Tennis in the Face (PC) Review

There isn't much of a story present, although that isn't really a bad thing. Essentially, a rebel tennis player is controlled, thwarting the efforts of the evil Explodz Inc. Each section of the game compromises new members of the organisation to thwack in the face with a yellow ball of justice. It's very basic, classic "Stop the Evil Corporation" video game plotting; it's well used as a back story and not much more. At the beginning of each new segment is a newspaper detailing a bit about the enemies that will be introduced, but beyond this, the story is kept well to a minimum.

Graphically, it looks a bit rough. Clearly designed to have a sort of comic strip look to it, it really just comes off as cheap, almost looking like ClipArt the developer was highly fond of. Its presence, however, does lend a sort of zany quality to the presentation that works fairly well with the overall experience.

The gameplay is where the game shines, if only for a little while. Anyone familiar with mobile gaming's Stupid Zombies franchise will understand the basics of Tennis in the Face. However, for those unfamiliar with that, or even Angry Birds, it's fairly simple. The goal is to whack a tennis ball around a room, with it bouncing for a brief period of time, hitting as many enemies as possible. It's a fun spin on the physics, aim and shoot concept that Angry Birds popularised. While Tennis in the Face does not innovate in any real way, it does make alterations that seem to perform to mixed effect. The ball is generally capable of bouncing around the room for quite some time. While Stupid Zombies uses a finite bouncing system, here it seems the ball bounces based on a timer. The physics of the ball is also well adjusted, so as the ball bounces longer, it eventually loses momentum and bounces at angles, which is much more realistic.

This isn't to say the system is without its problems. Aiming the ball can be very inaccurate, as the projectile path the game lays out can be a little confusing. Many of the room layouts are extreme bizarre, meaning that getting that lone hiding scientist or businessman can be much more challenging. While this can be rewarding, it frequently drifts into annoying territory.

The audio is the weakest part, being very loud and intrusive. There is no subtlety, and no time is wasted blasting the composer's rather chunky tunes out of the PC's speakers. There is much to say about the sound otherwise; it's just clearly the only flaw that doesn't find a way to being redeeming.

Overall, Tennis in the Face is the sum of its parts. It really just amounts to a reskin of a popular mobile title - a trend that has been growing in upsetting numbers since the dawn of mobile gaming. However, it isn't a poor reskin, and it manages to still be fun - at times, more fun than its source material.