Mario and friends are back on the courts in hopes of continuing Nintendo’s winning streak for the Switch
with Mario Tennis Aces, the newest installment of the long-running sports series.
Right from the moment it was unveiled, Nintendo and developer Camelot set out to prove
that they took criticism of the previous incarnation to heart and were ready to deliver a superior game.
Aces is a clear step up from the barebones effort of the Wii U predecessor
with the long awaited return of the story mode not seen in over a decade.
The game wastes no time in its setup, dropping you immediately into the adventure mode
as you set out to stop an evil tennis racket that’s possessed several of Mario’s friends.
It’s a great way to start the game as the early goings serve as basic tutorials on the various new mechanics,
wrapped with morsels of narrative to hold your interest.
You eventually move on to the thick of the adventure,
facing off against increasingly more challenging opponents,
tackling various mini-games, and dueling it out against iconic Mario bosses.
The adventure mode is certainly a welcome addition and something the series has been lacking.
It incorporates a character progression system for Mario,
allowing him to level up through both victory and defeat.
Plus you can net new rackets by successfully undertaking some of the optional mini-games.
It’s a meatier offering than we’ve seen in some time, but it comes up a bit short in the end.
The formulaic nature becomes too repetitive, and the variety of activities isn’t that impressive.
For the most part, things move along at a brisk pace, but towards the end,
a handful of activities slam on the brakes as you struggle to overcome sharp difficulty spikes.
One other big disappointment comes from the lack of a proper mini-game mode.
Though you can replay the existing mini-games in the adventure mode as much as you like,
there isn’t a dedicated mode to do so more easily.
Paired with the absence of the additional challenges and rewards
found in older installments, it’s a missed opportunity,
limiting Aces’ replayability and appeal.
That being said, the new mechanical additions to Aces are fantastic.
Thanks to the wide range of new tactics at your disposal, matches can get extremely heated,
especially when playing online against other opponents.
After building up enough meter on your energy gauge,
players can utilize several special abilities
to try to turn the tables on their opponents.
These new tactics really up the tension in matches
and allow for a lot of improvisation and strategy.
Factor in that your rackets have durability and can break
if you mistime a counter to a zone shot, and it can get incredibly intense trying to guess what
your opponent will do while also trying to throw them for a loop.
Engaging in these mind games makes for some of the best moments in Aces.
After you’ve seen and done everything in adventure mode, all that’s left
is to turn to the various local and online offerings.
Given the modest offline offerings, it’s clear that the satisfaction you’ll get out of Aces
is largely dependent on your enjoyment of the online features.
The good news is that we’ve never encountered a single connectivity issue;
playing online feels silky smooth and very responsive.
If you thoroughly enjoy taking on other opponents and experiencing the rush of trying to outsmart them,
you’ll get many hours of enjoyment out of Aces’ online matches.
Your victories and defeats are all recorded and factored into your rankings,
so if vying for leaderboard positions is your thing, you’ve got your work cut out for you.
All of the new mechanics in Aces might be a bit much to take in the more competitive space of online matches,
so if you want to trim the fat, there is a simple mode that removes
all of the special abilities and focuses on just the basics.
Or you can take a more casual approach in the no-strings-attached free play mode,
which is a good way for newcomers to get their feet wet.
One final incentive to compete in the online tournament mode
is the ability to gain access to new characters each month simply for participating.
It’s an interesting approach, clearly aimed at trying to increase the game’s longevity.
If you don’t compete, that new character will be unlocked for everyone by the following month, but
the extra nudge to get characters sooner is a strong incentive
to participate online at least once a month.
Mario Tennis Aces is an improvement over its predecessor
with the long-awaited return of the story mode
and exciting new mechanics which make for much more intense and enjoyable matches.
The limited scale of the story mode and lack of additional challenges,
especially in regards to the mini-games, do hurt its appeal.
The online mode is solid, if not a bit sparse, so your mileage may vary
depending on your affinity for multiplayer.
It’s not quite at the level of earlier installments, but
Aces shows that the Mario Tennis series is back on the right track.
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