Product Description

Includes:
EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis Game
Wii MotionPlus

Grand Slam Tennis is a genuine tennis experience that truly puts the racket in the palm of your hand!

• Wii MotionPlus: One of the first games compatible with the new Wii MotionPlus, the experience is further enhanced with added shot depth and precise ball placement on the court. Racket rotation is also recognised so you can spin your stick just like the pros do!
• Swing the racket like a Grand Slam champion: From your living room, play tennis as it was meant to be played with the ability to hit a variety of shots such as top spin, slice, flat, lobs and drop shots.
• Grand Slam Career: Only a select group of pros have won the elusive Grand Slam and now for the first time, gamers can take up the same challenge. Conquer the various skill and legends challenges to accumulate more skills for your created player.
• Authenticity: Boasting realistic looking Grand Slam venues and playing styles true to the players in the game. Actual audio was recorded from the Grand Slams and used in the game.
• Tennis for Everyone: As simple or as complex as users want their gaming experience to be. Use the Wii Remote to focus on ball placement or plug in the Nunchuk the control your player's movement in addition to the shots.
• Social Tennis Party: An exciting tennis gaming environment comes to life with multiple players having fun and staying active. A dozen party games can be played, using seven core Tennis Academy style games.
• Connect Online: Play singles and doubles against new opponents online. Every win contributes to your country on the nations leader board.
• Play Against or As Your Favourite Pro: The EA roster features 23 total players with a mix of men, women, legends and current stars. Players include Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Pete S

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1759 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Released on: 2009-06-12
• Platform: Nintendo Wii
• Format: Unknown format
• Dimensions: .53 pounds

Manufacturer's Description

EA SPORTS welcomes a new member to its family of world class franchises.  EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis delivers the deepest and richest tennis experience ever developed for the Wii with authentic tennis motions on the most famous courts in the world.  Professional tennis is all about the Grand Slams and EA’s new tennis franchise is no different.  It is the only videogame where users can play at Wimbledon.  In fact, it is home to all four Grand Slams; from the Australian Open to Roland Garros to the hallowed grounds of Wimbledon to the lively U.S. Open. 

Perform real life tennis strokes in your living room and control every inch of the court.  Users feel like they have a racket in their hands as they swing real forehands and backhands. 

The 23-player line-up features some of the greatest and most accomplished in history including John McEnroe, who is exclusively featured.  Joining the enigmatic Mac is an impressive roster of fellow champions who collectively own 135 Grand Slam singles titles, making this the most accomplished group of players ever assembled for a tennis videogame.

EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis is a genuine tennis experience that truly puts the racket in the palm of your hand!!

Customer Reviews

Patience required but it's worth it
Having become bored of playing Eliza and Sara on wii sports I thought I'd check out GST and see what all the hype is about wii motion plus. To my relief GST didn't disappoint.

I can sympathize with some of the reviews on here and after an hour and a half last night I would probably have written something similar. At first motion plus doesn't seem all that responsive and the ability to match movements 1:1 appears a bit of a bold claim. Instead of dismissing it though I read a few reviews and realised the first trick is to hold the remote correctly with the buttons facing the ceiling. This is different to how I played wii sports but makes the world of difference.

Secondly give yourself 10 mins against the ball machine and just practice hitting left and right instead of just returning the ball. The learning curve is steep but once it clicks it is very satisfying. When you get the hang of this you can actually control rallies and hit winners.

I think most gamers are used to picking up games and very quickly working out button combinations or shortcomings to allow quick progress. GST isn't like this.

my tip is to allow yourself to get immersed in the game. change the match settings to full 6 game sets and play a game of tennis and you'll soon see what EA have done is nothing short of brilliant.

The programming isn't perfect and sometimes the game does make mistakes with backhand and forehand positioning but just play through your shot. It might not be the exact shot you wanted but the game seems to compensate and at least it will return your shot allowing you to get into position for the next shot. Follow through is also key. If you're using motion plus a flick of the wrist no longer does the trick like in wii sports. Instead follow through and angle your shots and rotate your wrist to get top spin or slice and suddenly this game comes to life. Cross court winners or down the line passes are possible and they're very satisfying when you make them.

Due to the motion sensor glitches you can lose the odd easy point which is frustrating and over a 3 game set (default match length)you'll probably lose at first. But over a best of 3 sets you can come out on top.

grand slam mode builds you up with basic warm up short matches against legend or current tennis stars to learn different styles of play. For example McEnroe does come to the net forcing you to learn lobs and passes, while Serena Williams hits backcourt powershots so you have to learn to place your shots, stay in rallies and work the angles. After these warm ups you're into the tournament and thats when the fun really begins.

An hour and twenty later I've beaten Michael Stich 2-6 6-2 6-3 in the last 16 of the Australian Open with most games going to deuce. The satisfaction comes from deciding to serve and volley when facing break point and making it work along or from nailing that top spin cross court shot having played your opponent into a corner. This is all possible in GST and thats without using the nunchuk.

