AO Tennis 2 | Preview | Switch

AO (Australian Open) Tennis 2 is out now on PC for North American gamers and will be coming soon to console on February 11 - including the Switch! As it stands right now, the Switch isn't exactly home to many games in the genre. Sure, there are games like Mario Tennis Aces (a very different kind of tennis game from AO2), a handful of smaller (and cheaper) arcade-like titles as well as 2018's Tennis World Tour, which is more in line with what Big Ant Studios are doing with AO Tennis 2.
One of the biggest areas of interesting in AO Tennis 2 for me is the new career mode. Instead of just simply playing the matches themselves, the mode will be more narrative driven. You'll be doing press conferences, interacting with NPCs and building up your reputation as a tennis player on an off the court. Personally, these are the kind of things that I want from a career mode in sports games. They help to give the whole experience an amount of realism that you don't get from just simply playing the matches themselves.
On top of the additions in career mode, AO Tennis 2 features a ton of different customization options. When it comes to creating players, there are tons of ways to make players look as much like yourself or whoever you want, really. Not only that, but AO2 also allows you to create your own venues/stadiums. You choose the kind of court, stands, parking areas and more. It all appears pretty robust offering tons of things to do outside of just playing tennis.

I have yet to get my hands on the Switch version of the game (or the PC version), but from everything that I've seen about the game, I'm pretty excited. I'm always a sucker for career modes in sports games, especially ones that go further than just the playing the sport at hand. Look forward to some AO Tennis 2 related content coming very soon!

- Danny