| Every
console gets two sports games from the publishers that be. Golf.
Tennis. Look on any platform and you'll find iterations of these two
sports. Sometimes, you'll find a legion of them on hand and ready to
entertain. A couple of months ago, Sega raised the bar for tennis
games the world over, in the mega-mighty Virtua Tennis. Simple to
play and difficult to master, superb control and crystal appearances
made it a champ. Before today's Hard Hitter, the only other
"tennis" game was Hot Springs Table Tennis from earlier
this year. That's ping pong, by the way so it doesn't necessarily
qualify in any case. WTA Tennis Tour has gone missing for months and
no date appears forthcoming at this point. Essentially then, Hard
Hitter will have to do to slake the thirst for PS2 tennis. Magical
Company's previous offerings on the PS2 have been budget priced
sports games but that shouldn't be an indication of their current
skills. Right? Hard Hitter can't hold a candle to Virtua Tennis but
that doesn't necessarily make it a bad game - few tennis games can
compete with Sega's execution in VT. What we have here is a game
which looks okay, if not overly artificial with plastic-looking
players, and plays in an acceptable fashion. Singles play, doubles
play, and tournaments may be entered into. Call it mediocre...but no
one expected the likes of Mario Tennis or Virtua Tennis from Magical
anyway. |
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