Tennis World Tour (PS4)

Product Information

If the ‘VR’ on the end of its title didn’t give it away, Dream Match Tennis VR is a virtual reality game, so you’ll need a PSVR headset to be able to enjoy it. Released in 2018, it puts you on the tennis court in a first person perspective and aims to fully simulate the experience of a real game of tennis. Replay mode. Breakpoint or deciding match point, capture your fiercest rallies on film and study the outcomes to improve your game.

Practice makes perfect: hire a personal coach to hone your skills. Buff your strengths and diminish your weaknesses with an in-game coaching system of individual training modules. Dream Match Tennis VR is the perfect option for players who want to feel like they are actually playing the sport. It is a virtual reality PlayStation 4 game that requires the necessary equipment to get a feel. Having a first-person perspective can be very entertaining, and it works well. While you occasionally come up against real-world guns like Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz on the men’s tour, and Victoria Azarenka and Madison Keys on the women’s, an overwhelming number of matches in Matchpoint’s career are played against fictional opponents. While it’s pretty hard to tell these carbon-copy competitors apart since they’re cut from the same restricted character creation toolset as your avatar, Matchpoint does at least attempt to inject some individuality into each of them by giving them a handful of strengths and weaknesses that can be uncovered during a match. The game places a strong focus on tactical realism, positioning and aiming, allowing the player to move their superstar in exactly the right way to get the most out of their shots. What makes this particular game more challenging than any of its predecessors is that a minor misjudgement to your timing can see the ball sailing long or drifting out of bounds. For example, you may have worked hard to push your opponent deep into the corner of the court with a couple of precisely placed shots, but if you mistime the winner then your shot will fall agonisingly on the wrong side of the line, and you’ll lose the point. These kinds of unforced errors plague even the best players at times, but can mean the difference between Grand Slam champs and Grand Slam chumps.

Start your journey

The ability to paint the lines so effortlessly is also detrimental to Matchpoint’s career mode, since it makes the progression system seem almost entirely unnecessary. While my created player began with modest levels of shot power and spin, his accuracy was laser-guided from the outset. That meant that from day one on the tour I was hitting about 50 clear winners for every one that landed wide. The size of the aiming reticle and your unerring ability to hit it remains consistent throughout, and even with the difficulty dialed up to the highest setting I stormed my way to seven consecutive tournament victories and was world number one within the first few months of my career; this despite having completed just one of the stat-boosting training mini-games along the way. Study your rival’s moves and tactics. Watch your opponents and get to know their strengths and weaknesses to gain a tactical advantage before you even hit the court. Matchpoint - Tennis Championships is a modern take on tennis, featuring a true-to-life on-court experience supported by a deep career mode and unique rivalry system. It looks like real-world tennis, too – at times. A vast roster of new animations means that you can read your opponents much better, but the system still isn’t perfect. There are occasions where the ball will come off your racquet at a strange angle, as the game attempts to blend the stance of your player with the direction you’re trying to return the ball. It’s rare, to be fair, and it’d be unreasonable to expect perfection when even juggernauts like NBA 2K and FIFA have occasionally inaccurate physics, but it’s something that will need further refinement should there be any future instalments. Thankfully, Big Ant has followed up with AO Tennis 2. Released in January 2020, it’s a much better game than its predecessor straight out of the gate. With a fully-fledged career mode, an extensive character creator and a plethora of game modes and training to take part in, it’s one of the most comprehensive tennis games you’ll find on PS4. There’s also a wealth of professional tennis players in the game, with their likenesses faithfully recreated thanks to motion capture and 3D scanning.

If the first three games focus on realism, Super Tennis Blast is a very simplistic game that will feel a bit more like an arcade-like game. There are many real types of strokes, but they just might not be looking the best on-screen. Enter the world of professional Tennis: “Matchpoint - Tennis Championships” offers a deep career mode featuring a unique merit-based ranking system. We think its better than its sequel, which scored just a paltry 4/10 from us thanks to its timing-based shot system, which really missed the mark. Some of the graphics look more impressive, and they have improved the player roster as well. However, the game is a little sluggish and does not feel as realistic as AO Tennis.

