ic-games Review - Mario Power Tennis - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

ic-games Review - Mario Power Tennis - Reviews, Previews and Interviews for PC, Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii ic-games Review - Home - Review, Preview and Interview for PC, Xbox,Xbox 360, PS2, PS3 and Wii

Mario Power Tennis

Information
Reviewer: James Collins
Developer: Camelot
Publisher: Nintendo
Reviewed: GameCube
Genre: Sports (low realism)
UK Release: 25th Mar 2005
Article Date: 19th Jan 2005
Difficulty: Medium
Retail Price: £39.99
Price Comparison:
0

Score Breakdown

Experience:
Game Play:
Graphics:
Sound:
Overall Score: 87%

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Pros

Great use of Nintendo legends

Great for all age and skill groups

Cons

Screen can become cluttered

Screenshots

3 of 15

The Mario gang seem to have given up with saving the Mushroom Kingdom, nowadays Mario et al seem to prefer to settle their differences with Golf, basketball and now Tennis. Many were a little disappointed with Mario when he took us all out for a round of golf, mainly due to the absence of that manic Nintendo magic. Camelot have thought long and hard about the sports range and have gone back to basics with Mario Power Tennis.

The tournament mode contains the usual Nintendo trademark levels “Mushroom, Flower and Star cups” is where most people should begin. After picking one of your Mario themed characters (Mario, Luigi, Wario and co) it’s time to decide exactly how faithful you want your game of Tennis to be. “World Open” only slightly changes the rules in that each character has two special moves which they can activate when their Tennis racquet begins to glow. These two moves can be incredibly useful if used at the right time. A defensive powershot can save you in an impossible situation. Say you find yourself wrong footed and you were too far away to return a shot. A simple button combination and your character will perform an amazing save. If however you wanted to perform an offensive powershot you can, this will make your character perform an almost un-returnable shot. (Unless you counter with a defensive shot of course). What’s nice though is that each character has their own special moves. Peach will blow a kiss at her opponent stunning them, Mario will return a shot using a massive hammer and Diddy Kong will grab a rocket barrel and fly at speed to return an impossible shot. It may be frustrating to see a brilliant shot returned by using a cheap powershot defensive move but it still manages to add to the gameplay at the same time. After all you have the same advantage.

If you tire of standard tennis there is still plenty to see and do, and of course unlock, in Mario Power Tennis. There are a plethora of mini games available straight away with success in the ones available unlocking even further crazy game modes. These special games do carry the theme of tennis but differ wildly in gameplay. Artist on the court has you returning blobs of paint onto a picture on the wall. Each blow represents a colour and you must hit the right blob of paint onto the right part of the picture. Complete a round and its onto the next picture.

Multiplay is secured with support for four players at once. Singles or doubles matches can be set up with relative ease with the computer filling up any missing slots. All of the party games can also be played in multiplayer mode as well.

There is also a fully featured Gimmick mode tournament to sit alongside the standard tennis tournaments. In the Gimmick mode the actual tennis courts themselves play a major part in the gameplay. Playing in Luigi’s Mansion means that not only do you have to concentrate on the tennis, but at the same time trying to avoid the ghosts that dance around the screen. Bowser’s Castle has an impressive Tennis court swinging on a platform which constantly rocks from side to side. Or you could find yourself playing in Donkey Kong’s jungle with animals running across the net. If you manage to knock one off they will attack your opponent.

The graphics are what you would expect from a Mario franchise, colourful, loveable and damn right cute. From the initial opening movie to the closing credits your left in no doubt that this is pure marketing genius. The defensive and offensive powershots can sometimes lead to confusing times on screen but everyone does suffer from the same information overload. The graphics are what you would expect from a Mario franchise, colourful, loveable and damn right cute. From the initial opening movie to the closing credits your left in no doubt that this is pure marketing genius. The defensive and offensive powershots can sometimes lead to confusing times on screen but everyone at least does suffer from the same information overload. The real magic is again down to the way Nintendo handles their games. They seem to be able to make their titles appeal to just about every age group, and with Mario Power Tennis, they’ve certainly done it again.

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