Rafa Nadel

Rafa Nadal Tennis - NDS Review

Todays review is for "Rafa Nadal Tennis" for the Nintendo DS.

Brief Intro:
Rafael Nadal has put his name to what appears to be a near "Virtua Tennis" clone. It's not the worst game in the world, but it's not great either. Basically you can play as either, Rafael Nadal, or 1 of about 20 no named scrubs (ie, no other ATP players in sight, so no Nadal vs Federer matches in this one). Theres also a create a player / career option which is very similar in style to any Virtua Tennis game.

What sets this game out from other Tennis games is that it's virtually impossible to play with the stylus, the QA guys for this one must have been some kind of sewing champion cause the combination of estimating where the ball will land, moving ya stylus into position then timing your shot and then directing it with the stylus in the direction

What I liked?
- The Rafael Nadal banana peel dive when he wins a match (one minute he's up right the next in a flash of an eye he's lying on his back as if he slipped on a banana peel.

- The annimation of the players tennis strokes are pretty realistic

- The career mode, always good to have some kind of goal in a sports game. Basically you play in tournaments across the globe, if you win, a new tournament gets unlocked, and you earn money to buy new clothes. You also rec' credits that you can assign to various player attributes like serve, forehand, backhand, volleying etc.

- That my side to side and charge the net tactics worked well in this game, until the CPU became Andre Agassi and started hitting passing shots or impossible smashes.

- That you can turn the stylus play off. Thank You!!!

Mixed Feelings?

- Graphics and sound are ok, the courts look ok, players looks like a standard person, etc.

- Create a player options, basically you choose male or female and have some options to choose different clothing and racket colour.

What I Didn't Like?

- Touch screen control is awful. Way too hard. Should be able to pick up a game and learn the controls fairly quickly. Work fine in the tutorial, you'll be able to serve and return a ball etc, however when it comes to competition, chances of getting a rally going is about 10%, let alone winning the point. The problem is you need to slide the stylus in the direction of where the ball lands (to move your player), and then slide the stylus fowards for the direction you want to hit the ball (timing your swing with the pace and bounce of the ball). Serving is a little bit better but not much.

- Normal controls can be unresponsive at times.

- No mini games, there is training but only teaches you the basics.

- Multiplayer: lags way too much, not enjoyable or playable.

Total Playing Time:

I invested about 4 days into this one (only because I'm a tennis fan). Unlocked a few courts. However soon grew bored and frustrated.

Alternatives:

Personally, if your looking for a tennis game, the Mario Tennis games for gameboy and gba are much more interesting, easier to play and 20 times more fun. Only buy this game if you desperately need a tennis game to play and you see it for under $20 or if you collect anything that has Rafael Nadal's name on it. Be prepared to having to spend some time getting used to the controls.

Rating:

3.5/10 - buy Mario tennis instead.