Tennis Elbow 2004 Demo

In order to properly simulate a sport, video games need to take into account a variety of factors, as well as portray the conditions are close to reality as possible and put emphasis on the players when it comes to skill. Hence, gamers can enjoy their favorite activities and even see what it would be like to be a soccer, basketball or baseball superstar.

Tennis Elbow 2004 is a simulator that allows you to do just that, albeit in a slightly more crude and primitive way, due to technological and financial limitations. However, a lot effort went into simulating the actual mechanics of the sport and make it feel as close to the real thing as possible, not to mention the fact that the replayability factor is through the roof.

In the beginning, you might find it a bit difficult to grasp the concepts, especially since there is no real tutorial in place and no instructions to guide you. However, after you figure out how to play the game, everything should fall into place and the experience can even become addictive. This is due to the fact that the game allows you to participate in tournaments and prove yourself as the best in the world again and again.

Naturally, these championships can be played along with the AI, which certainly puts up quite the fight, especially on higher difficulty levels. However, you might also feel cheated every once in a while, since the CPU is able to perform some pretty impossible saves and it can accurately predict your moves. It should not be impossible to beat, however, especially if you keep on getting better and better.

Visually, the graphics engine certainly does not excel all that much when it comes to textures, animations or player models, especially since everything is in 2D. The environments are quite detailed, but lacking in depth and proper shading, while the characters are poorly animated, especially when you consider the fact that it was released at a time when the 3D industry was booming and easy to get into.

Despite the various design flaws and AI annoyances, you can still have a lot of fun with Tennis Elbow 2004, especially if you are a fan of the sport and you are not really mesmerized by special effects and new-age post-processing stuff. On the other hand, it would have been nice to take advantage of all three dimensions.