Mario Power Tennis

   Mario Power Tennis is a sports game for the Gamecube from 2004. It is the third game in the Mario Tennis series. There's no story but the opening cut-scene shows Mario and Luigi beating Wario and Waluigi. The next scene they go to the Peach Dome and find that they have been crossed out from the tennis tourney bracket. They get mad and draw on the picture of Mario and Luigi. The cops chase them and they end up in a strange room with Bowser. He trains them to become better tennis players while the tourney continues. At the final match they launch bombs at everyone, but Mario and Luigi hit them back at them and they explode.

   I decided to play a tournament as Bowser Jr. The first match was really easy. I beat Diddy Kong without losing a point. They didn't get too much harder after that, but after beating the Mushroom Cup you can play the Flower Cup then the Star cup etc. which get harder each time. There was a good selection of 14 starting characters, and several more that had to be unlocked. Also every now and then, after a nice play I assume, you get a special shot. There are two types of special shots, the long range shot which is good for getting balls you couldn't normally reach, and the power shot which allows you to hit a ball that is harder to hit than a normal shot. The gameplay was fun, and the graphics were good. The controls worked well most of the time, except sometimes when you are trying to hit the ball it charges a shot. It is a sports game, so you can play it as much as you want without getting bored.

SCORES

Gameplay-8 The game was really fun, but the problem with charging shots instead of swinging happens too often.

Graphics-8 The game mostly looked good but words and some picture looked slightly pixely.

Replayability-10 The game doesn't change at all however much you play it.

Size-6 Few tourneys that can all be beaten quickly make this game a little small.

OVERALL SCORE: 8