When I think of the things that make up an enjoyable video game tennis experience, “a gripping narrative that involves a son avenging his father’s missed opportunities,” would have been pretty far back on my list. And yet that’s precisely what makes Flick Tennis: College Wars so interesting.
The game isn’t content to play out its matches using some generic tournament formula or half-hearted season mode. No, Flick Tennis offers matches in the form of episodic content, with a little comic strip introducing each segment before you play a game. It’s extremely weird, a little silly and rather engrossing.
The comic stories are just the kind of surprising touch that makes you want to keep playing to see what will happen next. None of this would matter, of course, if the tennis wasn’t any good. But it’s not too bad either. Players can perform four different strokes using one or two-finger swipes, either up or down across the iPhone screen, which seems like more than enough. Movement is controlled by the computer for the most part, with the player getting to chime in with movements after their swings if they so desire, but that works well, too. It would almost be too much to try to move your player and swipe the screen all at the same time.
Visually, Flick Tennis is well-animated. Everything looks like real tennis, although at the same time, it’s not going to knock your socks off. There are certainly better-looking iPhone games out there, but it’s a credit to the moderate tone of the visuals that the game feels very smooth as your character runs around, pre- and post-swing.
If there’s a downside to the game, it’s more a fault of tennis itself. Tennis can offer some extremely long matches. While you’re able to pause the game and come back to it when you want, it’s important to know you can’t get close to finishing a match if you only have a few minutes to spare.
If you have time to be patient with an enjoyable iPhone sports/role-playing hybrid, Flick Tennis: College Wars makes for an interesting and fun gaming experience.
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