Everybody’s Tennis PSP review

Okay, so, here’s a game that caught me by surprise.

Everybody’s Tennis (Hot Shots Tennis Get a Grip in America) for the PSP looks like the game you’d see in a store and think “yeah, you’re not going anywhere anytime soon”. I’ve played some tennis games like Virtua Tennis and Prince of Tennis Crystal Drive before, which are all good games. I guess I judged this game wrongly, assuming it was your typical boring tennis experience. The game is a lot of fun, and some features in the game that I originally felt the game would be better off without turned out to be surprisingly helpful.

Art

Everybody’s Tennis looks cute, featuring anime-styled characters and beautiful environments. Everything is low-poly, but the textures are well done! Normally in games like this you would see minor texture bugs such as seams and hard edges, but Everybody’s Tennis looks polished.
Rewards in this game come in the form of equipment, such as new dresses and accessories, but they are far from your typical tennis attire.

Anyone in this game can play tennis, ranging from high school girls, football players, basketball players, old men, and Hawaiian people; the world of Everybody’s Tennis is driven by tennis. By customizing your character, you can add your personal flair to him, and sometimes you can even give a boy girl’s clothing, female figure included (creepy, I know). The more you play matches, the more rewards you’ll receive. The accessories are somewhat strange to wear during a tennis match, like an oversized teddy bear on your character’s back. Garments are far from your typical tennis uniform, and the game features such themes as punk, clown, servant and even Killzone outfits. You don’t have to wear the outfit to participate, anyone can take part in Everybody’s Tennis, as long as they have the determination and passion for their sport; an inspirational message coming from a small game.

Gameplay

Everybody’s Tennis ultimately boils down to a tennis game, but wrapped around its core gameplay are various RPG elements that makes this game different from your average tennis game. Every character has statistics according to their personality, and you can boost stats further by equipping the right gear.

As mentioned above, the player will be rewarded as they win more tennis matches. By doing this, the character will also gain experience, which is called Loyalty. Using a character during a tennis match will earn many Loyalty points, which will provide the player with a clear overview of how much they’ve played with every character. Getting higher Loyalty levels will unlock more tennis abilities, like a powerful flat serve. Getting rewards will boost the player’s overall Equipment Level, which allows the player to get better gear rewards when they win more tennis matches.

The character starts at beginner level and levels up through a tier system. If the player beats opponents that are higher tier, his characters tier will rise to the same tier. If the player loses however, they will go down one tier.

I find the RPG elements a bit redundant, since in the end, the tennis matches are what matters, and getting that little boost for your character’s stats doesn’t necessarily provide a big advantage overall.

I like the tennis matches most because it feels well balanced and polished. This is a good game for when you need a short break from work and wanna have some quick fun. The player can choose whether they want to follow the story or play a quick exhibition match. During the exhibition matches the characters will gain the same stats as they would in Story mode.

The story in Everybody’s Tennis is linear and not very compelling. The goal of the game is to bring happiness to the world through tennis; anyone the player beats will in effect thank the player for beating him and will feel like a new man again.

The player visits numerous areas in-game and challenge the bosses there to a tennis match; if the player wins, the boss will join the group. The story doesn’t go any deeper than that unfortunately. Still, the game is entertaining enough without a deep story, as long as it’s fun to play. Everybody’s Tennis is definitely fun to play.

Chi Wong

More Posts - Website