Experience realistic tennis

Master all strokes and shots in grand style. Determine the outcome of a rally by choosing the best technique for the time: top spin, flat, lob or slice shot.

There is certainly a bit of a rivalry between Tennis World Tour and AO Tennis. Both released follow-ups of their initial games, and while Tennis World Tour 2 closed the gap a bit, it is still lagging behind. Released in 2018, AO International Tennis wasn’t particularly well-received. In fact, at launch, it was pretty much deemed unfinished – and while developed Big Ant Studios eventually fixed most of its glaring issues through patches, it never quite recovered from its initial reception. Take on opponents in local or online matches. Play against a cunning AI or face your friends and rivals on the court via local sessions and online cross-play. When it first launched, Tennis Word Tour wasn’t received particularly well – and for good reason. It was essentially unfinished, with numerous issues. You couldn’t even play online, which is quite a big deal in a game where multiplayer is a key element. Thankfully, since its release, Tennis World Tour has had more time and love poured into it, and many improvements have been made. Now, it’s one of the best tennis games on PS4 if you’re looking for a serious game. It might not quite live up to the standards of the excellent Top Spin series, but it’s certainly not bad.

Dominate the court as a tennis professional

Think of this game more for casual tennis fans instead of those really into the sport. More intense tennis fans will want a little more licensing and realism to the game, but those who want to battle it out as a fast-paced alternative will be very happy with Super Tennis Blast. This is more of a game that can fit into just about any type of schedule. There is even the opportunity to play very short matches by using different scoring systems. To play this game on PS5, your system may need to be updated to the latest system software. Although this game is playable on PS5, some features available on PS4 may be absent. See PlayStation.com/bc for more details. It’s a rally system that’s certainly reliable and offers you plenty of freedom, but it’s also one that’s a bit too easy to master since it’s all reward and very little risk. The window for timing your shots is exceedingly generous, and you’re not really penalized in any way for overcooking a shot or serve. There are probably computerized ball machines that have made more unforced errors than I have in my 20 or so hours played – you almost have to go out of your way to actually hit the ball outside of the lines, and can pull off crosscourt shots at impossible angles without batting an eyelid. So yes, Matchpoint successfully makes me feel like some sort of hard-tuned tennis terminator… But when you’re confident you can nail a passing shot from almost anywhere it results in rallies that have about as much tension as a tennis racquet strung with spaghetti. Ball Too Easy Not only is the game inexpensive, but it can be very addicting since the gameplay is fast overall. Tennis matches can sometimes take a long time when it is too much like a simulation, which is frustrating for gamers who might not be fully immersed.

The career mode is pretty bare-bones, but can capture the attention of people who want to rise up in the ranks. It takes a little bit of time to get to the top, but it is interesting to face off against created and real players. There is an online community that is pretty challenging as well, and to this day, the best competition is found there. The company did a great job of getting the ball physics down, which adds to the realism overall. There are different levels of challenges, so players will not get bored all that easily. They also have a few sponsorships to go along with the game, which helps to add to the immersion.

This might be the perfect option as one of the sports that translate well. The controller feels like an actual racquet, and it shows just what potential VR has in the sports gaming world. The career mode is similarly dense, as you attempt to evolve a pretender to superstar status. You’ll need to plan effectively, taking into account travel, injury, training, and much more. Some of the features of the campaign are a little undercooked – like how signing agents and coaches merely give you buffs – but it’s generally an addictive setup, where you’ll need to plan ahead to ensure you’re in optimal shape to make a play for the events you want to win. Some people do not want to get out there and actually move around when playing a video game, as that is what real tennis is for. With that said, plenty of people are looking for different challenges with a virtual reality setup.