Tennis is a sport that most people have only a passing interest in, but there are plenty of games dedicated to the sport nonetheless. One of my first Dreamcast games was the original Virtua Tennis which is a pretty classic arcade version of the sport, but there's plenty of other types of tennis game around.
Game: Tennis
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 14th January 1984
Tennis for the Nintendo Entertainment System was never going to be the most technically impressive game in this review, but it doesn't play particularly badly for its time. Players can face off against the computer on their own, or with a friend and try to win 3 sets worth of tennis (which as it turns out, is quite a lot). Serving is difficult to judge as the ball goes up, and falls back down in an understated manner, leaving players to figure out when it's at a prime height for hitting.
Returning the ball is slightly easier, provided that your timing and placement is as the game wants it to be. Sometimes shots which seem like they should work yield a very weak push and other times a last ditch attempt at reaching the ball will fire it into an unreachable spot for your opponent, winning the point. It gets a little easier with practice, but it's still essentially random most of the time.
Graphically the game is as you'd expect from the NES, basic player sprites with a white clump of pixels representing the ball and Mario as referee because of course Mario's gonna be the referee. Annoyingly he calls every point scoring shot as in or out, no matter how obvious but the music is generally good despite a lack of other sound.
Overall it's a pretty solid effort for the NES, better than the Atari 2600's idea of Tennis, and way better than Super Tennis on the Master System which couldn't be controlled no matter how much practice was done with the game.
Rating: 52/100
Grade: D
Game: Virtua Tennis
Console: Sega Dreamcast
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 12th July 2000
Virtua Tennis is an undoubtedly arcade Tennis experience, offering Arcade, Exhibition and World Tour modes and some of the most enjoyable tennis gameplay you're likely to find. Although there's now 7 games in the series, it's interesting to note that at the time of this release there was nothing like Virtua Tennis around; the speed it plays at, and the fast paced gameplay were unmatched on the PS2, or any other console of the time. This is perhaps due to the fact that the game appeared in arcades before coming to home console, but the port is of such good quality that it has to be given some credit too.
Arcade mode challenges players to win 5 tournaments, each of the Grand Slams and a final Sega Pro Final, with the matches consisting of a selectable number of games up to 6 and as low as 2. There's an adjustable difficulty level for players finding things too easy, though there's some level of challenge on every level above Easy. With single player and doubles modes, allowing players to play with their friends or a computer, there's some replayability provided too.
World Tour mode continues the arcade feel of the game with no calendar system, but rather training activities which earn players money, tournaments which consist of a single game against an opponent and shops where doubles partners and upgrades for arcade mode can be purchased. Completing training or winning matches will level up the completed activity, or those around it. As players win matches their rank will increase, and eventually they'll gain the chance to play the secret players Master and King, who are essentially the bosses of the game.
While this makes for a fairly short World Tour mode; I got from being ranked 200th to 60th in an hour or two, the later matches are longer and more difficult, and each level of training helps players to master their technique in the game. The removal of an in game calendar means that players can attempt matches in whatever order they want, and retry immediately upon losing a game or failing a training activity.
Graphically the game is pretty excellent with only the player's faces lacking in particular detail. For the most part the action unfolds at a good frame rate, and the courts and other small details look great. Soundwise the game excels with a driving rock accompaniment that enhances the action and makes every point feel like it counts. Every song is enjoyable and that's fairly rare for a game of this type; there's even a Sonic-esque Sega feel to the music at points.
Overall Virtua Tennis is a great arcade tennis game. Too many sports games focus simulation and in the process lose some of their fun, but there's no such problem here. Fast paced action, driving rock and an excellent World Tour mode make this a contender for best tennis game I've played, however with many more instalments of the series to go which I haven't yet given a go it's hard to say whether it can be outdone.
