In an effort to upstage Nintendo's Mario Tennis series, Sony decided to fight racquet to racquet with Hot Shots Tennis. Instead of littering the game with mascots from yesteryear, Sony infused its tennis outing with the style and charm of its Hot Shots series, previously seen in several versions of Hot Shots Golf. It doesn't have quite the same draw as your Marios and Yoshis, but it does target the same core audience: casual sports gamers.

Hot Shots Tennis, not attempting to redefine the game by any means, or even dumb it down, tries to inject new life into it by providing cutesy characters, comedic animations, and a simple, lighthearted tone. In that regard, it fully succeeds, as the presentation looks polished, and everything in the game packs a hefty dose of unconcealed glee.

From the beginning, Hot Shots keeps things simple with only three game types: Training Mode, Hot Shots Challenge and Fun Time Tennis, which amount to little more than the tutorial, the single player campaign and quick matches. Most players will not spend more than a few minutes toying with the Training Mode, which lets players briefly practice their skills in the areas of general play, serving, volleying and smashing. Mastering smashes is the most important aspect, because pulling off these maneuvers during matches is almost always the key to victory. Each section puts players through the paces for a few swings, scoring their abilities at the end. Replaying the sections can boost the player's score, but there exists no real incentive to do so.

The challenge or career mode is the meat and potatoes of the game, where players work their way up the ranks, playing against tougher artificial intelligence in each tier and unlocking new characters, courts, outfits and the like. Some of the fourteen characters boast different or improved abilities, but the miniscule changes don't offer much incentive to snag them all.