Amiga

International 3D Tennis

First impressions are misleading, with the players translucent, and although this helps gameplay when they shake hands at the end of a match it's a real mess! But International 3-D Tennis more than compensates with superb playability. Gameplay is much the same as it was on the C64 with the innovative control method working perfectly to create a game of maximum skill and minimum frustration. You can really get some long rallies going, especially against some of the better computer opponents. The centre court atmosphere is improved by some extremely clear sampled umpire speech and a brilliant crowd effect with them oohing and applauding realistically. Comparing the many recent Amiga tennis sims it's easily game, set, and match to International 3-D Tennis.

The game has a lot of nice touches. There are different stadiums for each round of competition based on the court set up at Wimbledon. As well as nine pre-set camera angels, the Amiga lets you view the stadium from an unlimited number of angles, even underneath the court, which makes for a great if difficult game. The crowd sounds are poor, but the sampled speech of a real Wimbledon umpire makes up for it. The vector graphics allow great flexibility and are more appropriate for a tennis sim than a sprite-based one. Sensible Software spent 2 months using a 3D program they developed themselves and the results are impressive. Game, set and match to Palace? You bet!

It has got some hot competition from the likes of Ubi Soft’s Pro Tennis Tour which, it has to be said, is altogether a better game. International 3D Tennis is good, but the graphics let it down and, although it plays well, it does not play as well as Ubi Soft’s game. A nice attempt but not good enough to steal Pro Tennis Tour‘s crown.

Sie sind wieder da: Die Mannen von Sensible Software hatten nach der Fußball-Simulation "Microprose Soccer" lange Zeit kein Lebenszeichen von sich gegeben. Ihr Comeback geriet mit "International 3D Tennis" wieder recht sportlich.

The play itself isn't bad, a bit slow perhaps but the awful graphics really spoil any enjoyment factor. Sports fans may enjoy this, however, with much better (though more expensive) products such as Loriciel's Tennis Cup 2 around I doubt if this game will prove to be a hit.

Bei International 3D Tennis kommt wahrlich wenig Freude auf: Die Steuerung ist schrecklich träge, die Spielstärke der Gegner entweder zu leicht oder nahezu unschlagbar, und das unsägliche Geflacker gibt auch dem gutmütigsten Redakteur den Rest. Ich verstehe beim besten Willen nicht, wie englische Zeitschriften diesem Tennis-Trauma so gute Noten verleihen konnten - "Tie Break" oder "Great Courts (Pro Tennis Tour 1)" sind um Klassen besser!

Pro Tennis Tour 2 sums up everything good about tennis simulation. The reasons for this are obvious. It's the straight-forward, single screen, no vector graphics approach which makes make it so playable. International 3D tennis is different.