PN Review: Family Tennis SP (Wii U eShop)

Sports games don’t usually appeal to me, they’re repetitive and most of the time boring. Family Tennis SP on the other hand took me by surprise, It’s actually a really fun game. Especially if you’ve been waiting for a simple arcade type tennis game on the Wii U eShop. With its cartoony anime style characters and easy gameplay its hard not to like. Especially since its only $4.99. So load up the family and let’s head to the tennis court because its game ON!

I don’t know a lot about tennis, and im probably not the only person with a room full of game systems that’s chose to opt out of any and all sports activities. Even though my interest level was pretty low when starting Family Tennis that changed quickly. You can choose between freeplay, tournament, or minigames all of which are multiplayer. There are 8 characters you can play as, each having their own skill set. Too bad Sarah and Billy were the only ones cool enough to actually have names. Also I have to point out for this being a family game “Mom” and “Auntie” are ridiculously well endowed, and not afraid to flaunt it.

Character Selection Screen

Like I said before the game is really simple to figure out. You can do some pretty neat moves by strategically using your joystick and the A,B,X,Y buttons. There is also a special shot (L & R) which you can do once you fill your meter at the bottom of the screen. The control pad allows you to change the view but this only works when playing alone. The Graphics in this game are not anything im going to boast about but they’re certainly not bad enough to knock. I enjoyed the cartoony style of the game and the noises the characters made while playing are quite entertaining. There are 4 different levels you can play on, not a huge variety but the 4 that are there are rather interesting.

You can use the Wiimote, or Pro controller but one player is required to use the Wii U GamePad every time, even though this applies nothing different to the gameplay. Family Tennis doesn’t use motion controls so I don’t really see a big problem with that. In Freeplay Mode you can have up to 4 players join, you set the rules for the match and choose the level. In Tournament Mode you can face off against the different characters in the game and you can pick from 3 difficulty levels, which is quite a challenge. If you beat tournament mode on the higher difficulty setting you can unlock pictures (Character art) from the game, its nothing you’ll be thriving to complete but still fun.

Roulette Play

Finally minigames mode offers up 3 different types games. Roulette Play which is where you and your opponent hit different colored squares on each side of the court, each square has a different number of points on it and the first to reach 1000 wins. Rally mode is where the players continuously hit the ball back and forth the point value increases, whoever scores gets those points. Last but not least of the minigames is Survivor, this mode sets you up against a never ending amount of opponents putting you to the test and seeing how many in a row you can take down. 

Doubles Play

They’re all pretty entertaining and I had a lot more fun playing with friends so I recommend that if possible. For $4.99 that’s quite a bit of content and the game looks and plays really good overall.  So if you’re looking for a fun family friendly, sports game with a Japanese anime style twist you should check out Family Tennis SP. One thing that is missing from this game is online multiplayer mode. I think that would be fun but maybe they’ll save that for the future…