Matchpoint - Tennis Championships

So 2 things right off the bat, if you want to play this, before even considering buying it on Steam unless you really really really wanna buy it, go double check that its still on gamepass and play it there for cheaper. Also, THERE IS A DEMO, USE IT Despite the fact that I am overall going to be negative in this review, the devs have a demo that is there for you to try the game and that is worthy of some brownie points. Get a good feel for the game in that demo, because at the end of the day, this is very much going to be that same gameplay loop throughout. Seeing as how no matter what, tennis will always be tennis, I can see how that may seem reductive or even expecting something unfair from the developers, but the problem is that when I was a kid, I played the Top Spin games and while I know very little about tennis and sucked at those games, I distinctly remember them feeling much more vibrant, alive and having varied experiences in those games. The worst part about this game is that despite all of the flaws and imperfections, its still kinda fun. Seriously, I learned very quickly how to cheese the AI and my MyPlayer with 20/100 on all major stats was going without losing a single match of any set to players who had upper 80s overall. The game's AI is that easy to break, even though I suck at tennis. So, what exactly is negative? Well, to start with the customization features are most definitely lacking. For a game where the main mode is a custom character career mode, I am really surprised at how few options you are presented with. There aren't very many options for your clothing either, as you can only unlock 5 or 6 different shirts, pants, shoes and rackets by playing exhibition matches. There aren't really any other options for customizing your outfit at the start besides changing the colors. The camera in this game is... Something. For whatever reason the sets and post point camera seems to be overly snappy and its kinda jarring going from having won a point directly into the serve setup. I usually spam the A button to skip through all the other animations anyways so it doesn't really bug me, but it might bug someone who plays games like this more for the simulation aspect. Also, the narration straight up sucks. There's like 3 different lines that they say and they almost always say them at the wrong time lol. I had just broken the other guys serve by him double faulting and the announcer went "Wow, he really earned that"... I mean, no? No I did not earn that, like, by definition I did nothing to earn that lol The menus are fine but the calendar for the career mode is odd, and I only have 2 hours in the game but because I found out how to cheese the AI after one tournament I am almost in the top 100 players, so I would argue there isn't exactly content bursting to the seems with this one. The tutorial does a pretty good job actually, no complaints there, but the training drills that you get XP from are way, way too easy. They also take practically no time at all. I have yet to play the online mode and honestly, I'm not particularly interested in it. I'm sure there will be another review here detailing that. The biggest complaint I have here is how they put zero effort into the "Televised" experience with this. Play PGA 2k21 and despite any issues it has, it feels like you are in the middle of a golf broadcast. There is nothing here like that, not even an attempt beyond the ♥♥♥♥♥♥ announcers. The crowds in the background look awful, the linesman look awful, and the courts don't even look very good. The animations, while I'm on the topic are also lackluster. Which brings me to my point here. I got this game for free, as I do with most of the games I review lately, but as with all reviews, price *always* plays a part in my final take. This game is charging 40 bucks at full price for what I see as the quality of an Alpha of a finished game. There isn't enough content, and the content that is here is not good enough despite the aiming mechanics being intuitive. That is a thing I didn't mention worth praise, it did feel very natural during rallies. That's my take, though. It's kinda fun, maybe worth it if you really love tennis AND find it on sale for like 10 bucks or so, but this isn't finished and isn't good enough. :( Sucks because I really was hoping for a spiritual successor to Top Spin, those games were so much fun. If you made it this far, thank you and please follow my steam curator page, I post all my reviews there and do my best to be informative and helpful for buyers of all kinds. Thanks for reading. [code] Check out my steam curator page for more reviews on (mostly) indie games: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/42143664/ [/code] Forgot a few things, one of which being that there is quite literally just no duos mode which is super disappointing, and also that I made a youtube short version of this review if you prefer a condensed version: https://youtube.com/shorts/rX0ZBVKKHWo?feature=share

I'll be honest, this game being the new "next gen" tennis game gives me all kinds of different taste. For one. I would say is better than AO Tennis, and better than Tennis World Tour, but at the same time, the game is average at best. Why the hell, making a great tennis game is so dang hard? for starters, the gameplay is decent. No perfect, farrrr from perfect or good, but its decent. The roster is very small. Huge thumbs down for that. No commentators and zero audience. This game is the equivalent of playing tennis in a funeral. Yup thats how dull the matches are. Character Customization is pretty much non existent. (Needs a lot more features) AO Tennis has a pretty solid character customization. Take notes please. All in all, the game is not bad, the gameplay is there. Its fun, but what turns me off, is the fact, that each "next gen" tennis game, doesnt bring anything new or captivating to the table. Pros - decent gameplay ( you can get a few hours of fun) *cough few - a lot better than previous titles (AO Tennis and Tennis World Tour) gameplay wise - graphics are ah ok cons - very small roster (hopefully they update the roster with new players and not make them dlc players) - bad character customization - gameplay is good, but very dull due to no excitement (audience is non existent and no commentators) - the game doesnt bring anything new to the table In conclusion, if you just want an hour or two of fun. This game can give you that. Its very easy to learn, very easy ill say. Its not challenging whatsoever. **i've not played online so I do not know how's the environment in that mode** do no expect anything new or captivating. its an average at best tennis game. Does it have potential? of course! but I doubt the game will grow. The game will just be another fail attempt like the rest of modern tennis titles. I'll stick to Full Ace Tennis :D once you play that, you'll see you need no other tennis game. do I recommend it, sadly I cannot. Although I like the gameplay, the negative outweighs the positive. I cannot be hypocrite.