Rating: 87/100
Grade: B
Game: Roland Garros 2001
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Carapace
Release Date: 1st June 2001
Before doing any research on this game I was under the impression that Roland Garros was a tennis player. In a way I was correct, but the name as it's used in the title of the game refers to the alternate name of the French Open. Any ideas I had of playing as Roland Garros, or indeed any other notable tennis player of the time were soon put to rest with a completely fictional cast of tennis players to choose from. I assume they weren't able to the license to anyone's name, but it's a bit poor nonetheless.
The gameplay is strange when compared to most tennis games; firstly the action is very slow, almost as if everything's taking place in slow motion. At first I thought this was due to the limitations of the Playstation in 2001, but I think it's to accommodate the controls, which are the other strange aspect of the game. Players must select their shot before even running towards the ball if they want a chance of hitting it, then direct their shot with the analog stick and hope that the timing and positioning is right when the ball is finally struck.
After a little practice, I figured out that players need to be near enough the ball to initiate their shot (nothing will happen if they're too far away), then a shot must be selected; there's a choice of a slice or a lob, and finally the shot is directed within the opponent's court. It's not actually too bad of a system when everything's working in your favour, but it doesn't take many missed balls to start cursing the control scheme either.
In terms of game modes players can choose from a single match, a tournament or practice. Matches consist of 1, 3 or 5 sets (you'll be playing for a long time if you select 5 sets) and are scored in normal tennis fashion. Tournaments start from the Quarter Finals and so consist of 3 matches in total and unlock new characters and courts when won on each difficulty level. There's no real players to unlock as far as I can tell, and it'd take forever to unlock everything considering the speed of gameplay.
The above screenshot doesn't do the game graphical justice, but it's surprisingly difficult to find images from the game online without shots from other games. The players and courts look alright, they're nothing special, especially for 2001, but for a game on the Playstation it can be excused. Soundwise there's not much to go on, though and it became fairly humourous to me that only one shot had a grunting noise associated with it.
Overall, if Virtua Tennis hadn't already been out a year when this was released, with Virtua Tennis 2 well on its way, it might have been forgiveable. As things stand its a slow and fairly progression-less game with awkward controls, no licensed tennis players and very little else to do. Perhaps if this was the only tennis game you'd ever played, it might be bearable and even nostalgic, but otherwise there's little value.
Rating: 60/100
Grade: D
Game: Virtua Tennis 2
Console: Sega Dreamcast/Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 24th October 2001
Virtua Tennis 2 is pretty much more of the same when it comes to the Dreamcast version of the game; the same game modes are included and arcade mode plays essentially the same also. World Tour Mode is the only thing that's been changed particularly. In terms of gameplay, the AI is a little less predictable and this leads to longer rallies in games, but the frame rate is far more prone to horrendous dips, meaning that parts of matches can be played at 10fps or so.
In World Tour Mode, a calendar has been added which governs the events that players are able to enter, there's stamina which governs the amount of training or events players are able to do before resting, and there's a levelling up system which affects all aspects of the created player's game. Female players have been added, and its compulsory to create one male and one female player at the beginning of World Tour mode, which means having to juggle training and competitions for both of them, which can get annoying.
The game looks a little better than its predecessor perhaps, but not enough to make it a better game. There are a few new courts and events, but other than that its very similar to the original Virtua Tennis. Soundwise it's definitely weaker with more of an electronic rock feel, and overall as a game it just doesn't feel like a sequel that builds on anything that was good about the first game, which is a shame.
The Playstation 2 version of the game seems to be very similar, though there are less frame rate issues. It does however look worse than the Dreamcast version which often tended to happen with ports to the PS2 of this nature, like Crazy Taxi, and others. Because of this it'll receive the same score as the Dreamcast version.
Rating: 83/100
Grade: B
Game: WTA Tour Tennis
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 26th March 2002
Interestingly for 2002, WTA Tour Tennis featured exclusively female players from the pro tour, except for the notable exclusion of Venus Williams for no apparent reason, despite her being world #2 at the time. Serena Williams is in there, as are all the other female pros of the era, but I guess that's just the way things go with copyrights and trademarks. There's a small choice of modes but the main event of the game is meant to be the World Tour Mode.
