It felt like Christmas morning as I opened my Wii MotionPlus and attached it to the Wii Remote. After first seeing the Wii MotionPlus demonstrated at E3 2008 with Wii Sports Resort, I was intrigued if this tiny addition could really enhance the gaming experience offered by the Wii. I would have preferred my first encounter with the Wii MotionPlus to be with a Nintendo title to ensure the hardware was being put to best use but for better or worse EA’s Grand Slam Tennis was going to have to do.

To get started quickly you can use any of the existing players of which Grand Slam boasts an impressive line-up of names that young and old can certainly recognise. Even if you aren’t a tennis follower you’ll be surprised as to how familiar the names of these tennis legends are.

You can dive right into the action with a Single, Doubles or Practice match without much fuss and start experiencing the fun for yourself. There are a couple of controller decisions to make so you need to decide if you are going to play with the Wii Remote, Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus and/or with the inclusion of the Nunchuk controller. Once you have the Wii MotionPlus you’ll never want to be without it so the decision really is whether to attach the Nunchuk controller. Starting off you probably should focus on controlling your shot placement and familiarising yourself with the lob (A button) and drop shot (B button) features. For you lefties out there you’ll be happy to know you can choose left handed mode. Once you have these basics mastered then hook up the Nunchuk so you can control where your player moves to. The AI does a fairly decent job of positioning your player for you, however, once you want to move past the ‘easy’ mode and aim for the Grand Slam title, having full control over your player’s positioning is vital.

Practice, practice and practice some more

Whilst the game is easy to pick up and play by just swinging the Wii Remote and emulating shots that you would play in real-life tennis (for example, swing the racket and throw the ball up to serve), it is challenging to master. Where a specific shot will land, adding just the right amount of spin and how to serve an ace all come down to timing and lots of practice. In order to learn how to control your player’s every move, how to best opponents as skilful as the likes of Pete Sampras and Serena Williams and successfully progress through the game, you will need to practice. With that being said, however, you will not regret the time you spend on the Centre Court at Wimbledon or likely forget the euphoric feeling of winning your first Grand Slam.

We are in a transient phase at present with those without Wii MotionPlus and those who have been enlightened. So yes you can play with just the Wii Remote and the gameplay is ‘ok’ but you are really missing out on the experience. The game truly shines with the addition of Wii MotionPlus to the mix, giving you precision control and elevating the gameplay, effectively raising the bar on tennis sporting simulations. Additionally you can plug in the Nunchuk controller to have easier control on where your player moves to or just use the D-pad on the Wii Remote to achieve the same goal. The flapping cord does get a bit annoying so invest in one of the many wireless Nunchuck adaptors to improve on the experience.

The campaign mode is the heart of Grand Slam Tennis and, once it hooks you, you will be thrilled with your purchase. First off you need to create your player and this can be as quick or long as you like depending on how particular you are on your final appearance. You then hit the circuit and start out as a rookie with no experience or sponsors, yet everything to play for. As you win matches, you’ll acquire valuable abilities which go into one of the three ability slots. These abilities give you a boost with your serve or backhand etc…, various sponsors will come on board and you will soon be able to personalise your character further with shirts, rackets and even sweatbands from the likes of Nike, Reebok and Wilson. Some of the merchandise will give you an additional boost in performance so choose wisely.

If you are willing to put the time in practicing you’ll get immense reward as you take your player through their career. Even on easy mode you will be challenged to win a match until you get comfortable approaching the net. It can be very frustrating, yet nothing can match the Eureka moment when you start placing the ball precisely where you visualized. Never before in tennis gaming history have gamers been empowered to strategically take down opponents with pin point precision accuracy.

Having played hours of the fantastically fun Wii Tennis in Wii Sports it took me many hours to unlearn the lazy habits I had developed. Timing is everything but don’t go forgetting the angle you hold the Wii Remote at or where your follow-through ends. Apart from the volley and lob shots controlled through the A/B buttons, the motion you create with each swing will determine the direction and whether it is a top spin, back spin or flat shots. All these subtle aspects directly affect your enjoyment of the game and until you have mastered them you will have to concentrate on your technique until it becomes second nature.

The first hour was sheer bliss, the next six I was ready to throw the controller out the window and every moment since then has been very rewarding. So my advice to you is to stick with it and try different things. I found that smaller motions yielded better results than the grand gestures you could make to burn extra calories.

Multiplayer madness

The multiplayer modes can get pretty intense with having up to four people exuberantly swinging their controllers around your entertaining area. Make sure there is lots of space as even with the thick rubber jacket on the Wii Remote it still creates more than a tingle when you are on the receiving end of a backhand. You can pair up with a buddy to take on the AI or have up to four friends in the game.

Over the years EA have taken some stick for uninspired sound tracks in their titles. This time round they have done a better job. I knew they had got it right during on a drinks break after a particularly gruelling exhibition match with Venus Williams. Whilst reflecting on how I had managed to finally beat the formidable opponent a tune caught my attention. Thinking it was the radio I went to turn the volume up and did a double take when I realised it was coming from the Grand Slam’s standby mode. Thereafter I took notice of the sound track and I am very impressed with the selection and audio quality. Well done guys!

Replayability of the game is excellent through the Grand Slam career mode and furthermore the Online mode. The game does an excellent job of quickly getting you connected to a real component. There is nothing more satisfying than pitting your skills against another human and, other than a wee bit of lag, the experience is easy to set up and enjoyable. You can choose to connect as a guest or signup with a login to track your progress on the leaderboard. I particularly like the online setup in that you are playing for your countries national pride with each win or loss being vital.

It is a game after all and not the real thing so it does have its shortcomings. When controlling your player via the Nunchuk you don’t always get the real time response you would expect. Your player can sometimes take just too long to respond to your “more right now dammit!”, leaving you out of position for the return shot, so work is needed in this area but it is not a major thing. Another small quirk you’ll no doubt notice is that Pat Cash is always the commentator with a sadly limited number of sayings. You end up playing Pat Cash on the court and he is simultaneously commentating…is he a twin? Otherwise there are endless hours of career and online play to keep one entertained with this well thought out and implemented title.

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