Playing with Nadal

by Milo 

Java Game Review: Rafa Nadal Tennis

Rafael Nadal-Parera, the world’s number two tennis player in the world certainly has made waves for the past years that he actually beat Roger Federer, the world number one, into having a self-titled tennis game on any platform.

Nowadays, being on the cover of a video game, much more a game named after you is like being on the cover of the Wheaties box decades back. One only manages to reach the cover of a video game if he has done something great in the world of sport, whether it be continuous great feats, immense popularity or a combination of both. A world-renowned athlete on the cover helps sell the product to the intended audience.

Rafa Nadal is no exception. He holds a 60-game winning streak on clay courts, even beating Roger Federer several times on such surface, thus earning him the nickname, “King of Clay.” With heavy top spins and the ability to play with both hands, he quickly climbed his way to number 2 of the leaderboards in 2005. Nadal also holds the distinction of being the first teenager to win at least six titles in a year since Andre Agassi, and the first to win a Grand Slam since Pete Sampras won at age 19. Known for his mild-mannered disposition, Nadal is praised for arguably having the greatest sportsmanship in men’s tennis today as he never loses his temper during matches, and always compliments his opponents in any situation. He also has a strong following, especially from the female fans he has since he is a fine-looking individual with muscles and all — could be called the Sharapova of men’s tennis in this era.

But I digress.

Here I have currently installed in my cellphone is Rafa Nadal Tennis. Although available only in Spanish language, this game is simple enough to play. A little tinkering around would help you get used to the controls even if you do not speak a word of Spanish. The movements are controlled with the joystick or the 2, 4, 6, 8 buttons in the keypad. To hit the ball, you could either press 5, *, 0 or click the joystick if it’s possible in your phone — no difference among these buttons.

Once you click the hit button, your player, Rafael Nadal, will automatically head towards the ball and try to hit it back. This is perfect for a java game since us players do not want us fumbling around with combinations just to hit the ball back. Of course, you still need to position Nadal in the right place for him to hit the ball back. Stand too far from where the ball bounces back and he would not reach it in time even if you press the hit button. One flaw though is if you might accidentally press the hit button in the wrong moment, Nadal will run towards the ball and try to hit it back even if the ball would land outside the court. I’ve accidentally hit quite a few balls that I should’ve let go because they were going out, thus saving the point for the opponent.

There are basically three shots you can do. A regular shot by just pressing the hit button, a lob shot which is done by pushing downwards on your joystick and pressing the hit button, and a power shot which is done by pushing upwards and pressing the hit button. Pushing left and right would help direct the ball into that direction. Don’t push too long though, for the ball may go out of bounds.

Yes, you can only play as Nadal, and he’s the only real player amongst the other made-up athletes you face in the tournaments. It’s his game, so stop complaining about the lack of Roger Federers and Andre Agassis. There are four courts in here, ranging from clay to synthetic. There’s only a small difference in the speed of the balls though, unlike in real life where balls travel slower in clay than in grass.

There are two match types, exhibition and championship, with three levels of difficulty. It also includes a tutorial (in Spanish) and its best selling point, bluetooth multiplayer capability. Bluetooth is laggy, but still playable across most phones — one of the few java games that can successfully be played between a Nokia and a Sony Ericsson.

The difficulty levels are different from one another, so it will give even seasoned veterans a challenge if played in the difficult setting, and at the same time, give the beginners a chance to learn the game in the easy setting. Unlike the flaw found in NBA Live games where the once 80% FG shooter suddenly cannot shot an open shot if it’s set in a higher difficulty, Nadal plays the same in any mode, and it’s up to you and your skills on how well he plays.

The graphics are simple. You can recognize Nadal sporting his trademark blue muscle shirt and white band while his opponent is wearing all white (much like Sampras, Agassi or even Federer — so you can make believe that Nadal is battling those greats). Its 2D graphics and top-view camera gives you the right perspective to run for those balls.

Unfortunately, this java game is full of glitches here and there mostly in the scoring of the game. They are not in there every time, but I’ve seen times where I served a fault (not a double fault), and it gave the point to the opponent. There are also times that it skips points and heads directly to the next game of that set. The most common one found mainly in the bluetooth option is it gives points to the other player even if he hasn’t won any so your 30-0 lead is actually not safe as if you manage to win next turn, you might see the score jump to 40-30.

However, it is extremely enjoyable and still playable. In fact, it’s quite addicting that it hasn’t left my phone since I installed it. I moderately also have one-on-one challenges with some of my co-workers via bluetooth, and it has been fun beating them to the ground. Funny enough, the glitchy point system in the multiplayer option works wonders as the dominating player cannot expect to be comfortable enough with his lead thus giving the newbie an actual chance.

I give it a 3.5 out of 5.