Agassi Tennis Generation 2002 By: Cryo Interactive

Overview:

"Agassi Tennis Generation" is a tennis game that enables the player to hit the court as the famed tennis legend. As far as sports games go, tennis has never been a genre that has especially caught my interest. The aspects of "Agassi Tennis Generation" that I take issue with are more issues that I have with the sport in general than with the actual game.

Tennis doesn't have a lot of continuous action, especially when you're terrible at it. I find that the constant stopping and re-serving slows the sport's pace to a crawl, and seems to fracture the game experience. That being said, if I could just learn how to volley the ball, I'd get more continuous play time, and herein lies my true critique of the game, that I suck at it. It's hard to tell if I'm just horrible at tennis (digital and real-life), or if the controls aren't responsive and sharp enough to allow me to become invested in the game. About half of my swings are executed when the ball is already behind me and has been called as a point. The audience claps after every point, but I was unable to score any points, which meant that the audience continued to clap with sustained enthusiasm after every point of my shut out defeat, seems a little bit mean-spirited to me.

I was actually embarrassed for my digital Andre Agassi, I wondered what the digital crowd must be saying to each other as they watch me take swing after swing at nothing but air. I try to act like I'm warming up my swing, or perhaps fending off a bumble bee that has become attracted to my neon yellow shirt, but the digital crowd doesn't seem to be buying it. I swear I hear whispers of criticism exchanged amongst the audience between sets. I can see it in their little digital eyes, 'Why didn't I go see Venus or Serena?', or 'Wow, Agassi really lost his game when he lost his hair!', they think. Maybe I'm reading too much into the situation. Regardless of my digital embarrassment, "Agassi Tennis Generation" is among the most frustrating games I've encountered on the Console Classix site, but for those of us with active imaginations, the embarrassments can be quite entertaining.

Directions:

"Agassi Tennis Generation" features four gaming modes: Championship, Multiplayer, Arcade, and Quick Match. There are multiple tennis stars to choose from (I assume they're stars, although Andre is the only athlete I recognize), as well as multiple locations to play at. The locations will look different, but as far as I can tell there is no difference in the play. The L and R buttons don't serve a function, but if you touch them your character will freeze, at least providing you an excuse as to why you stood like a statue and watch match point sail by.