Let's get to the point: Aces is a good game only if you simply like to play a round or two with people. There's adventure mode for solo play outside of doing regular games solo, but it's incredibly lackluster with the samey side games and matches. You can level up and earn rackets with different stats, but they don't really different at all and the rackets just feel like your extra lives since they can break in this game and (in all modes in general), you lose if all your rackets shatter. The boss fights in adventure mode are pretty nifty with their unique mechanics, but that alone doesn't make the adventure overall any more interesting. After beating the last boss, you don't get anything for your time. The story itself is generic as you can get; an evil power within an ancient racket takes over Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi and threatens to destroy the world, so it's up to Mario to save the day by beating everyone in tennis matches. Because Mario never talks, Toad does the talking for him and he ALWAYS will have something to say. Frankly, the game would have lost nothing if there was no story mode at all.
What to do outside of adventure mode? Just playing tennis. You can play with the new gimmick of special shots that can shatter the opponent's racket if they don't perfectly block it or you can play classic tennis with none of the frills. You can even play like this online as well, but you can't choose how long your games can be. There's also a tourney mode, but the single player version is incredibly boring featuring nothing but a gauntlet of matches and a shiny trophy at the end. You don't even get any unlockables or any end game cutscene of your victory, making the whole thing feel like a waste of time. Tournaments can also be played online, but it's nothing but for bragging rights since you don't actually win anything if you come out on top. The really skilled players hang out here, so unless you're actually good yourself, online tourneys are going to give you a miserable time.
Because the game has no minigames or other modes of play whatsoever, you are going to be stuck just playing regular tennis matches. If you don't have friends to play with and aren't willing to pour in many hours to improve your skills, I highly recommend that you avoid this game. Aces is kind of both casual and hardcore in limiting ways; if you got people to play with, you can easily have a good time playing casually or hardcore. If you are stuck playing solo and solo online, casual play isn't going to be a good experience due to lack of content offline and the tough opponents online. While the game has been patched a few times, it's mostly for rebalancing characters. Only time will tell if new content will be added in the future. Compared to the N64 and Gamecube Mario Tennis games, Aces is severely lacking and good core mechanics isn't enough to carry the game on its own for me.
VideoGame Only Good at One Thing and Not Much Else
Let's get to the point: Aces is a good game only if you simply like to play a round or two with people. There's adventure mode for solo play outside of doing regular games solo, but it's incredibly lackluster with the samey side games and matches. You can level up and earn rackets with different stats, but they don't really different at all and the rackets just feel like your extra lives since they can break in this game and (in all modes in general), you lose if all your rackets shatter. The boss fights in adventure mode are pretty nifty with their unique mechanics, but that alone doesn't make the adventure overall any more interesting. After beating the last boss, you don't get anything for your time. The story itself is generic as you can get; an evil power within an ancient racket takes over Wario, Waluigi, and Luigi and threatens to destroy the world, so it's up to Mario to save the day by beating everyone in tennis matches. Because Mario never talks, Toad does the talking for him and he ALWAYS will have something to say. Frankly, the game would have lost nothing if there was no story mode at all.
What to do outside of adventure mode? Just playing tennis. You can play with the new gimmick of special shots that can shatter the opponent's racket if they don't perfectly block it or you can play classic tennis with none of the frills. You can even play like this online as well, but you can't choose how long your games can be. There's also a tourney mode, but the single player version is incredibly boring featuring nothing but a gauntlet of matches and a shiny trophy at the end. You don't even get any unlockables or any end game cutscene of your victory, making the whole thing feel like a waste of time. Tournaments can also be played online, but it's nothing but for bragging rights since you don't actually win anything if you come out on top. The really skilled players hang out here, so unless you're actually good yourself, online tourneys are going to give you a miserable time.
Because the game has no minigames or other modes of play whatsoever, you are going to be stuck just playing regular tennis matches. If you don't have friends to play with and aren't willing to pour in many hours to improve your skills, I highly recommend that you avoid this game. Aces is kind of both casual and hardcore in limiting ways; if you got people to play with, you can easily have a good time playing casually or hardcore. If you are stuck playing solo and solo online, casual play isn't going to be a good experience due to lack of content offline and the tough opponents online. While the game has been patched a few times, it's mostly for rebalancing characters. Only time will tell if new content will be added in the future. Compared to the N64 and Gamecube Mario Tennis games, Aces is severely lacking and good core mechanics isn't enough to carry the game on its own for me.