The other mode allows players to play a single game of tennis, for a limited number of games or sets, with a choice of players from all the unlocked professionals. The gameplay is a little fiddly and not as arcade based as Virtua Tennis, but generally it works and seems to play like a knock off version of Virtua. The professional players are pretty fast around the court and can serve and hit the ball fairly well for the most part.
So onto the World Tour Mode; as there was a tournament pretty much straight away I thought I'd see how this mode differs from the single match mode. It turns out that upon starting a World Tour save file, your player is basically useless, with an F in almost every stat. It's possible to do training to slowly raise your stats but it's not interactive, and simply advances to the next day with RPG like exp gain. The stats increase so slowly that upon finishing my World Tour session, only half of the stats had got up to an E rank, with the other half still at an F.
At one point, I trained my player too hard, leading to a ruptured tendon which ruled her out for 4 months. This would be fine if the game didn't advance on a day-by-day basis, meaning that I had to spend around 50 days simply doing the most basic training available, not being able to improve my stats, or enter competitions. For around 20 minutes of real time, there was literally no gameplay save for pressing X to advance through the days training and rest.
The World Tour Mode ends up being far too much like a management game, and without years of practices, players created in the mode are so far below useful in the game, it's almost like a joke. My world tour player ran so slowly in competitions that she'd hardly get halfway across the court to a ball on the other side, and that's just inexcusable for a main game mode.
Graphically things are okay, but behind everything there's music which sounds like it belongs on the Gran Turismo Career Mode home screen. Where Virtua Tennis has driving rock tunes, WTA Tour Tennis decided that easy going jazz funk was more appropriate for a fast paced sporting event. It makes the game seem far cheaper and more like a budget title to me, despite being developed by Konami.
Overall WTA Tour Tennis is a huge disappointment; its career mode could easily have been good with some training minigames, less risk of injury, less time needed to recover from injuries, better progression and stats not making all the difference between good players and bad. Admittedly that'd be quite a lot to change, but the game legitimately feels 20x better in the single match mode, when playing with pros.
Rating: 39/100
Grade: E
Game: Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2
Console: Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Namco
Release Date: 28th May 2004
Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 takes a fairly arcade approach to tennis with short arcade matches and a "Turning Point" feature in its World Tour mode, meaning that players often end up playing 4 or 5 games of tennis per match, instead of the full match. This can be a positive, as it means players don't have to sit through a huge amount of tennis every match just to progress through tournaments, but it also means that they have less control over the final result of matches. Usually winning most of the turning point games will guarantee overall victory.
The gameplay is pretty good, though not as quick as the Virtua Tennis series. There's an element of timing to each stroke and well timed shots will earn players a "Nice" rating. Serving is a particularly realistic element of the game, and works a little better than even Virtua Tennis 2 with aces being difficult but not impossible to attain. Although arcade and exhibition modes are pretty fun, the meat of the game is in the World Tour mode.
A little like the World Tour mode of WTA Tour Tennis, players start from scratch; ranked 200th in the world and are able to train and enter events. Unlike WTA Tour Tennis though, the created player is fairly good at tennis already, and can easily play against opponents of similar ranks. For each match played, the computer calculates the score up until a turning point, where players are given a mission and allowed to play. Examples of missions include serving an ace, winning consecutive points and getting a certain percentage of 'nice' shots. The mission doesn't necessarily have to be completed to win the set (unless that's included within the mission goal), but will earn players extra exp. if completed and sometimes auto win the set.
Training consists of minigames, much like Virtua Tennis and these give players experience points, which along with the experience points from matches can be used to upgrade player stats which helps them compete against higher ranked opponents. In very little time my career player was able to qualify for the finals of Wimbledon and was only stopped by the world #7 and very difficult missions, but it was good to be given the chance to progress. Overall the World Tour mode can get a little samey, but it's fairly enjoyable even when compared to Virtua Tennis.
