Tennis World Tour

I loved most of the great tennis game on the Xbox 360, it was strange that we had to wait this long to get some tennis action for Xbox One. With AO Tennis and now Tennis World Tour tennis fans had something to look forward too. Sad news though, both tennis games are as disappointing as the results from Eugenie Bouchard lately.

THE GOOD

• I can only say one thing positive about this game, although you’ll actually have to enjoy the gameplay to experience it. The career mode has some clever tricks to keep it fresh. You have to keep an eye on your fatigue meter, seek out coaches and sponsors, earn EXP so your avatar improves and do a throw for the number one spot on the WTA-ranking. A shame that the options for your avatar are extremely limited though, I would have loved to have more create options.

MIXED FEELINGS

• Visually things aren’t great but not bad either. The 31 playable Players like Wozniacki or Goffin are realistic and recognisable but not on the same level as for example Fifa. The same can be said about the courts, you have enough variation but it doesn’t really scream as a remarkable accomplishment.

THE BAD

• Don’t you believe me when I say that this game is far from finished? Even the developer admitted that the game is only 20% complete, if you have doubts over my words. This is such an odd situation, it is clear that the developer was forced to release the game because of the Roland-Garros grand slam.  Tennis World Tour screams unfinished in every part possible, this is a game that would have been perfect for Xbox Game Preview, not as a high-priced retail game.  Even the menu is unfinished with Tennis World Tour logo’s in different colours, it is clear that normally news should be placed in those boxes…
• Tennis World Tour has some of the weirdest controls I ever experienced while playing a sport game. Controlling the characters feels slow and inaccurate most of the times. Your character will magically hit a ball that’s clearly out of reach or simply refuses to hit it. The times I lost a point because the character didn’t start the hit animation is beyond countable. Utterly frustrating.
• Prepare for some of the most laughable audio in-game history, I am not kidding you! You would think that when they could hire someone as famous as John McEnroe they would try to do a good job with his voice.  Guess again, incredible mistakes are made constantly (saying wrong gender, for example) and ridiculously repetitive. It is embarrassing how many times you hear “from what kind of world is he”
• Lack of content, no double tennis matches or online mode, lack of fun mini games, or extra gameplay options. The game feels and simply is shallow, unfortunately. The developer has promised to deliver most of what I listed, but fix the damn gameplay first please.

Tennis World Tour [Score: 29%] As I said in the intro Bouchard can be more proud about her 2018 year than developer Breakpoint can be for releasing this unfinished tennis game. What a gigantic disappointment, they promise to deliver more content and improve the game but that is no excuse to release this for full price. Avoid it, even if you crave for a tennis game on Xbox.