Cheat Index - Tennis 2K2 Dreamcast Review

If anyone knows how to do sports games, it is the people at Sega and Electronic Arts. Both companies put out the very finest sports games in the industry, and anyone would be hard pressed to find any real advantages that a Madden has over a NFL2K-type. Where they drift apart is in the secondary sports games that they produce. While Electronic Arts has given us great titles such as SSX, Knockout Kings and Rugby, Sega counters with AM2's Beach Spikers and of course, Hitmaker's Virtua Tennis/Tennis 2Kx series. While Sega hasn't exactly had fierce competition in the tennis category (the last real good tennis game was Super Tennis for SNES), that hasn't stopped Sega and Hitmaker from producing what will definitely be the trendsetter for any up and comers to meet with Tennis 2K2.

For those who aren't educated in the way of the racket, Tennis 2K2 features sixteen professionally ranked players, everyone from Patrick Rafter to the Williams sisters to Monica Seles. No, it doesn't have many of the more popular players like Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Martina Hingis, but the cast that Sega has provided will certainly do the job. Yeah, I can hear some of you moan and groan about tennis hottie Anna Kournikova not being in the game, but really, do we need an overpaid and underwhelming player in this game? Hell no! Then again, if we were talking about looks, that's a different story. Sega went to great lengths to make sure that the males and the females do play quite differently from each other. The male players tend to hit harder and move a lot quicker as well as actually diving for a ball, while female players generally are slower, but can handle the ball better. Within each gender, each player also have their own attributes. The Williams sisters are known for their power, while Jelena Dokic is quick on her feet. Overall the game seems very balanced, as no one character really dominates the game, which makes it even better when playing against friends.

Tennis 2K2 uses the same system that Virtus Tennis does when it comes to your shot placements. The accuracy and speed of your shot largely depends on how fast you react to the situation. If you just barely made it to reaching the ball, the result will be a poorly made shot, which is easy fodder for your opponent. Likewise, if you are able to get in position for your opponent's return, you'll be able to drive a bullet down the line. There are also some other minor changes that have been made to the system. In the first game, lobs were easy bait for anyone to smash, because of the automatic tracking of the players and the general slowness of the shot. In T2K2 this has been fixed, and has made for a better overall game; no longer will you fear a smash when lobbing a ball over an opponent's head. New to the game is the slice button, which adds an entirely new dimension to the game. The slice buttons allows you to put a little spin on your return, resulting in a slower shot than the normal shot, which makes it great when setting up a run towards the net or returning an especially hard serve back to your opponent. The addition of the slice button really brings together a new set of mindgames that you can use or need to be aware of when playing against the computer or human opponents. When you get involved in a heated baseline rally for a couple of seconds, and then have an opponent drop a slice that just barely goes over the net, you'll realize just how the game has taken on a whole new set of techniques to master.

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