 Gave these two tennis players a more realistic Wii experience... |
| Review Date: October 23, 2009 |
| Reviewer: A. Chandler, Austin, TX |
I'll note first that I didn't select this Wii Thrustmaster ( I could make so many jokes about that name but I'll stop myself) Motion Plus Tennis pack for my kids....because....the only kids I have are coated in fur and can't hold a racquet in their paws.
Yep, we are two adult Wii lovers. So rather than nabbin' a new toy...we wanted to make our Wii tennis games (we have several) come to life.
And it did...so if you are looking for fun for kids or more realism for adults, I think it, therefore, crosses both boundaries.
MOTIONPLUS COMPATIBILITY: The most important aspect of this racquet vs. some others I've seen is that it allows for the motionplus sensor yet feels more closely like a real handle. All the new Wii tennis games uitilize the motionplus and it's an effect we wouldn't give up because, once you get the knack of it, the whole game is faster and more realistic to your true moves, in my opinion.
FEEL: This was the best part for us. There is a different feel and more accuracy when you have a racquet in your hand vs a tiny remote in our opinion. It also helped out within the game...if you hold your Wii remote slightly wrong with the motionplus engaged, your shot can be inaccurate; but when you hold a racquet in your hand you really tune into whether or not you are holding the remote correctly. Our moves were suddenly more fluid and more accurate and I think that also transfers over somewhat when we're on the REAL court having practiced tennis on the Wii...it's a more similar feel.
MAKE: I had looked at other racquets that seemed cheap to me...tiny and all plastic from string to racquet, or too light to feel real. These are different...they have strings and, though lightweight, the wiimote slipped inside gives it a decent weight and realism.
SHOCK ABSORBANCY: I'll admit that we have gotten so into the game before that both of us have clipped the tv a time or two during a swing with the regular remote when we got too close. Seeing as how we have a flatscreen so there is no hard glass shell to protect it...this is NOT a good thing, especially since repairs are far too costly if we wind up really messing it up. I like that this has a soft "shock absorbant" rim around out for clutzes far too "into" game play like ourselves...to save us from ourselves. This, I surmise, would also protect the racquet if you are a heated player and wanna slam the racquet to the floor when you miss a shot...your wiimote and racquet will be spared in spite of your tantrum.
ADDITIONAL: Though we'll never use this part, it may be fun for kids. The handle is open to slip the wiimote in but if you remove the wiimote and want to simply play a game of Nerf tennis, the other side of the handle comes with the game so you can close the handle to a full handle and it comes with a ball so you can get get all Wimbledon on your own living room. As we won't be doing this, we gifted the spongy Nerf ball to our Pomeranians who, therefore, enjoyed the Wii tennis set as much as we did.
DUO: Great that it comes as a SET of racquets...even if you don't want to always play against a partner in your own home as we do, when someone comes over it's good to have a spare for even an occasional game buddy.
NEGATIVES: We really dig these and they have improved our game so it's hard for me to come up with much here but I suppose if you have VERY little room in your livingroom and not much swinging room, this would take up more. I do have to say though, when you get the feel of a full racquet I think, for us anyway, we seem to stand further from the tv...I can't explain why visually but I think it's saving our tv that would have been wacked a few more times...however, if you have a very enclosed space this would add, obviously, more length to your wiimote...
CONCLUSION: Added realism to our Wii tennis games and also improved our form which is exactly why we wanted em, we've compared the other racquets and do like these best for size and realism and compatibility with the motionplus which was, for us, a must.
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To Wii or Not to Wii? That is the question...My daughter has her own preference
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| Review Date: October 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Eagle Vision, Southeastern United States |
The Thrustmaster Motion plus serves as a tennis racket for your Wii Controller, and it accomodates for the Wii Motion Plus add-on.
I am a big tennis fan and have EA Sports Grand Slam Tennis, Sega Superstars Tennis and Top Spin 3; in addition to playing tennis on the Wii Sports disk.
CONSTRUCTION
The construction of the device is comprised of a hard plastic for the body. The racket has soft rubber grips and nylon appearing strings. There is a solid insert that allows the user to hit a foam tennis ball around the house. The ball is too light to hit outside with wind. The base without the controller is quite flimsy and fragile in feel. Setting the Wii Remote is easy to do but it does have a little bit of movement within the Tennis Racket frame while you swing it. The Remote is more stable when you add the Wii Motion Plus attachment which connects to the bottom of the unit; this affords slightly more stability.
Weight of the Racket is quite light and not very similar to a real tennis racket. The advantage that this device has, is the ability to have a "perspective" of the position of the face of the racket during the swing, which would help novices of the game.
