Smash Court Tennis 3

SCORE: 68

Tennis games are ultimately Pong with a few improvements. I know that may seem like a controversial statement to some. Think about it though. A little ball gets bounced back and forth between sides. Let it pass and one of the players scores a point. Tennis video games have come a long way since Pong. Maybe I should say some tennis games have come a long way since Pong. Smash Court Tennis 3 tries to be a very realistic tennis game on the Xbox 360 (editor: there is also a PSP version of this game, which is different in many ways). Atari teamed with Namco Bandai to bring this sports video game to the gaming public.

The visuals in Smash Court Tennis 3 have some good and some not so good. The good side to the graphics is the faces, and attire choices. I was very happy to see how respectable the female characters dress in this Xbox 360 video game. The bad side to Smash Court Tennis 3 is the animations. The people look stiff, and do not animate well. The fans look okay, but are repeated through out the stands at a high frequency. The courts look nice in Smash Court Tennis 3 though.

The music in Smash Court Tennis 3 has a good sound. It did not however get me excited about playing tennis. The commentary is okay, but at times was lulling me to sleep. It was pretty cool to hear the fans cheer. That got old as I lost point after point, and recognized they were never cheering for me. It would have been nice to have someone cheer the underdog.

Smash Court Tennis 3 contains quite a few modes that will interest families. You can learn how to play tennis in this game, get a career, and even go online. Playing online (if you can find someone else to play) may be one of the few ways you get a good match. The character customization is also really nice, and something you can spend some time on.

The game play in Smash Court Tennis 3 is a miserable, total, and utter failure. No game should have players battling for an hour just to score one point. After many hours of playing this game, and doing the tutorials over again - I gave up. I had others at Family Friendly Gaming play this game, and they also left very frustrated. My character would miss the ball when I thought they should hit it. Smash Court Tennis 3 is no fun at all.

I picked up one lesson from Smash Court Tennis 3 - how to lose. I learned that lesson over and over again. Smash Court Tennis 3 lets the player react to losing a point in different ways. None of them expressed my level of emotion, and I got tired of reacting at all. Please heed my advice and avoid Smash Court Tennis 3 like the government being in control of anything.
- Frank

Graphics: 78%
Sound: 80%
Replay/Extras: 85%
Gameplay: 23%
Family Friendly Factor: 75%
System: Xbox 360
Publisher: Atari
Rating: 'E' for Everyone

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