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| Mario Power Tennis |
| ...I don't think we're in Wimbeldon anymore. |
| Positive: Addictive gameplay Negative: Cheap power shots Not a Rehash of: Mario Tennis |
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| · Power Shots will be both your friend and enemy. |
| Although it is a bit like tennis, you cannot call Mario Power Tennis a true sports game. Sure, you challenge other plays on courts, and hit a ball back and fourth. However, there are not much more similarities to real tennis and this game. With the Nintendo influence slapped into this package, this is not your typical tennis game. As with any other Mario sport game, there is not much story to this. All you do is play through tournaments and attempt to win the special cup with a choice of 14 characters. There are singles and doubles modes in Mario Power Tennis, though the doubles contests are much more fun. On the court, the controls are as simple as they can get. Moving around and hitting the ball are the only things to do. On the other hand, each character has two special moves. One of these is for, well, a power shot. The other is more of a safety shot, where your character saves a hit ball to keep it in play. Most of the time, these are very useful. Wait until you play the harder difficulties, though. The computer is constantly using these moves, and gets repetitive and cheap. Though, with starred characters, it gets easier. If you get bored of the tournament mode, try some mini-games. They are a blast to play, with or without friends. When I first played Mario Power Tennis, the first thing I noticed were how familiar the graphics looked. Classic Nintendo style, bright and cheerful. The character models are slick and polished, while the courts are highly colored. Although some of the special moves are a bit blurry, the imaginative feel makes everything better. Onto the sound, which was also well done. Throughout the game, the music dominated with energetic, pleasing Mario-like sounds that are identifiable to any ear. In addition, the sound effects were cute, adding another reason that this game is far from being realistic. Mario Power Tennis is certainly a fun game, but it will not keep you playing for too long. After completing the tournaments a few times, it starts to become tiring. The multiplayer mode does a decent job for replayability, but even that cannot keep your interest for a lengthy time. This is where the mini-games, around six or seven, come into play. Excellent as a time consumer, these party games are where half of your time will be spent playing MPT. For example, one mini-game consists of hitting different colored balls onto a picture, and attempting to paint it as it is at the bottom of the screen. Without these, Mario Power Tennis would only be half as good. Another Mario sports game, another success. Mario Power Tennis is nearly as good as Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour, but it merely does not have enough substance to make it better. Chances are, however, if you enjoyed the previous Mario Tennis, you will quickly find the new version irresistible. One can only hope that Mario Baseball carries on the accomplishment that Mario Golf and Mario Tennis have already done. Final Score: 83/100 (Silver) |