My reservation is the light plastic construction of the handle which I feel will not last over a long period with young children. This device, if meant to last, would be better suited to adults who are more careful with their items. This will likely break if dropped or gripped too tightly.
A design flaw is that there is no opening for the IR remote for the player to select while the remote is in the racket. This is a major inconvenience if you have the Motion Plus attached. Since you must remove the Motion Plus and pull the Wii remote out to direct the Wii cursor on the screen, it doesn't make sense (maybe I should cut out a "Window"). This has tried my daughter's patience and she doesn't play with the racket with the Wii Motion plus due to this.
REAL TIME USE
An interesting addition is the insert that fits into the handle giving this racket a more solid feel when using it without the Wii remote. A foam ball of regulation size (but not weight) allows the user to play tennis indoors. Outdoors is not practical given the light weight of the ball. The construction of the racket is not strong enough to sustain prolonged use with anything other than a lightweight foam ball (such as a conventional tennis ball or even a badminton ball).
PROS
Realistic appearance of the racket
Can be used for the Wii and for hitting the accompanying foam tennis ball
Wii Remote fits easily into the device
CONS
Lightweight construction, limiting long term durability
The Wii Remote is not entirely snug within the handle of the racket
Inability to use the "cursor" of the remote (No window for the IR transmission) - Fatal flaw
CONCLUSION
Overall, this is an innovative product but it has limitations (one of which is a fatal flaw). If this were more durable, I would give it four stars. As long as you are aware of those limitations, this racket is the most realistic in appearance of the Wii Accessories. However, my daughter does enjoy playing tennis with the foam ball and the racket insert, more than playing with it for the Wii.
If you have a workaround regarding my stated "Fatal Flaw", please enlighten me. So, as for now, we are really reserving our use of hitting the foam ball in the den. Game, Set, Match! |
Enjoyable experience
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| Review Date: October 21, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Lynn, |
Using Wii Thrustmaster Motion rackets with Wii Grand Slam Tennis proved to be an enjoyable experience. Although using the racket isn't necessary to play Grand Slam Tennis, the game, according to my daughter, was more fun and easier to play. She's the tennis player in our family so I was sure to ask for her opinion. She enjoyed the more realistic experience, being able to better position the ball, & liked the feel & weight of the racket. The fact that the Wiimote is not quite snug in the racket's handle didn't prove to be a problem for her. She holds the racket with her thumb across the top which practically eliminated any problems with the very, very, very slight movement of the Wiimote. For Wii gameplay, she used Wii MotionPlus with these rackets. The rackets can be used with the Wiimote's vinyl cover, but she chose not to play that way; the strap around her wrist along with the rubber grip on the back of the handle was sufficient. She didn't have to remove the Wii Remote from the racket to navigate this game.
These rackets are very nice looking. One of them is metallic, cerulean blue; the other is metallic, medium red. They can also be used without the Wii Remote and come with 2 handle covers and a lightweight, sponge-type ball for indoor or outdoor play.
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Realism!
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| Review Date: September 10, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Luis C. RodrÃguez Solano, |
| It's like you are playing real tennis. One thing is that in virtual tennis 2009 yo have to take out the wii remote all the time (Are you ready? screen). In grand slam works like a charm! |
Not Compatible with Virtua or Grand Slam Tennis
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| Review Date: February 21, 2010 |
| Reviewer: John, FLL, |
I bought these racquets with the expectation of using them for gameplay with Virtua and Grand Slam Tennis. The games are great and can be played with just the remotes alone. The ISSUE is that in both games, the Side of the remote is the face of the racquet, NOT the face of the remote. These racquets, simply put, do NOT work with these games.
They do work with the Tennis game that comes with WII Sports, but if you are expecting functionality with Virtua or Grand Slam, FORGET IT! |
As real as it gets and versatile fun!
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| Review Date: November 6, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Diana de Avila, Malta, NY USA |
I could not believe the look and feel of these when I took them out of their packaging. I use them to play EA SPORTS Grand Slam Tennis along with the tennis game inherent to the Wii Sports OEM disc. I LOVE THEM. They are sized somewhere between a ping-pong paddle and racquetball racquet and they have strings with tension. Before this set, we used the Wii Nerf Sports Pack Plus - Yellow which is not near as fun.
As a bonus, the Wii Thrustmaster Motion Plus Tennis duo pack includes a foam ball so that you can actually play a game of volley back and forth.
If you have purchased the motion plus remotes Wii MotionPlus, you can remove the units from the silicone casing and place them in the bottom of the racquet and adds more accuracy to your hits. This is compatible with games that support "motion plus". It isn't necessary, but it is a pretty cool feature :)
I love these racquets, the best yet!
