I am no tennis player but I found this game to be highly addictive. Rafa tennis is played mostly by using the stylus on the touchscreen (can be changed to control pad in options) where a tennis court is displayed. The top screen is used for scoring and ball speed stat. Tapping on a point on the court moves your player to that position. Moving the stylus in a direction will hit the ball in that direction. The longer the stroke of the stylus the harder the ball is hit and will travel. Serving is done in a similar manner but also features a power meter. I started off playing the Tennis School mode which of coarse is a tutorial for the game. It goes through the basics of moving around the court, serving, returning and lobbing the ball. It has good instruction and allows you to practice the shots. Career Mode: In this mode you create a Character. Gender, Head, Body, Legs and right or left handed options are available to customize your player. At the start your ranking is 100 and you have no money. The first few tournaments are very easy. Your player is automatically centered on the court after every shot on the first few levels and then you need to be doing this your self as you go along. As you win matches and tournaments your ranking is lowered and prize money is increased and more tournaments are made available. You can buy new shirts, shorts and rackets in the store as well as a doubles partner. I found spending more on a doubles partner got you a better player but did not notice spending more on anything else got you anything better. You can go into equipment mode to change cloths and racket. You win trophies for the tournaments you win. There is also a side challenge which gives you extra's. The side challenges are things like getting so many aces in a tournament or winning so many games without losing a point and things like that. The extra's that are gained are additional trophies and sometimes clothing As you go through the matches you also gain credits which you can spend on improving attributes of your game like serve, forehand etc. I found the game to become very challenging as your ranking lowered. By using the stylus the controls are very fine and sensitive, this was lacking using the control pad and I guess that is why the stylus is the default setting. The ball reacts different depending on the surface being played on i.e. grass, clay, etc moving quicker on rebound ace and slower on grass and clay. Tips on play. I found drawing the oposition close to the net and then hitting over their head is a good tactic. Another is the serve and volley which is a standard move in tennis. Mastering your serve will get you out of tight situations, hitting aces are not that easy. This game has a multiplayer mode for DS to DS play upto 4 players for a doubles game. I have not tried it out as yet. Overall I have trouble putting this game down as it is challenging to get through the oposition players (which I have never heard of). I find myself swearing at it sometimes when I am beaten but it would be boring if it were easy. Each individual location is different to the next and the ball sounds a very realistic. Graphics - 7/10 Gameplay - 8/10 Sound - 9/10
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Rafa Nadal Tennis