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Tennis games are so hard to execute, because you need a humongous library of animations to cater for all kinds of different shot types, heights, and positions. Matchpoint: Tennis Championships, a new PlayStation 5 and PS4 title published by Kalypso, is taking on the challenge, though. This is being billed as a simulator rather than an arcade rally-‘em-up, and in this first gameplay footage it looks, well, okay.
We’ve been burned before so we want to get our thumbs on the sticks before coming to any firm conclusions, but the animations look decent in the short clips above, and seem to be blended fairly well. There’s a bit of warping and we’d argued the overall flow is still a little slow, but overall it looks fairly realistic and responsive.
The actual on-court action will, of course, be key – but it seems like there’s plenty being built around it. As you play, you’ll detect players’ strengths and weaknesses in order to make tactical adjustments mid-match, and you’ll be responsible for your training schedule and which tournaments you participate in and when.
Promising stuff, then – we’re not exactly blown away, but we’re optimistic. It’s been over ten years since Top Spin 4, which is still very much the best tennis game you can buy, so hopefully this closes the gap. What are your thoughts on the gameplay trailer? Rally around in the comments section below.
