Tennis Addict,
by Hexacto
Games $19.95-$29.95, for Palm OS PDAs with OS 3.5 and
above, Pocket PCs
Reviewed July 2002
From the very first time you lay eyes on
this game, you want to like it. Tennis Addict, developed
by Hexacto Games, simply looks gorgeous: from the beautiful
title screens to the various court images, from the smooth
movements of players and shadows of the ball as it moves
across the court, everything in Tennis Addict screams Top
Seed. But if you want to get number one ranking, you must
learn the stylus controls.
There are two types of games you can play
in Tennis Addict: Quick Match and Tournament. Quick Match
is a battle between you and the Pocket PC. This is set for
best of 3 or 5 games, and you can choose your player (from
a selection of 4) and your opponent (from a selection of
16 players), all with different speeds, stamina, forehand/backhand
precision and forehand/backhand strength. You can also pick
the rackets based on how much they enhance the players' stats.
Tournament mode has three levels: Amateur, Professional and
All-Star. You need to win matches to gain levels as well
as experience points. At higher levels and experience points,
you will be rewarded with better rackets, more speed, stamina
and strength.
Tennis Addict also gives you four choices
in court selection: indoor carpet, outdoor clay, outdoor
grass and outdoor hard court. You will experience some difference
in speed between the clay court and the hard court, but not
as much as in real life. Serving and return of serve are
the only time you can tell the difference in court speed;
the speed of baseline strokes is almost identical on all
courts to me.
Before you start your tourney, you should
go through the Training courses. Tennis Addict uses Hexacto's
unique Precise Stylus Input technology that allows you control
the game play with your stylus. It took me a surprisingly
long time to get used to this type of control, because I
made a mistake by thinking that I could just pick up this
game and play after mastering a couple of tennis games on
PS2 and in the arcade. The lesson I learned is to go through
the Training courses where the game shows where the ball
will land when you draw a stroke with your stylus. In the
real matches you don't see the indicator where the ball will
land, you only see where you draw the stroke lines. Repeat
the stroke lines you used during training to perform the
strokes in real matches. Once you've gotten this down, start
to really enjoying this game and trying all sorts of moves.
The visuals in this game are a treat. The
game displays in landscape mode. The court images are sharp;
the player movements are precise and smooth. You can see
the trace of ball moving from your racket to the other side
of the net. And when you play the real matches, you will
see a few front rows of audience as well. The sound effects
of the audience and umpire are realistic and clear. The game
keeps your scores in money and match winnings; and if you
think you are real good, you can sync your scores online
at the Tennis Addict Web Lobby.
Other than the learning curve in
the game control, Tennis Addict has the best visuals, great
depth and fun game play. It plays better on Toshiba e740
(XScale) than iPAQ 3835 for some reason. So if you like
it when you play it on ARM Pocket PCs, you should have
no problem playing it on an XScale Pocket PC.
Playing Hints and Tips
Go through the training programs,
every one of them. And remember where the lines are in your
court that correspond to where the ball lands. You will need
to re-draw these lines in the real matches, but you won't
see the indicator shows where the balls will land. So remember
and practice. |
Above are Tennis Addict
for Pocket PC. Below on Palm.
 |
 Pocket
PC $29.95 |
| Palm
$19.95 |
|
