Like Nick Kyrgios, Mario Tennis Fever is brilliant and bothersome. Both have so much potential.
The problem is everything else that gets in the way of what matters — tennis!
Mario Tennis Fever Struggles To Ace Single Player — Why It’s Better With A Friend
Moment-to-moment gameplay in Mario Tennis Fever is damn near perfect.
There’s a surprising amount of depth to the controls which almost anyone can easily pick up and play.
With friends, it’s a great time on a Nintendo Switch 2; especially if you lean into the chaos of the game’s 30 fever rackets.
Unlocking and testing different combinations of these rackets, their special shots and the game’s massive roster of 38 characters is a big part of the fun.
The problem is, when you’re not playing online or against friends, Mario Tennis Fever doesn’t know what to do with them.
READ MORE: Review | Donkey Kong Bananza: ‘Imperfect Masterpiece’ (NS2)
The biggest offender is the game’s Adventure mode.
Mario Tennis Fever tells a story that masquerades as an RPG. Mario is transformed into a baby and has to train at a tennis academy to rebuild his strength and take on the monster responsible.
Unfortunately, it plays like a four hour tutorial.
You have no control in how Mario levels up, what style of player you’d like to become or what racket you’ll use to get the job done. That last point is incredibly disappointing for a game named after its rackets.
By the end, slugging through its repetitive minigames feels like a chore; and you can’t avoid it either because you need to finish the story to unlock all of the game’s 38 characters.
Tournament Mode Returns In Mario Tennis Fever
Tournament mode returns but there aren’t many of them and you only need to win three matches to claim each cup. There are three cups to win in singles and another three in doubles. Again, the fever rackets don’t play a huge role here.
Thankfully, fever rackets are much more important in Trial Towers. These were easily my favourite thing to do solo. There are three towers, and each one is a collection of ten challenges leading up to a final “boss” match. The challenges are often themed, like battling DK and his banana spilling racket, and require you to stop and think about what techniques might work best.
READ MORE: Review | Big Hops: ‘Worth Hopping Into’ (PC)
Better still, once you complete all three towers, you unlock 100 individual trials to tackle. These can get a little repetitive, especially if you are trying to get a perfect three stars on each (why is one star almost always tied to not losing a single point?), but I spent hours here enjoying just how whacky Mario Tennis Fever could be.
There are few game-breaking courts to find here and in Mix It Up mode, including one that bounces you between pinball bumpers, a court that has you collecting Wonder Seeds instead of points and, my personal favourite, a forest which shrinks or grows the size of the court when you hit a ball into a Piranha Plant’s mouth.
When courts are changing, multiple balls are getting thrown into the mix and fever rackets are transforming those balls into Bullet Bills, games get chaotic in the best possible way.
You can turn all of that off if you want a more traditional experience but as always, it’s best with friends.
Mario Tennis Fever Is A Multiplayer Smash — But Should You Buy It?
If you’re going into Mario Tennis Fever solo, you’ll likely be disappointed. Why Nintendo can’t match the genius of Golf Story — which was made by two dudes in Queensland — is beyond me.
But I also don’t buy Call of Duty games for the campaign. And the fact is Mario Tennis Fever is a great multiplayer tennis game.
Quest Daily scores Mario Tennis Fever:
7.5/10
Early access to Mario Tennis Fever was supplied to Mark Santomartino for the purpose of this review.
