Review: SEGA Superstars Tennis

SEGA Superstars Tennis had a lot of promise. SEGA is behind one of the best tennis games out there: Virtua Tennis. Now you add in some classic SEGA mascots and load on the crazy moves and antics that you may see in a Mario sports title and the recipe should come out like a delicious chocolate soufflé. Unfortunately everything falls flat, leaving the player deflated after just a few matches.

What ended up happening is there was so much potential with characters and super moves that the development team forgot to include great gameplay. Superstars Tennis is a barely mediocre tennis game whose presentation is stale. There’s no point in playing the game as anything but a multiplayer experience. The controls are fairly smooth and accurate. Certainly the game is at a faster pace than Virtua Tennis. The real issue is a lack of finesse. You may be able to move Tails quickly to return a shot, but all strategy is thrown out the window. Superstars Tennis will likely have you and the family flailing about the living room, much in the same way that the “hard core” gamer does when mocking a Wii player.

The best part of the game might just be the minigames that take place during Superstars mode. Despite a clunky system that has you removing and reattaching your nunchuk willy nilly, the activities are quite fun. SEGA fans should enjoy seeing not only their favorite characters, but levels and concepts come to life in SEGA Superstars Tennis.

Not that they’ll look all that spectacular when they do show up. The backgrounds are atrociously lacking in any detail or interest. I’ve played Mario Galaxy, so I know the Wii is capable of far more than barren backgrounds and a flickering framerate. Perhaps I’m spoiled by the fan service fellatio performed by games like Super Smash Bros Brawl. All I know is SEGA Superstars Tennis fails to deliver on any of its vast potential. A bland game, but not a bad one. In some ways that may be worse, because developer Sumo Digital had everything necessary to make a great arcade tennis title. Too bad Superstars Tennis isn’t that game.