Tennis Masters Series 2003 Review

By Gary Kearney

Tennis games are really nothing more than fancy versions of our old friend Pong. So what Microids is giving us in Tennis Masters Series 2003 is a new Pong. Is this a good or bad thing? Well there is little doubt that the original Pong is a classic in the history of video games and can be immediately recognized by almost any gamer by a simple screen shot or sound clip. I do not believe that TMS 2003 will have the same lasting affect on the gaming landscape. While it may not go down in history, is it still worth playing? Let’s find out…

Tennis Masters Series 2003 is based on the Masters Series Tournaments of the ATP. The Series consists of 9 tournaments in such locations as the hard courts of Miami, and Cincinnati, the clay courts of Monte Carlo and Rome, and the indoor courts of Madrid and Paris. Do well enough and you can advance to the Masters Cup in Shanghai.

TMS 2003 doesn’t have an incredible amount of game options. You can either play an exhibition or start the Tournaments itself. That’s it. There are, unfortunately, no mini-games or other interesting sidetracks. That said, this game is about trying to simulate tennis more than creating an “arcadey” game. So I suppose that’s why they left out the foo-foo stuff and concentrated more on the serious side. Still, it would have been nice to have a little more variety in play options.

Obviously the heart of TMS 2003 is the tournament play itself. But first you must decide on a player. You pick one of the 67 different players provided. No, you cannot create your own player but you can customize one of the players provided. Well, by “customize” I mean you can change the color of their outfits and racket. Changing the racket doesn’t affect the play it just changes the look. For a game that really wants to be realistic this seems to be a major oversight. Each player has attributes and abilities that define that player’s game style and skill. Some players are better power hitters than others while others play as net rushers. Choosing your type is really a reflection of how you like to play. Me, I like to go with the net rushers and try to end the point quickly. There are several abilities that help mold your player including speed, stamina, volley and forehand.

Once you have your player it’s time to start winning some matches. You progress through the game playing tournaments in the same order as the real series. First up is Indian Wells, which you must first qualify for because you are not ranked in the top 63 at first. Pretty much after your first tournament you won’t have to worry about qualifying again. And this finally gets us into the action itself. First thing I noticed was a fairly remarkable resemblance to the old Dreamcast classic, Virtua Tennis, which happens to be one of my all time favorites. Unfortunately that game is 3 years old and this is the XBox, so I was expecting more. Still, it is a decent looking game. It’s just not a great looking one.

Like most tennis games the gameplay is simple with lots of little nuances to add depth. Serving and hitting both just require selecting the type of shot you want and aiming it. When serving you can pick from 4 different serves: flat, slice, kick and kick-slice. Part of the strategy is deciding when to use a certain type of serve and know what serves work best for the different surfaces. The game claims that you have to mix up your serves so your opponent doesn’t learn your tendencies and use that against you. I never saw this in action as I used a slice serve exclusively in my first tournament and no one ever seemed to catch on. Once I got the hang of the controls and the hand-eye thing down I never was broken on a serve despite being extremely predicable. Actually my biggest moment of improvement was switching from the default view. This view kept messing me up and everyone in the qualifying rounds was abusing me. Once I switched to a slightly more overhead view I became a tennis god.

The different locations each had it’s own personality and it did take a little different strategy and adjustment going from the clay courts to an indoor carpet and then to a hard court. Shots that were a given on clay became bad decisions on a hard court. One nice touch on the clay courts were the footprints left behind as you ran around. However, these prints would just vanish sometimes between points. Not sure if I’ve ever seen that happen in a real match but I’m pretty sure they don’t clean the courts in between serves. Another disappointment is the control. Granted it’s a little more complicated than Pong but at times it’s frustrating. For example, your opponent hits a lob that you were anticipating and were already running back to return. Sometimes instead of hitting the shot you were very prepared for your player will spin in a funky circle before actually deciding to take a swing. Of course by this time the ball is way past you. This is more of a consistency issue than anything. Sometimes it works and you get the return you planned, other times you look and act like a moron. I also wish the game were a little more smooth. Your player will often make leaps across the court instead of smoothly running. This leads to having your player positioned in places you did not intend. Finally I have to count against any Xbox game that doesn’t use Dolby Digital. But more a problem, because sound isn’t very important in tennis, I have to slap the developers on the wrists for not having Xbox Live capability in a game that just screams to be played online. Shame….

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 71%.  Tennis Masters Series 2003 tries to bring realism to a game that really should have more of a fun arcadey-fun feel to it. So if you’re into tennis in a big way and can overlook some of the funkiness of this game you may have found your match. However, I’ll stick to Mario Tennis on the GBA.