Matchpoint Tennis Championships knows how to do things well, such as the natural controls and a certain level of realism. Check out my first online games here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2desoMUfyo In the end, the game isn't that hard to master through the tutorial, where you learn how to time the shots and determine the power and most importantly, how to land the ball inside the lines. In addition to the basic tutorials, you can also immerse yourself in a few extra lessons on a free basis. Visually, in addition to the well-defined graphics, the game still retains a classic view of what we are used to with stable tennis games, but you quickly feel that the most quality of the game is in the gameplay, and a good thing too because good controls and maneuvers are important to raise yourself. In addition to training, quick matches, online multiplayer, you also have career mode, in career mode you will first have to create your tennis player, after which you can also participate in certain events in addition to the tournaments.

I'm not really interested in playing against other players and can't comment on that mode. I was looking for a decent career mode and Matchpoint greatly disappoints here, sadly. All aspects of the career mode are rudimentary at best. The only way to really improve your player are two gear slots and a coach slot, all of wich give some attribute points. There is no way to properly train, because training sessions and matches/tournaments lock each other out in the calendar. So you have to choose between training to get some attribute points, quick matches to get some gear (to get attribute points) or tournaments to get gear and rank points. In theory, the bigger tournaments are gated behind higher ranking requirements. In practice though, all of that is irrelevant because the carrer mode (just as the quick match mode) is ridiculously easy. Even on the highest difficulty setting, I easily win every tournament without losing a single game. More often than not, I don't even lose a point. Although the opponents' stats are far better than mine, the simple tactic of just playing the ball as far away from the opponent as possible all the time easily wins every match. And so, a newly created carrer toon can win the largest tournaments as soon as his rank allows him to (which is quite quickly). Winning is fun, sure. But winning without any resistance isn't. And that's why Matchpoint just isn't fun, too. Honestly, for a near-full price 40€, you just don't get enough. Tennis is tennis, sure. And noone expects the devs to reinvent the wheel. But what about more game modes? Like doubles? Or fun/unrealistic arcade modes? Everything in the game feels like the devs thought "this'll do". Where is the variance in things like audience visuals and sounds? Or referees? Why are there no ball boys? And don't get me started on the commentator who seems to have a total of three lines of text. He reads those well, sure. But it's just the bare minimum. Seeing that there is already a "DLC" that gives you playable Tommy Haas and Tim Henman characters (no offense, but not the greatest idols of tennis history) for a whopping 6 €, it seems to be clear that this game is merely a cash cow. Really, 6 bucks for mere optics (because the stats dont make any difference anyway)? That' just a ripoff. Also, there are still a couple of bugs. The game fails to detect my controller every now and then, which is only annoying. That long lob balls are constantly given allthough they are clearly out, is a more major bug that needs quick fixing. All in all, if you want a rudimentary, a bit arcady tennis game whithout any demand in skill, Matchpoint might be for you. Try the demo and see if you feel like spending 40€ on this. Because you don't get much more than you see in the demo. For anyone else, it probably isn't.

The physics of the game, the movements of the players are well achieved. Everything else could, and should, be much better. Character customization is very limited. In the distance, the graphics look very good, but when players are shown in closed up, they are weird. The audio is not good: the sound of the audience is closer to a group of friends clapping at a birthday party than a stadium that vibrates with each point. There are some real players, but not many. Garbiñe Muguruza, Casper Ruud, Nick Kyrgios are some examples. However, the look is, in some cases, far from how the player looks in reality. Live comment almost does not exist and the little there is boring and without feeling. The Top Spin series continues, for me, to be the best in terms of tennis games...

Horribly clunky mechanics and movement, too easy to beat far better players with tactics, very underwhelming character development and variables/metrics.

First off the game looks great the U.I is clean and easy to read and go through How ever going back to Top Spin 4 a game released back in 2011 has much better player animation from FH to BH and Slice the players doing feel and react like a robot, and change there movement depending on a high or low ball, short in the court ect. Matchpoint - Tennis Championships. players all move the same for animation for FH to BH and Slice the hit ball feels the same on all players, there is no uniqueness to any of them, the swing is the same from nick kyrgios hitting the forehand like pablo carreno busta, they hit the ball very different with height and spin and there movement is different also. also you cant hit an inside in or out forehand or backhand, which all real life players can do. The Create your own player. is VERY limited with not many faces or change body type or unique serve , FH, BH its all the same for everyone. I hope they add the content to make this a great tennis game it has the foundations for it, just need more time

The best Tennis game of 2022, lots of players and not too hard to play , but hard to play well.....controls take a bit of time to get used to, hope that future updates fix some minor visual bugs...

It's got the feeling of tennis right but everything else is a little empty, from roster to courts / ambiance to game modes. Good enough for an unaggressive, uncomplicated quick fix of tennis but doesn't offer more beyond a few hours.

Good tennis game but the problem with it just the gameplay is too fast and simplified that I having too much fun playing and there is friend match with single mode only sadly. On court, the ball feel like a canon ball which sometimes make the player run at the back of court without ever knowing and the game is heavily controlled assisted like every shot must controlled precisely or you would get an out repeatedly mostly everytime and the movements too is heavily assisted like if I wanted to move up the court sometimes is a few seconds after the ball reached the opposite side of the court. Lobbing shot are hard to do and drop shot are non exsistent. but overcome fun game to play casually with friends online and sadly casual matches online are pretty much dead. The game deserves a 7.5 out 10. Not incredile but fun and okay.