The thing with gaming consoles is that they are so iterative in general, they can get really boring. You always know what the next Xbox and PlayStation will bring to the table- they’ll be the same as the consoles we have now, just more powerful and prettier games. That is the reason the novelty of Nintendo (and in their time, Sega) consoles stands out so much- they are always trying something unexpected and new. Sometimes it works out, like with the Switch. Other times, we get things like the Wii U.

But there is no success without risk of failure, and there is value in what Nintendo does. I’m not the only one who thinks this. Romain Ginocchio, Tennis World Tour’s producer, seems to think so as well. In an interview with GamingBolt, he said that he hopes the next PlayStation and Xbox have more “novelties” like the Switch.

“The most straightforward things are more graphical power and memory, but for a personal point of view, I’m curious to find more specific novelties that really change how or where you play games. I’m a big fan of the Switch for this reason, so I hope Microsoft and Sony will find new game changers!” he said.

He also believes framerate shouldn’t be the be all, end all- that if developers have to cut down the framerate to accommodate some “cool” feature, they should be able to do that.

“I don’t think that 60fps should be seen as the ultimate goal. If you want to use the extra power for super-cool features and you need to bring down the framerate for that, I’m cool with that. It’s the same thing for 4K, although it does make a huge difference if you have a big TV.”

Now this I disagree with him on, but I know many do agree with him- which is why I think the trend of games increasingly allowing players to select whether they would like to prioritize frame rates or graphical fidelity is a good one- it lets everyone get the experience they want.

Tennis World Tour is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

"A lot of people were expecting good – if not great – things from Breakpoint Studio’s Tennis World Tour. Sadly enough, the game doesn’t match up to those expectations- it doesn’t even come close."

Tennis World Tour is an unfinished and unpolished game that, in its current state, is bland and uninteresting, and severely lacking in content. Worst of all, some of the content it is lacking is stuff that, as per the game’s pre-release marketing, was going to be very much present in the final product, which means that its absence is not only disappointing, it is, flat-out a deception of prospective consumers. I’m speaking, of course, of the game’s online component, which the game was supposed to launch with, but is conspicuously missing from the current product. Also missing are doubles matches, something you would ordinarily expect even the most basic Tennis simulation games to have.

Both these modes are, according to the developers, going to be added to the game at a later date via free updates, but their current absence in the game is a serious issue. Not just because consumers are being expected to purchase a clearly unfinished game at full price, but also because, simply enough, there’s just not enough content in the game itself. As it stands right now, Tennis World Tour lets you play exhibition matches and tournaments, tutorial modes – both of which are hardly something you can play for hours on end – and a Career mode.

The Career mode was, admittedly, decent enough to hold my attention for at least a few handful of hours. It sees players creating their own player (the character creation, by the way, has extremely limited options), and then playing through matches and tournaments to rise through the ranks, starting off as a rookie and eventually becoming a proper pro player. There’s also some light management involved, with players being tasked with keeping an eye on their individual stats and their growth, as well as making sure that your player receives adequate training and rest periods in between tournaments. It’s nothing special, not especially deep, but it is, at the very least, passably enjoyable.

"Tennis World Tour is an unfinished and unpolished game that, in its current state, is bland and uninteresting, and severely lacking in content."

The Career mode, too, however, will hardly hold your attention for too long, and that’s because the very fundamentals of the game, which is the actual act of playing Tennis on the court, are lacking in a lot of ways. Hit detection, for starters, is poor and arbitrary. Shots that you should be able to connect with simply fly by you, while conversely, many shots that are clearly out of your range somehow magically connect with your racket. This leads to moments that break immersion and pull you out of the experience, and you can never quite be sure if you should be relying on your judgement and skill as a player, when the game itself makes these poor and laughably bad decisions by itself on so many occasions.

Tennis World Tour also misreads your shot input with frustrating frequency, which leads to even more immersion breaking moments. You might be gearing up to unleash a powerful slice to win a set, only for the game to automatically and inexplicably decide that what you really meant to do was hit a weak lob shot. It is because of the game’s inability to even produce actual , authentic simulation of the sport properly that even the Career mode – which otherwise might have been an interesting experience for many players – feels like an unattractive option, let alone exhibition matches.

In sport simulation games, solid and responsive mechanics are obviously one of the most fundamental things for a game to get right, but almost equally as important is the presentation, which is yet another area Tennis World Tour falls short in. Commentary is limited to what seems like only a handful of lines that are repeated over and over again in a dreary and thoroughly uninterested manner. Crowds are static and barely ever make any noise, so matches lack excitement and atmosphere. And then there are the visuals, which are so far behind the current standards for what would even be passable, they almost look like an early-PS3 era game. Character models look bland and lifeless, the stadiums and courts are lacking in detail, and while the animations are decent enough, there is hardly any variation across different players.

"In sport simulation games, solid and responsive mechanics are obviously one of the most fundamental things for a game to get right, but almost equally as important is the presentation, which is yet another area Tennis World Tour falls short in. "

Licenses-wise, Tennis World Tour is similarly disappointing. It lacks licenses for any stadiums or tournaments, which is something enthusiastic fans of the sport will definitely find disappointing, though I understand that it’s not something everyone will care too deeply about. The roster of players lacks some pretty big names, including the likes of Nadal, Djokovic, and Williams, while the fact that there are only five female Tennis players in the entire game is also a disappointment. Put together, all these aspects make for a game that hardly feels authentic in the way you would expect and want a proper Tennis simulation game to feel. Even if you’re someone who doesn’t care much for authenticity and simply wants an enjoyable experience, Tennis World Tour is still a disappointment, with shoddy and unpolished mechanics, and a surprising lack of content.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 4.

Tennis: World Tour was a pretty anticipated game, being the first realistic tennis game we were getting in years now. It was apparently by the same folks who had worked on Top Spin, so things were looking good- until the game came out and turned out to be a total trainwreck, lacking content, simple modes like online play, or any polish to its mechanics or presentation.

As it turns out, there was a reason that happened- speaking to Jeux Video, BigBen Interactive founder Alain Falc admitted that he knew how the game had been received- and that the reason for that was that the title had only been about 20% complete in the weeks leading to its release. They wanted to launch it alongside the French Open, and they had a marketing campaign in place, so rather than delay the title, they just released it as is.

A “refined” version of the game, which presumably is the actual completed version that should have been put out to begin with, is planned for 2019, with a completely new game planned for 2020-2021. No word yet on whether or not people who spent money on this glorified shit show of a beta will get the updates free.

The most amazing thing? The game, having shipped 500,000 units, seems to have turned a profit, because retailers could not return the inventory to them. Talk about burning your partners and customers all at once. I hope no one decides to reward this scummy company by actually buying the game now.

With Tennis World Tour, the upcoming tennis game by Breakpoint Studio, founded by former Top Spin developers, due to release next month, we have a brand new video available today. This video shows us what we can expect from the Career Mode in the new game.

And what can we expect? Well, it sounds like the career mode will bring the kind of meta management so many players like- yes, you will have to play and win matches, but you also have to manage your schedule, form, and fitness, balancing playing games and earning credit and cash with not burning yourself out, as an example. It won’t end once you’ve reached the top, either, as the game will ask you to maintain your position once you have.

Tennis World Tour launches on May 22 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. Make sure to watch the video for the game showcasing its career mode for yourself below.