Reprise of the String Quintet- Racquet Sports Review

Devoted readers may recall  our review of Racquet Sports for the Wii, a middling title which offered Kinect-like functionality to Nintendo owners. While the game’s five court-based events played competently with a Wiimote, the game’s ability to interpret real motion with the bundled camera peripheral wasn’t as successful. The title only recognized an attempt to hit the ball halfway through the swing, introducing a bit of lag to every match. While the delay wasn’t a deal-killer, it does show one of the predicaments of motion-initiated input: how does a game distinguish ordinary body movement from the intent of interacting with an object?

Six months later, the Asobo Studio-developed title has been revamped for the Playstation 3. Along with a requirement for a Move Controller for each participant, some attractive 1080P, 60 frame-per second animation, a modest selection of unlockables, and online support, many of the control issues which soiled the Wii iteration have been exorcised. Unfortunately, whether you playing with balls, shuttlecocks, on the court, or on the beach, each of Racquet Sports five activity still feel woefully similar.

Whether players are playing Badminton, Beach Tennis, Ping-Pong, Squash or Tennis, the rules are basically the same. Players hold the Move controller like a racquet handle, serving, and hitting forehand and backhand shots. Some of the game’s sports, such as Tennis and Badminton allow for a slightly large range of returns, such as lobs, slices, and smashes. For the most part, Racquet Sports‘ interpretation of your wrist movement is solid- with a little practice, players can direct their shots around the court. Controlling the power of your swing is a little trickier; I had trouble finding just the right amount of force to trigger a just-over-the-net, drop shot.

Like Wii Sports Tennis, players don’t have to worry about moving their avatar across each court- the CPU handles the arduous requirement of placing you in an ideal position for every shot return. This automation means protracted volleys are the norm. While playing the computer, an exchange lasted upwards of four minutes; against an online opponent, a 50+ hit volley transformed the competition into an endurance match. Ideally the game should have at least offered support for the orphaned Navigational controller, so participants could move their on-screen avatars to secure a risky, angled  shot, or predict the shot placement of an opponent. An advanced control options tasks gamers with pointing the controller in the direction of an on-screen arrow, but since Racquet Sports telegraphs where the next shot is headed, it’s largely redundant.

Two elements allow the title to rise above the plains of mediocrity: the game’s vibrant graphics and an easily accessed online competition. From implausible underwater squash courts, richly shadowed afternoon beaches, and spacious urban recreational rooms, each of the game’s thirty environments are meticulously rendered. While the title’s athletes are all proficiently drawn, they offer little more personality than a range of global archetypes. Racquet Sports online component allows players to participate in either a friendly exhibition match or a ranked game, where a participants success rate is uploaded to a global leaderboard. Throughout at least a dozen contests, the title displayed the same amount as responsiveness as the single-player game.

With a price which is ten dollars cheaper than the rest of the Playstation Move launch line-up, Racquet Sports is bound to attract the attention of economy-minded gamers. Although the title offers a simplified, yet satisfactory interpretation of five different sports events,  the game lacks the range typically offered by comparable compilations like Sports Champions. While Racquet Sports may not be the most promising player on the circuit (that would be next year’s Move-enabled Virtua Tennis 4), it has most of the fundamentals down. Hopefully, a bit of finesse training in the off-season, will allow this hopeful to stay competitive against a persistent favorite.