic. In my opinion (just my opinion) it plays better than TS4 VT or any other game EXCEPT for Smash Court on the PSP which even has Hawkeye challenges.

You say games should be rated on gameplay then mention a feature that's only tangentially related to gameplay (hawkeye)?

And its fine that you like GST, but people aren't disliking it only bc of its weak career mode. The gameplay has its issues as well.To defend these flaws by saying no tennis game has been realistic seems like a copout when others have pointed to TS4 as being fairly realistic, despite the flaws it has.