Next Generation Tennis - PS2

As us Brits wave goodbye to this year's annual tennis tournament, seasonal bouts of Henmania subdued until next year, tennis courts across the country return to their normal leaf-covered state and transform back to five-a-side football pitches. Not to worry though, because Wanadoo are keeping the nation's tennis dreams alive with the release of Next Generation Tennis.

Known as Roland Garros French Open 2002 in its native country, this French-made tennis sim places a large emphasis on realism. Much focus has been placed on recreating the effect of watching tennis on TV, with slow motion replays, umpire announcements, realistic player behaviour and crowd reactions all included.

A host of different game modes feature, such as training, exhibition, arcade and multiplayer, as well as specialist challenge games and some hidden modes. The main mode, however, is career mode. In this, players create a player profile and take them on to the professional circuit. Various different training exercises can be carried out, such as serving, smashing and volleying, with successful results upping the players' abilities. The main aim is to reach the top after 20 seasons.

With the help of the teams at Roland Garros and the US Open, who provided exact plans of their stadiums, the development team has faithfully produced accurate models of the most famous courts at Roland Garros and the US Open. The players battle it out on the authentic courts of these world-famous tournaments, in front of crowds who react to their performance.

A comprehensive tennis simulator, NGT also has a fair amount of replay value due to its long list of features and modes. more