After playing Tennis in the Face for the first time, I oddly felt as though I had been there before. Taking inspiration from one title in particular, this game isn’t the “indie hit” you were hoping it could be, that’s even if you knew it existed.
Tennis in the Face has been created by the 10tons, the masterminds behind Crimsonland; the popular PC-based twin-stick shooter which was recently released on PS4. I was impressed by what the studio had created in that game and Tennis in the Face does feature some decent progression, but the gameplay doesn’t change too much throughout. While you wouldn’t be foolish to think that Tennis in the Face doesn’t have a story, it has an insignificant narrative. You play as Pete Pagassi, a humorous take on Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi, and after lighting up the tennis world in the mid-90’s, the protagonist becomes addicted to energy drinks and eventually loses his way and is forced to retire. Pete reaches a stage in his life when he decides to try to defeat the poisonous energy drinks company which then leads to the events of Tennis in the Face.
Surely if this was the back-story for the game then this title would be all-out action and allowing you to take on your enemy’s head-on, right? Wrong. Tennis in the Face is a fine example of taking a concept from another game and trying to make it their own. The game which Tennis in the Face copies is the over-hyped and under-delivering Angry Birds, as you have to serve a tennis ball and try to hit as many enemies as possible, similar to our feathered friends’ goal to destroy all pigs. The game only requires three buttons to play and those are the left stick, Triangle to restart the level and “X” to hit the ball: it’s as easy as that. While playing through the game, I couldn’t help think that this game was very much suited to a mobile or tablet device and it certainly didn’t suit the PS4.
That in itself is pretty disappointing as after Sony’s major claim that they were bringing unique indie titles to the PS4 at E3 last year. There haven’t been too many major successes as Steam mostly has the first chance to release the game on their platform. While we have seen numerous mobile games making the leap to consoles and PC successfully, Tennis in the Face doesn’t achieve this in the slightest and would be far better off, in my eyes, sticking to the mobile platform.
As an introduction to the gameplay, you have to defeat several clowns that are placed in various positions around an area, which they do not move from. You are then able to hit a ball towards the enemy or by using the environment to defeat other enemies with one hit: as long as the enemies are struck with the ball or any other object then they are considered out. As you progress through each of the eight stages, the types of enemies change and require a certain amount of hits or to be hit in certain places to defeat them. Foes such as the police have riot shields and scientists who have radiation-protective suits, which require special treatment, but Tennis in the Face ultimately relies on luck rather than quick-thinking.
To say that there isn’t any feeling of satisfaction in the game would be a downright lie, but the occasions where you feel triumphant are very few and far between. The tools you are provided with only include a tennis ball and eventually a can of the dreaded energy drink which has put Pete in this predicament. The tennis balls bounce for around 10 seconds or so and this is somewhat intriguing to see where the ball will end up, but it feels as though you have next to no control over this on the harder levels. Using the areas effectively by targeting explosives, glass, barrels and platform edges, the game’s core mechanics feel fortunate when they eventually have a positive effect. Aside from the very basic gameplay mechanics, Tennis in the Face is very vibrant and the soundtrack is pleasant to begin with too, although it does become repetitive if you find a specific level frustrating.
All in all, this game doesn’t really have anything to appealing about it. The mechanics have been taken from another game and it simply feels very lacklustre. Judging from the experiences I had with it, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone. If it were to stick to its original mobile or tablet platform then it might possibly be average, but Tennis in the Face doesn’t belong on the PS4. Tennis in the Face is available now via the PSN Store and various mobile marketplaces.