Games published by Pathé Interactive
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International Tennis Open
International Tennis Open is a good port of Philip's CD-i game of the same name which sold relatively well on the CD-i but remains unknown on the PC.
Advertised as a 'tennis simulation' (as opposed to an arcade-style game) the game is a fun tennis game that offers excellent multimedia elements, including thousands of mini-videos, voice-overs and dozens of digitized players. The player chooses one of 9 nations to represent and plays singles against a variety of opponents (unfortunately, there is no doubles play) in practice, quick match or tournament mode. The practice mode is self-explanatory, the quick match allows you to play a quick match against an opponent (chosen from 4 fictitious players) and the type of court (concrete, grass or clay) of your choice. In tournament mode, you select a host city from around the world and start playing matches from the quarterfinals onwards. The game itself is fun and easy to control, although, as with most tennis games, it is often difficult to gauge how far away the ball is. I also find curve balls very difficult to do with the joystick and keyboard; presumably they are easier if you have a gamepad. Naturally, the player animations (made up of 2D rotoscoped sprites) are not as fluid as the polygon-based players in Mindscape's 4D Sports Tennis, but they are more than adequate. The computer player gives a decent challenge in pro mode, and true to its 'tennis simulation', the game reasonably models many realistic factors. For example, the ball bounces much higher on a concrete court than on grass.
Overall, International Tennis Open is a fun tennis game that is marred by too short tournament lengths and a lack of variety in gameplay. All the computer-controlled players seem to look the same and play the same, for example, and there is no in-depth record. Recommended, but not a Top Dog.
