Review: Sega Superstars Tennis (360)

It's surprising that Sega have thus far failed to really create a game that is a celebration of all their past glories. After all, they have such a rich history to even rival that of Nintendo. With Smash Bros. Brawl celebrating the past of that company, Sega seem keen to now embrace their legacy and create their own... before they tarnish it with any more rubbish Sonic games. Instead of entering the battlefield, though, they're entering the tennis court.

We're not sure whether the wealth of characters in Smash Bros. Brawl has spoiled us, but the sixteen characters on show here seems rather paltry, particularly when there are some glaring omissions. Why can we play as the utterly loathed Shadow the Hedgehog yet Knuckles is nothing more than a background character? And why, out of all three Golden Axe characters, does it give us the dwarf? Still, it's nice seeing old Sega favourites return like Beat from Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5’s Ulala. They even made room for the return of Alex Kidd - now that was a pleasant surprise. Not just paying respect to the Sega characters, the courts you'll be playing on also pay homage to classic Sega games. There are courts based around the likes of Afterburner, House of the Dead and Samba De Amigo, each with classic Sega themes. It also plays a damn fine game of tennis.

Sega Superstars Tennis is from the same developers as the Virtua Tennis series, so it’s not surprising that it plays a similar style of tennis. The only addition are the special moves. Your character will have a star below him; once this fills up and starts spinning, you can unleash a flurry of special shots. This is all dependant on which character you play as; Sonic turns himself into Super Sonic and makes the ball spin off into all directions, whereas AiAi makes monkey balls fly onto the court. The good thing about them, though, is that the person activating them may get an advantage but it doesn't 100% guarantee the player on the receiving end will lose the point. They're hard to defend against, but by playing defensively you can easily come back. It's a very well balanced system.

Superstars mode is where everything can be unlocked. Here you can choose a specific Sega franchise (Sonic the Hedgehog, Jet Set Radio, etc.) and compete in a variety of mini-games and tennis tournaments. Rather disappointingly, it's the mini-games that far outweigh the tournaments, which is strange considering this is supposed to be a tennis title, not a mini-game collection. Nevertheless, the mini-games are well thought out and for the most part enjoyable, each one making use of the setting. So in a Sonic the Hedgehog stage, prepare to collect plenty of rings, whilst in Virtua Cop it's all about shooting the terrorists (with tennis balls, naturally). It's a lengthy affair and one that you'll want to see through to the end so you can enjoy all the unlockable music tracks, courts and characters.

Once you get bored of playing on your lonesome, there is always the online play (a feature missing from the Wii version, which we reviewed less favourably). The online play really does add to the game, not just by lengthening it but also providing a lag-free environment. So far we haven't had a single online game that is anything less than playable. Singles and doubles can be played and it also comes with a TV mode where you can watch the very best players from around the world. An easy way to learn the best strategies.

Sega Superstars Tennis does have its problems. There are times when we feel we could've reached the ball if our character wasn't so lazy, the character roster could be bigger and the over-reliance on mini-games as opposed to actual tennis matches in the single player career is disappointing. Still, there are very few tennis games on the Xbox 360 at the moment, and while hardened fans of the sport may want to hold off for Top Spin 3, Sega fans will lap this fan service up.

Rating: 7 / 10

Words by Adam Gulliver