Next Generation Tennis Review

6.0

Format PlayStation 2

Developer Wanadoo

Publisher Wanadoo

Genre Sports

Racquets at the ready for humdrum tennis

Even with the gameplay improvements over last year's Next Gen Tennis it's hard to tell just who Wanadoo thinks it's fooling.

Improved ball physics and added ball boys and girls don't in our minds warrant a purchase of this if you own the first game - or any other tennis game.

Double Team Tournament
At least there's a load of different game modes, including a career mode that features arcade-style training challenges. Outside of the four-player doubles matches, these challenges are where you'll find the most fun in the game and it's criminal that there aren't more of them.

But the actual lob, volley and slice gameplay is as standard as it could ever be, which is a shame given the unremarkable visuals and unimpressive character animations. What's even more disappointing is that there are just five licensed professional real-life players to choose from.

Next Generation Tennis 2003 is not terrible, but isn't it sad that years after the masterful Virtua Tennis, recent rival racquet games are still landing way wide of the mark.

CVG Staff