In recent years we have received several tennis matches such as Tennis World Tour or AO International Tennis. Now the Australian developers from Torus Games are taking to the court with Matchpoint – Tennis Championships and now the question is whether it will be a good serve or a left ball.
Unfortunately, we have to tell you right away that it’s more than just a dropped ball. There’s nothing in Matchpoint that we haven’t seen before in the two games mentioned above, and it stands as “hopefully” from the other two titles. Luckily, it’s not all bad, although it doesn’t bring anything new either. The graphics during the cutscenes are good, really bordering on great. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have the same impressive graphics, although they look decent.
The introduction is nothing special either. The only thing they showed was basically a brief synopsis of the course and closeups of both players and even if you win a tournament there is no ceremony whatsoever. And I’m telling you, you’re going to win a lot of tournaments.
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Matchpoint is certainly not a complicated game and after a few games you will already have learned everything you need to know to beat the machine even on the most difficult level. We’re average virtual tennis players, but it didn’t take long before we won two sets in a row 6-0, 6-0, even though the player I created has much lower skills and stats than the opponent. For example, while in AO Tennis it can be a bit harder to even keep the ball on the court, in Matchpoint it’s almost harder not to hit it. Another example that illustrates this very well is that you can hold the serve button for as long as you want without doing it at the wrong time and without the ball going anywhere near where you hit it wanted to throw. It almost always ends up where we want to throw it.
The game offers the same listening experience as the others, far below normal. Music on the menu might be fine for some, but for us it comes across as bland and reeks of low-budget. The in-match commentators are so bad that we had to turn them off to focus on the game to write this review, and the sounds players make when they yell sound artificial. On the plus side when the ball hits the court and the racquet sounds good, but that’s about it.
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Speaking of budget, it’s obvious they’re not licensed. They have a few names that might sound like Casper Ruud to you, but it’s not even close. The tournaments have generic names like French Grand Masters instead of French Open and The London Grand instead of Wimbledon. This gives us no familiarity and makes the game even less addictive in a boring and monotonous career mode.
In short, in our opinion it’s not worth paying for Matchpoint, although it’s also available for free on Game Pass. If you don’t have Game Pass, you can still download a free demo on each platform to see what we’re talking about for yourself. Many people were looking forward to this game, but unfortunately I have to disappoint them. The game is just bad. And it boils down to one simple fact: you can’t even play doubles. If you are looking for a better tennis playing experience, don’t hesitate and buy AO International Tennis or Tennis World Tour.
