Tennis World Tour 2 represents Nacon’s effort to bring us a great tennis simulator now finally for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. A new studio, a new
The graphics engine and a ton of gameplay and game mode enhancements hit center court. Tennis World Tour has launched two years ago, as a spiritual successor to the Top Spin saga, but its proposal stayed on the net, leaving all fans waiting for that great game of tennis that the generation deserves. Nacon has made a special effort so that this second installment finally achieves it; A new development studio. Big Ant Games has also signed the two installments of AO International Tennis and a new graphics engine welcome us to Tennis World Tour 2
We have had the opportunity to attend a preview session in which they have made it clear to us which are the main and numerous improvements that come to the Tennis simulator, which will be released in September for PS4, Xbox One and PC, and one more month late for Nintendo Switch. The pillars on which the game rests will be a realistic style, a dynamic game, and new competitive aspects focused on turning Tennis World Tour 2 into an eSport.
The first thing that strikes us is the technical improvements. In general, there is a quality jump in the fluidity of the game, and the animations the number of animations from the first game has doubled, and the matches are much more natural, this also contributes to a more realistic physics. When we play Tennis World Tour 2 the first thing we notice is that the sensation of hitting the ball with our racket seems more real.
The right “timing” system of other classic games has been implemented so that if we keep the button pressed, we will see how our tennis player prepares the shot, and only executes it when we release. This happens during the game, and also in the service. The serving system is also new and more realistic and allows us to slightly modify the direction of the ball with respect to the target we have selected. Of course, if we go overboard during the preparation, our tennis player can also lose his balance and cause the ball to drift.
In terms of movements on the court, Tennis World Tour 2 emphasizes different aspects; players have a “stamina” system to reflect fatigue during a match we can even play full matches with the actual duration but it has been adjusted to better reach the end of the match.
The correction of the trajectory when moving is also improved, if the ball is thrown against the foot, of course, this depends on the surface on which we play and the hawk-eye technology is incorporated to see if the ball has bounced inside the track, on doubtful plays especially useful in multiplayer games.
Speaking of multiplayer mode, doubles matches have been added, so the game supports up to 4 simultaneous players, both online and in local mode. And they have also assured us that the improvements are notable in the network code, both to find matches online and to avoid disconnections in the middle of a tournament.
Tennis World Tour 2 modes include exhibition matches, the career mode in which to create our tennis player and compete for number 1 in the ATP or WTA, official tournaments (which are yet to be announced), a tennis school, and the new Tie Break 10, which consists of a 10-point match and is usually played among tennis fans.
Perhaps the only aspect that is far from the simulation is the possibility of buying with in-game money, without microtransactions and using cards. It is a way of giving more depth to the matches and consists of a type of “special abilities” that can be activated temporarily during a match and that alter the player’s behavior, with extra adrenaline, greater precision, increased resistance.
At the moment we know that the game will feature 36 real tennis players plus two legends for those who make the reservation in advance from the professional male and female circuit, although all the names have yet to be confirmed in addition to our Rafa Nadal, Roger Federer, Wawrinka, Barty as well as the tracks, among which is the Manolo Santana stadium of the Caja Mágica in Madrid.
As for the versions for new generation consoles, PS5 and Xbox Series X, at the moment an update for the new hardware does not fall within the study plans, but they have called us to future communications to confirm it.