Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash review by Jennifer Allen. 

DEVELOPER: Camelot Software Planning
PUBLISHER: Nintendo
RELEASE: Out Now
FORMAT(S): Nintendo Wii U
RATING: PEGI 3
PRICE (RRP): £39.99

It’s not that Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash isn’t fun to play, it’s that there’s just not enough of it to warrant paying full price for it. A shockingly stripped down release, there’s no campaign or tournament mode to speak of.

Instead, the meat comes from the Knockout Challenge – a ladder of 30 matches – and the Mega Battle Mode, offering mega mushrooms that increase your size to mix things up. There’s a dull game of ball rallying too, which hardly entices. Quirky mini games are non-existent, meaning there’s less fun to be had than in previous instalments.

Worst of all is the limitations of the online multiplayer. You can’t create lobbies, simply being paired up randomly with other players, without even an option for a rematch. While local multiplayer is where most of the fun resides, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash fails to translate that elsewhere. It’s all so flimsy and shallow.

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