The graphics are cartoon like but work in hiding some of the programming faults and certainly doesnt detract from gameplay. Ultimately this isn't the sort of game that you can pick up and suddenly be the next Roger Federer. I'm pretty average at tennis in real life and I'm pretty average at this but GST has managed to bring the fun and energy of playing for real to your living room. After a 3 set match you'll be sweating and i'm sure my arm will ache but I'm already thinking about how to beat Leyton Hewitt in the next round and know that i'm weak on my backhand and have to work at it. That's ultimately the magic of the wii and motionplus because your weaknesses cant be corrected just by pressing a button you've got to learn how to actually play the shot.

Well done EA Sports and hopefully this will encourage people to stick with GST a little longer.

Stay with this and practice, practice practice!
The one thing about this game which I think people are beginning to "get" now, is that it is not an easy game to first play like Wii Sports Tennis for example. I loved Wii Sports Tennis and was eager to get my hands on a full-featured tennis game - a genre to which the Wii is so obviously suited.

When I first played the game I played for 3 solid hours without winning a game, let alone a set! But then, it all clicked! You have to forget what you have learnt from Wii Sports Tennis, gone are the days of quick flicks of the wrist. Instead you must be patient and prepare for each shot. This is a game that truly rewards those who put in the effort.

The tips that I read that really helped were to return the remote to the central position pointing at the TV between each shot. Keep the remote with the buttons facing up and your finger and thumb over the A and B buttons respectively. The side of the remote is the side of your racquet.

The key is to set up for your shot as soon as your opponent returns the ball. So if you want a forehand shot, move the racquet/remote out to your forehand and then swing for the shot. You MUST follow through on your shots across your body and remember to use a smooth motion.

The Motion Plus is by no means perfect, but for it's first outing this is spot on! You can easily target your shots, the type of shots and amount of power. If, like me, you watched all the EA promotional videos with Thomas Singleton showing off "true 1:1 motion sensitivity" you may be a little disappointed! If you play really slowly the actions are mirrored more closely, but generally they just trigger a range of pre-defined animations. However, 9 out of 10 times these do match your movements.

With the actual content of the game, it is brilliant! Single player, doubles, party games, career mode and online are all there. Plus some little extras like the ability to build your own player and track your fitness. The Grand Slam Career mode is a shade "light", but depth is added to this with the ability to increase your created player's stars and earn abilities from the pros, plus un-lockable content like new clothing and power-ups.

For me online is where the real fun is and I would love to see Wii Speak implemented in the next version. The online experience is fantastic and usually lag free. There is a points and rankings system, but seems a bit random to pay too much attention to. Much discussion has taken place on the EA forums about online play, the different tactics people employ and whether you should use a pro or created player.

At the end of the day it is down to you to play whatever style you choose to get the most enjoyment out of the online games. I love playing as my created player against the likes of Samprass or Federer - and beating them! Or even when you come across the "tactical" (ahem) baseline lobbers, you can easily find a strategy to dispatch them.

As an over all package, EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis is perfect for the first Motion Plus release and I cannot recommend it highly enough. The music, done my superstar DJ Paul van Dyk is subtle, yet suits the pace of the game perfectly. The commentary by Pat Cash is somewhat limited in places, but isn't that frequent so doesn't become to much of an annoyance.

Finally, and this was the biggest selling point for me, the graphics. Much has been said about the "cartoon" and "childish" graphics, but when you see them and play the game you realise that they are awesome.

The subtle character animations, the shadow movements that map your character's movements, even the stadiums complete with all the official sponsors. Even the different courts from grass to clay, as well as looking different, also play differently, affecting the bounce of the ball in different ways. I'm not at all bothered that the crowd are "cardboard cut-outs", half the time the depth-of-field is quite shallow so you don't notice this. I would love to see the umpire and/or ball boys and girls animated though.

I must also congratulate EA Games on their spot on timing of the release to coincide with Wimbledon. I religiously followed Wimbledon this year because of playing this game! Game, set and match Grand Slam Tennis.

Take time to learn the game THEN add the motionplus and this game is fantastic!!
I read quite a few reviews on this product before buying it. It was clear that some reviewers were loving it and some felt quite the opposite. The main problem seemed to be the motionplus. I thought I would get the game as that seemed good, and get the motionplus with it as it was not that much extra on the cost of the game and I needed to see for myself.

My first attempt to play on practice court was awful and I totally understood what the negative reviews were saying. I was 'resetting' the motionplus all the time because I thought it was the problem. So I took the motionplus off and played many, many games without it until I got the general hang of the game. Then I found I was loving the game but thought I would give the motionplus another go. Having got to the point without it, where I could hold my own in a match (after MANY grand slam circuits) I found that the motionplus added SO much more. I have not had one moment since I put it back on where I thought the motionplus was not behaving properly - leading to the obvious conclusion... that the problem before was me. Some things I have learnt though....:

- make sure you hold remote with A button up and B down as stated in other reviews
- DONT watch you player - this distracts you as you wonder how they could get to the shot - just keep your eye on the ball and swing for it at the right time, and assuming they can, your player will get it. This is particularly important on your opponents serve.
- make use of your ability to come in to the net.

And - as stated above, get to know the game and get yourself good at it WITHOUT the motionplus and then plug it in.

I think it is fantastic, and love the game and the opportunities to play the greats, play the funky novelty games, count calories and proceed through the grand slam circuit.

This is not the game for you if you want something you can just pick up and play easily out of the box like Wii sports. But if you are willing to put in the work, learn how to use it - you WILL fall in love with this game :-)