New "Match Point: Tennis Championship" Review!　Aim for the top of the world in an authentic tennis game that pursues realism!

You can freely control an actual professional tennis player!

There are two main modes in this title. The first is "My Career" (Career Mode), in which players become tennis players themselves and compete in various tournaments, and the second is "Quick Match," in which players can enjoy matches immediately by controlling their own original players or real players. In addition, there is "Practice," in which you can freely hit back your opponent's balls, "Tutorial," in which you can learn how to operate the game, and "Training," in which you can hit balls according to a theme.

The menu screen is very simple, divided into squares, and each mode is open from the beginning. There are no modes that require specific conditions to play. As soon as you start the game, you will be able to enjoy all of the above-mentioned items.

Menu screen

One of the features of this title is the appearance of many real-life tennis players. The Japanese player Kei Nishikori is included in the game, and it is fun to be able to freely control these world-class professionals with your own hands.

Kei Nishikori

However, we would have liked to have seen a few more major players in general, such as Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, but perhaps that is a contractual issue. Below is a list of the names of the tennis players who appear in the film for your reference.

List of implemented players

Amanda Anisimova / Andrei Rublev / Benoit Paire
Carlos Alcaraz / Casper Rood / Daniil Medvedev
Garbine Muguruza / Heather Watson / Robert Holcash
Hugo Gaston / Kei Nishikori / Madison Keys / Nick Kyrios
Pablo Carreno Busta / Taylor Fritz / Victoria Azarenka

In addition to the registered players, the realistic matches created by the realism of the game are also an attraction of this title. The basic controls and matches are explained in detail below.

Realistic Behavior and Intelligent AI Provide a Solid Level of Difficulty

In the default setting of this title, the difficulty level is set to semi-pro. The difficulty increases in the order of amateur, semi-professional, and professional, but even semi-professional is quite challenging.

The controls are simple, with the △, □, 〇, and × buttons each providing two types of hits, and a long press changes the extension of the ball. Depending on the character's posture when hitting back, the game automatically switches between forehand (hitting with the racket held in the player's grip) and backhand (hitting with the racket held inside the player's grip). There is absolutely no complicated command input.

There are different types of tennis courts: grass, clay, and hard. Depending on the court, the speed and bounce of the same ball can change.

The game system is simple and easy to understand, but because this title pursues realistic tennis, simply hitting and hitting back is not enough to win. In a normal rally, the opponent never misses, and in fact, the opponent will try to break your pace. If you play it safe and hit at the back of the court, your opponent will quickly close the distance and try to exploit your opening with a smash. I first played in a low difficulty tournament in career mode and lost straight up in the first round.

Players in this game naturally cannot move rapidly, as their movements are based on motion capture, just like in real life. Whenever they run or move in the opposite direction, there is always a "pause," and the player must operate based on this assumption. If the player's reading is correct, he can respond immediately, but if it is not, he cannot catch up even with a slow pitch. Because of the delicate control required, even lower-ranked opponents can be quickly driven into a corner if they are not careful.

Once you get the hang of the game, you will be able to use tactics that are not dependent on the player's status, but rather on your own skill. The variations include swinging the ball alternately to the left and right, mixing in slice shots (backspin shots) to break up the pace of the match, and lobbing (high arcing shots) to keep opponents who have closed the distance away from the net.

It seems to be quite common for players to lob away an approaching opponent, and when I watched a video of a real match, I was surprised to see professional players doing the same thing. Until writing this article, I had not researched how players move in real tennis, and the author somehow managed to find a way to utilize the lob on his own. When I learned that this is actually the case in real tennis, I was once again impressed by the high level of reproduction in this work.

There is no doubles setup in this title. This is a standard way of playing tennis games, so it is a little disappointing that it is not possible.

Once you know how to play, you can go toe-to-toe with the better players. After playing for a few hours, I was able to beat an opponent whose stats were almost three times higher than mine in straight sets. It would probably have been impossible if there were factors such as skills and special moves that could not be compensated for by skill. There are no big curves in this game, or flashy moves that will blow your opponent's racket away, but if you think steadily about how to move around in a match, build tactics, and respond to your opponent's actions, you are sure to get results, as I did. If you are an expert in tennis, you may be able to use the knowledge you have, regardless of the fact that this is a game.

While playing a match, you can learn the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents. The key is that you are in the middle of a match, and the process of reading your opponent's behavior to determine their quirks and connecting them to your chance to win in real time creates a realistic feeling of being in the middle of a match.

I have already mentioned that the menu screen is simple, and the same is true during a match. What is played is the players' calls, the sound of rackets being hit against each other, the occasional cheers from the audience, and the commentary of the game's play-by-play commentary, which should be called environmental sounds rather than background music. In a normal game, this would be tasteless, but in the case of this game, the game is designed to be realistic, and this tastelessness contributes to the sense of reality. The atmosphere of competing against players from all over the world using the same techniques as in real life in a match that requires constant concentration is, I think, the realism of the game.

Aiming for the Top of the World in Career Mode

The Career Mode is the most challenging element of this title. Players create and train their own original players, aiming for the top of the world rankings and victory in world tournaments. This is the main mode of this title.

It is basically a series of matches and training sessions, without the drama of the story mode. Train hard and get results in competitions. It is a stoic mode. There is a ranking called "MPT" that fluctuates depending on your performance, but there are no requirements, such as results by a certain time, so you can proceed at your own pace.

The key is training, which can strengthen various stats such as forehand and serve according to the coach you set. Events such as tournaments can be skipped at will, so if you want to smoothly improve your ranking, you will probably skip the tournaments for now and concentrate on training. Although skill is more important in this game, there is no better way to improve your status.

There are two types of competitions: exhibition matches against randomly selected opponents and tournaments in which players compete against multiple opponents to win the tournament. Exhibition matches are easy since only one match is played, but tournaments are much longer. A one-sided match can be over in about 10 minutes, but if the match is close, it will take nearly 20 minutes. In a tournament, this is followed by the first round, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, which can exceed an hour in some cases. If you are going to play in a tournament, make sure you have plenty of time to spare.

The game is a stoic work that pursues a realistic tennis game without the game elements such as story, events, and background music. The style of the game is fairly simple, but the real-life tennis matches allow players to enjoy the game by using different shots and tactics to exploit their opponent's weak points, which are important to the player's skill. This game is recommended not only for tennis enthusiasts, but also for gamers who want to test their skills in a tennis game.