Grand Slam Tennis 2

A plethora of content, an expansive career covering the 4 Grand Slams, a great roster of players, and an incredibly precise new control scheme makes this game certainly deserving of Grand Slam in its title.

We have a new king on the tennis-game throne. With fantastic gameplay, beautiful graphics and virtually never-ending entertainment value, Grand Slam Tennis 2 lives up to it's name and proves once and for all that EA Sports can dominate any sport they want. This is a game worthy of Björn Borg himself!

There's room for improvement – chiefly in the variety of game modes, the selection of commentary snippets and the pace of the career mode - but for now, Grand Slam Tennis 2 is the best game of tennis that video games have to offer.

So does Grand Slam Tennis 2 give you a reason to dust off your Move controller and give your right arm a workout? The answer is yes. I didn't have high hopes for Grand Slam Tennis 2's move implementation, mostly because I haven't been impressed by the Move at all prior to this game. But I can honestly say that this game is way more fun with the Move controller than with the regular analog stick controls.

The best tennis game on PS3. [March 2012, p.101]

What really sold us on the game was the audio. If it wasn't the John McEnroe ear bashing in practice, or the wonderfully choreographed commentary in each match, it was that little bit extra where you have the option to choose your own serving exultation. All are perfectly done and top off what feels like a realistic play experience.

The Total Racquet Control is a good idea, but doesn't help if you can't spot the ball on the lawn. Overall, graphics are okay, though not the best you've ever seen from EA Sports. Good atmosphere and worth a look for tennis fans.

While it's not a perfect product, EA knows how to make deep, full-featured sports games with high production values. In Grand Slam Tennis 2, developer EA Canada applies some of the lessons learned from the company's other franchises to create a game that excels in many areas while coming up short in a few important ones.

This is a strong Pong. [Apr 2012, p.101]

While there is plenty of room for improvement this is still one of the few tennis games out there than you can justify spending $60, especially if you love tennis, either in real life, video games, or both. So grab your rackets, lace up your shoes, and get ready to swing your way to number one in the world.

While Grand Slam Tennis 2 is not a Game of the Year candidate, it's certainly a very good game of virtual tennis, and a great value – especially at $49.99 - $10 cheaper than your average retail sports game. It's not without its frustrations, and it's not a technical masterpiece, but the online modes, smooth career offering, and ESPN classic matches will give you plenty to do. For a fan of tennis games, if you're looking to scratch the itch of swinging the old racket, I can certainly recommend this one to you.

A textbook, solid tennis sim from EA Sports that is accessible yet about as deep as you want it to be.

All things considered, if you enjoy the sport or even if you just enjoy challenging yourself with new games that are Move compatible, I'd say this one is worth picking up.

Accessible controls and good visuals. GST2 is a game with good atmosphere and worth a look for tennis fans.

Virtua Tennis is more accessible and the better multiplayer game. [Issue#215, p.83]

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is a pretty decent tennis game. The controls aren't that well-executed, but despite of that the game offers good old simple fun.

This product comes at a good time, now that there aren't other games of this sport. Grand Slam Tennis 2 is an invitation to classic tennis players, in the four Grand Slam venues and brings the player into a very fun and intuitive control system.

EA's first attempt at a tennis game doesn't manage to live up to its main concurrents, the main letdowns being a lack of players, an uneven difficulty and incredibly repetitive commentary tracks. A third game in the series might fix most of these problems though.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone other than existing tennis fans. However, if you just so happen to be a tennis aficionado and you want an alternative to some of the other tennis games on the market, Grand Slam Tennis does just fine.

Underneath all the unforced errors there's some entertaining gameplay to discover. We battled out numerous exciting sets filled with well placed slices and top spins. It doesn't take much effort to dish out some impressive and varied moves. [March 2012, p.96]

GST2 is a solid effort, but falls short in several areas. The career mode, opponent AI and presentation still need to be fine tuned. If EA can sort out these issues then there's no doubt GST3 could be the new Grand Slam Champion of tennis.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is an offer that presents its own merits and reveals EA Sports interest in getting close to other series that mark the genre.

Not without problems but surprisingly addictive once you get the rhythm down pat. [March 2012, p75]

Planning on spending time online? Spend some hours in Career mode and a few more on the practice court and you're on your way to greatness. Staying offline? Unless you're happy with a tragically uneven Career mode, you're better off perusing other options for the virtual tennis court.

If Virtua Tennis is Nadal - bright, consistent, unafraid to work up a sweat - and Top Spin has the measured elegance of a Federer, Grand Slam Tennis is every bit the Andy Murray of tennis games: flashes of brilliance, prone to a few too many errors, but shows definite champion potential.

GST2 doesn't yet match up to its main tennis rival, but it still has game. [Mar 2012, p.85]

If you're looking for some light-hearted swing and miss fun with your mates then this is certainly worth a look, particularly if you've got a couple of PlayStation Move controllers lying beside your couch, but if you're looking for the definitive tennis experience Grand Slam Tennis 2 is lacking compared to other more established offerings.

Game set and match EA? Not really. Loads of official licences are not enough to replace the lack of a decent challenge on the court. It's still better than Virtua Tennis 4 though.

Good visuals and accessible controls can't mask Grand Slam Tennis 2's weak career mode.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 is EA Sports' attempt to dominate yet another sports genre, but the title faces hard rivalry in the existing Virtua Tennis and Top Spin series. The game features a nice selection of official stadiums and competitions, but does not really present anything new of interest that has not already been done by the competition. Still, the implementation of Move functionality is promising, and together with a solid online service it should lead to some interest from fans of the genre.

It's damn hard to talk about video game tennis without bringing up Virtua Tennis, particularly when a game, like Grand Slam Tennis 2, hems so close to that original arcade formula. It's a facsimile that's executed well enough; there just aren't any good reasons to recommend Grand Slam Tennis 2 over the games that it cribs from.

Technical elements aren't impressive. Career setup is annoying and unrealistic. Gameplay isn't anywhere near authentic enough. Move functionality isn't quite right. General lack of solidarity and consistency.

Sadly the game's lack of substance, fuelled by its inability to carve out its own personality, is hard to overlook. From a presentation perspective it's by far the best looking tennis game on PS3, but that's not enough to ensure repeated investment.

Grand Slam Tennis 2 seems more realistic than the original, thanks to its revised visuals, but don't let it fool you : it's still an arcade tennis game. The AI is full of stereotypes, and even though there's loads of game modes, it will be most enjoyable when played online against humans. The PS Move gameplay works well.