cool game very fun and you can take your playing serious too fun things happen even though they can get repetitive

So the gang from the Outlaw series are back with Outlaw tennis. I am a huge tennis fan playing everything from Top Spin (XBox) to Mario Tennis (Gamecube) to Super Smash Court (PS2) so this was definatley a game I was looking forward to. I was somewhat hesitant as I found the controls for other Outlaw games (specifially Golf) to be far too sensitive and difficult to control at times. First let me talk about the positives. This was an easy game to pick up as the controls are very basic. During some of the load screens it gives you an overview of the controls so there is no need to pickup the manual. Where the physics of the game are nowhere near as realistic as Top Spin the game flow is much smoother than say Mario Tennis despite the similarities in cartoon/arcade like graphics. There are lots of unlockables from charachters to wardrobe to courts to accesories so it makes gameplay great and something to look forward to. Another great plus is the price of this game and the online play which is a plus for any of these types of games.

The negatives are that after each point there is a brief animation of the characters that I really wish you didn't have to push "A" to skip everytime. The fighting ability, while true to the Outlaw series, offers little to no real tennis help and is something more of a fun side feature. Again, the controls, while easy, are not the best as getting the ball to slice in the exact direction (say a hard left) is not always accomplished. My same complaint about Mario Tennis comes back in the sense that during character modes some of the games such as Hot Potato take away from being able to have a true tennis game with volleys back and forth.

Overall though what saves the game is the price. I would have given this game 3 stars but the fact that it is the price of renting it a couple times makes up for the gameplay. Obviously if you were looking for a true tennis game you should stick with Top Spin but for something with a little more fun (for a maturer audience btw) that does incorporate tennis and the fact that this is Pong glorified, I would recommend Outlaw Tennis