PixlBit

I looked up games played in the Renaissance and decided on Tennis. The origins of the game extend back into the middle ages, but it's in the 16th century that rackets and the word "tennis" started being used. I used to play a lot of competitive tennis in my teens but now it's just in video games. I picked up this game on Xbox One for free called World of Tennis: Roaring '20s and found it pretty enjoyable, although definitely not as realistic a simulation as Tennis World Tour. 

This is, of course, not exactly how tennis was played in the 16th century. They played indoors with walls on all sides that you could use to bounce the ball off of. It's called "real tennis" now. The outdoor version with all its current rules came about in the late 19th century, but I'm cool with that. I don't need an exact period reconstruction of the game unless someone has inserted it into a period piece video game somewhere. I'm keeping my eye out for that. 

World of Tennis has a very simplified control scheme, likely because it was made to play on phones, but it works really well and has some nuances that make it really fun and even challenging. It's almost like a turn-based game in that you hit one button to swing and another to move alternately. You can't move freely all the time only between shots. So it's important to be positioned correctly when the opponent hits the ball because you can't move after that, only swing. Swinging is really just choosing a target with the stick and hitting "A" at the right time. If you combine "RB" with "A" on the swing, and time it right, you get a powerful shot. It works really well. 

I played the tutorials, a match against the first few AI opponents, and then a match against a real online player, who I beat after learning the power shot technique in a further advanced tutorial. You can rank up, earn levels, and special points to use to buy new rackets and clothing which boost your accuracy and stamina. You can also just pay to buy all this stuff with real money if you want. It's the free-to-play model after all. 

I'd say I'm happy with this tennis game until I can find an affordable true simulation like Tennis World Tour, which is not cheap at the moment. I also wish I could play Mario Tennis. Maybe I can find Ultra Smash for Wii-U somewhere?