Perfect Ace Pro Tournament Tennis Review

Arriving to the AT office practically out of the blue, Perfect Ace was immediately tagged by our staff as one of those games that emerges right on time to fill the gap during the silent period when the big-name games are still in development. After a few minutes of playing, however, I was impressed with how refreshing it can be when you take a much-needed break from real-time strategies, shooters and RPG's. To be honest, Perfect Ace is a classic port with many elements that carry a distinct resemblance of your usual slice of console gaming. But don't let that fool ya, because it can be really fun and addictive, especially when you sit down to enjoy a series of multiplayer matches with your friends.

So, what's Perfect Ace all about? It actually presents you with all the thrills of professional tennis. Players are given the opportunity to participate in various Tournaments and Championships on miscellaneous courts. As you begin the game, you simply have to choose if you wish to play matches in single-player mode, or if you want to team up with a partner to contend against 32 of the world's finest tennis talents. So, grab your racket and let's hit the court!

The first thing you'll notice, after playing Perfect Ace for a couple of hours, is the unbelievably simplistic and straightforward gameplay. Primarily, we have to take into account that the game is a console port, so there are numerous features that make it very similar to your average console sports game; simple interface, streamlined gameplay, low-detail backgrounds, etc. But, putting all those things aside, the whole game is intuitive and very easy to get into, which is a good thing. Right from the start you won't be burdened by any complex options or unnecessary customizations. You just have to make the right choice by carefully assessing the abilities of each available tennis player. All players represent their own countries and possess different styles of play, height, and serve speed. Plus, they have their favorite playing surfaces: Hard, Carpet, Clay, or Grass courts. Your performance on the tennis court depends largely on these characteristics.

The gameplay in Perfect Ace has more depth than players would normally expect for a ported tennis simulation, or guess based on its simplistic interface. At first glance, you may think it would be enough to move your character sideways while hitting the 'enter' key occasionally to smack the ball across the net. Later on, you'll realize there's much more at stake. Like in real-life tennis matches it is often hard to make accurate shots. That is why you must be on your guard at all time, closing the angle as best you can and, hopefully, sending the ball back to your opponent with, say, a quick and effective backhand. Thankfully, this is not that difficult to pull off since the controls were handled quite well, and it will only take you a few minutes to get used to them. Simply enough, you use the enter key to adjust the intensity of your shot and the cursors to move your character about. Players may use the cursor keys to make a curve shot - which may be a bit hard to learn, but are always a tough cookie for your opponent to handle. There's also the possibility of performing lob shots, top spins, and slice shots by using the J, K, and L keys. Special shots require slightly quicker reflexes, but they are really fun when you pull them off.

Playing matches against CPU-controlled adversaries will present a challenge ... for a while anyway. There's just one slight problem. The AI has one or two really annoying drawbacks. Once you've sized up your opponent well, you'll be able to guess which way he'll play next. Also, it's often too easy to win a match by using the exact same shots repeatedly. This came as a major disappointment. Unfortunately, the challenger's intelligence doesn't show significant improvement even when you've set the difficulty of the game to 'hard.' Another bad aspect of the single-player matches can be seen when you start playing doubles. If you have a CPU-controlled teammate, it will be tough to keep up with his moves. Frequently, your teammate can play like you're not even there, running around left and right in an attempt to return each and every shot. Quite lame as it happens.

The visuals in Perfect Ace are not bad, but it's pretty darn obvious the game is a hasty console port. The saddest thing is that the game's graphics settings won't allow for resolution modes that are higher than 640*480 (!?!). This makes the game look rather shabby and dated. There's a great lacking of additional details on the courts - the textures are very poor and the background appears to lack more features. Granted, there are 16 different stadiums you'll be able to play on, but that doesn't bring much of an improvement to the situation. On a positive note, the game features excellently animated characters, which all move, serve, and return shots in their own unique ways. Each player has a set of different reactions, and that can usually be observed with well animated facial expressions - some characters also tend to wave their rackets, cursing if they've missed an easy shot or they're mad at the ref.

The audio could've been way better if you ask me. Keep in mind though, that real-life matches have always been conducted in relative silence. In other words, there are times when you can't hear anything but the ball itself, thumping back and forth across the court. Nonetheless, the in-game atmosphere would greatly benefit from a variety of additional ambient noises. On the other hand, the audience has a number of different reactions that all depend on the way the game is progressing. If a match is close, you'll hear an increased amount of cheering and clapping - rather similarly to tennis matches in real life.

Lastly, I should also note that Perfect Ace becomes exceptionally addictive if you play with your friend against CPU opponents - that way the outcome of a match depends on the combined skills of both players. The game's overall simplicity and intense matches can offer players a lot of hours of decent entertainment. Sadly, the fun is temporary if you're participating in single-player Championships and Tournaments. Also, the lackluster graphics and the locked low-res mode significantly ruined our impressions of the game. We're sure that, if the developers had taken the time to tweak all these issues and the AI bugs, Perfect Ace would've gotten a considerably higher score from us.