Have fun! |
Game, Set, Match to these Rackets
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| Review Date: October 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Ferdy, Georgia, USA |
Wii tennis has been a favorite of my family since we got the Wii system. We've always just played with the Wii controllers. These rackets make the game so much more fun and realistic feeling. They look very stylish and cool. One is red trimmed and the other is blue. They're very lightweight - in fact, don't feel any heavier than the Wii remote itself and very responsive during play. My husband now "has to have" the new Grand Slam tennis game for Christmas so he'll get to use the rackets more.
Though they aren't very large (not much bigger than a ping pong paddle), they do add length to the Wii remote so if you're in a really tight space, you have to be careful not to hit your opponent - those things hurt! Also, the rackets come with a sponge tennis ball so that you can play without the Wii. The kids have loved that as much as playing Wii tennis. It's like Nerf tennis (if there is such a thing).
Overall, I think this is a great product and a wonderful addition to the Wii gaming system for anyone who enjoys tennis. |
Pretty good, even by itself
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| Review Date: October 22, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Morley Dotes, Flushing, New York USA |
| I found these to be quite nice. Without the inserts or wii remotes they are a bit flimsy feeling, but I guess that is why they come with the inserts. They feel good and are nicely balanced. There is a difference in timing when you compare this with just using the wii remote, however, I noticed the same "lag" with the Nerf set we have. My only explanation for this is the weight and length of this makes "hitting" different. The padding on the edge is good, but still a bit hard, and if you get hit with it it will hurt. It is not as soft as the nerf. The strings are interesting as they are heavy plastic and vibrate quite a bit when you hit the foam ball that came with it. Still, my kids like playing with it, and it is the only type of ball they are allowed to use in the house. My kids are 4 and 6, and as much as they enjoy the wii and wii tennis, they would rather use the wii remote without an extension like this. I'm not really sure why. My oldest plays tennis and has been getting lessons for about a year and plays well, so it cannot be the weight, as his racquet is much heavier than this. I like it, however, you really need room to spread out with this, not only laterally, but also vertically. If you have low ceilings or are very tall, etc., you are going to run into problems that you would not have using the wii remote alone. This is the same with any of the extensions, and not just this one, though this one is probably less so because it is a touch shorter. Using some very fast and hard strokes, this felt pretty good and did not feel bad at all....just make sure you use it with the remote or insert in place, and be careful putting them in as the part that holds them in place is what feels flimsy and seems most likely to break. |
better then most wii rackets
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| Review Date: October 20, 2009 |
| Reviewer: Margaux Paschke, New York |
I based my rating on this racket against other wii rackets since personally, even after trying these rackets, I prefer using just the wii remote to play tennis. When compared to the 5-in-1 Value Combo For Nintendo Wii Sport Pack + Racing Wheel + Light Gun by Eforcity or Sakar WII-102 Tennis Racket - Game controller tennis racket attachment, this one beats them on racket size, weight and realistic feel.
This set comes with two decent sized rackets that are color coded to match your wii remote (nice touch) and have a slight weight to them. I do not have the newest "motion plus" wii remotes so I cannot comment on that facet but they work just fine with the regular ones.
The handle is comfortable and looks like a real racket. Placing the wii remote in was easy but removing it required a little shove (not an issue since it keeps it snug inside the racket). It took me a few minutes to adjust my swings but I got used to it soon enough. What took longer was getting used to playing with a larger sized racket. The nature of the game forces you to stand next to the other player and the chances of hitting each other is high if you are not careful.
The set includes a foam tennis ball and other half of the racket handle if you want to use them outside. I do not think I would risk the mechanics needed for the wii sensors by using them for outdoor play.
Overall, a good choice for a more realistic tennis game. |
Re-living the good old days
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| Review Date: April 25, 2010 |
| Reviewer: H. Lambert, Lake Charles,La. |
| I am an over 50 year old wii gamer and my wife and I love the tennis games. We wanted something to add more realism to the game so I ordered the Thrustmaster game rackets. We loved them initially but soon found out how fragile they were. After about the third day of playing, the racket heads broke off of the handles. I tried a quick repair with some J-B Weld but this didn't do the job. So after letting them sit on the shelf broken, I tried some good old duct tape and this seems to be holding the heads on good enough for us to enjoy about 5 or 6 sets of vigouous tennis. I like the rackets because they allow me to do just about everything with the ball that I used to do on a tennis court. I have had mulitple back operations and my tennis playing days are over but thanks to the good people at Wii my wife and I can still re-live some of the good old days again. |
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