ZZAP!64 - Issue 2 - June 1985

Timing your shots
T
here are already two
tennis games forthe 64 for
this superb new Activision
title to compete with: the extremely
difficult Wimbledon 64
and, more significantly, the excel
lent Matchpoint from Psion.
Screen presentation in the
new release is quite different to
Matchpoint. The men are a
lot
larger and chunkier and the
court is viewed from a lower
angle. The whole of the court
Wonderfully easy game to
get into bringing rapid
enjoyment and great
addictiveness. The lack of
movement control may
frustrate some players but it
lets you have more variety in
the type of shots you can
play. The smash in particular
is great. The players'
movement is occasionally a
bit crude but this isn 't very
noticeable because of the
flowing manner in which the
computer moves you around
the court. The size of the
sprites and the way the
picture scrolls more than
make up for this.
isn't constantly in view, so it
scrolls
ON-COURT
slightly if a ball goes near
TENNIS
Activision,
disk, Joystick only.
Exciting tennis simulation with authentic ‘feel 1
Directed serves, lobs, smashes, drop-shots, angled volleys
The key to On-court Tennis is timing. You have to allow for the
significant amount of time it takes for your player to take his
backswing and then play the shot.
When you first play the game you're likely to miss every ball,
(and also serve piles of double faults.) But once your mind slips
into the rhythm of the game, you not only make contact every
time, you also start using the timing to DIRECT your shots and
make winning plays.
Try this, for example. Serve wide to the left of the left hand
court, drawing your opponent out to the sidelines to make his
return. If you're playing on grass, and your player is 'John' he will
now almost certainly move to the net for a volley. If you delay the
shot for a fraction of a second, the racquet swings late, and the
ball angles gloriously into the open right court.
Once you've got properly into the swing of things, the timing
gives the game a superbly authentic feel. Hit a smash too late and
it rockets into the net, swing early on the serve and the ball will be
long. Get it
right and POW, what a shot!
Look out for some electrifying rallies with both players at the
net. To avoid being passed you have to act only a fraction of a
second after the computer's played its shot. Just like the real
thing.
Vtm
cukmot
/WUCH BETTCR/
22 ZZAP! 64 June 1985
V