Graphically the game looks great and there are only a few minor complaints; most of them involving the menus and user interface. The game's music is mostly funky rock tunes which fit well with the general atmosphere of the tennis matches. Every now and then a member of the crowd will audibly shout joyfully or whistle, which is a nice touch although it's not perfectly executed, so things can sound a little strange through headphones.
On the whole, Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 is an impressive and feature packed game with plenty of licensed players, some added Namco bonus players and great controls. There's not much to dislike other than the fact that the World Tour mode doesn't let players control the entirety of the match, but rather selected moments. Personally I prefer a shortened match that I'm fully in control of, but this arcade idea might appeal to some.
Rating: 77/100
Grade: B
Game: Virtua Tennis: World Tour
Console: Sony Playstation Portable
Developer: Sumo Digital
Release Date: 7th October 2005
This review's going to be fairly short, since Virtua Tennis: World Tour isn't much more than an updated version of Virtua Tennis 2 for the PSP. The graphics are worse, the load times are far longer, and the gameplay is made more difficult by the lack of real control options between the d-pad and the PSP's awkward analog stick. World Tour mode is exactly the same as the one featured in Virtua Tennis 2, and there's very few changes elsewhere. It's really a shame that more wasn't done to optimise this title for the PSP instead of making a quick port.
Rating: 72/100
Grade: C
Game: Virtua Tennis 3
Console: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 23rd March 2007
Virtua Tennis 3 saw the franchise into a new console generation; with HD graphics and more gameplay possibilities. The gameplay options for the most part, however stayed the same with World Tour and Arcade modes being the main features, with Minigames and Exhibition matches providing extra content. The tennis featured in the game has taken a step back from the pure arcade style of the first two games, to include some realism in how long rallies last, the percentage of ace serves and the reach of most players.
World Tour mode follows much the same format as in Virtua Tennis 2, with a preset calendar and players rankings determined by the matches they win in tournaments. There's now a mail display which shows messages from the coach, and a training academy where the game's basic and more advanced playstyles are explained and exp. can be gained towards player skills. Doubles partners are no longer contracted but simply chosen before a tournament, and there's various chances to be talked to by the famous players featured in the game, though no chances to respond.
The AI difficulty and player stat progression are the main elements of World Tour mode that I found to be problematic. At the start of the campagin, players will compete against any of the included pro players in the Challengers tournaments, usually easily beating them, despite having very basic stats before completing much of the training. As the game progresses and the player makes their way below the 100th mark or so, they compete against the same pro players in more professional tournaments, with better stats, and yet not only do the same players play far better (which is fair enough in terms of difficulty curve, but damages the realism somewhat), but the player's shots are far less effective, they hit less aces and good shots and overall any stat increases seem to be useless.
These issues really put me off playing any further in World Tour mode, and they affect arcade mode in a way also, as it's far too easy, and then too hard with very little space inbetween to be genuinely and enjoyably challenging. This is a shame as there's some good tennis to be played in the game, and players have to think carefully and strategically about how to win points, however after enough play the AI can be worked out pretty easily.
Graphically the game looks great; more realistic and nicer than ever, although at times it can be difficult to track the ball with all the lighting effects that are in use. The soundtrack is a little more disappointing as its made up of remixes of the Virtua Tennis 2 soundtrack which sound worse than the originals and new, ill-fitting music which is far too happy with no real tension about it.
Overall Virtua Tennis 3 is a bit of a let down if you want to actually play it for any serious amount of time. Exhibition matches with friends or a light hearted delve into World Tour mode can be fun, and there's a huge amount of new training minigames, but there's no reward for putting the hours into the main mode.
Rating: 74/100
Grade: B
Game: Rockstar Games Presents Table Tennis
Console: Nintendo Wii
Developer: Rockstar Games
Release Date: 19th October 2007
Whilst technically not lawn tennis, Rockstar Table Tennis fits rather easily into this review, with its many similarities in control and career mode progression options. Its a shame I don't own the Xbox 360 version as it'd be interesting to compare how the game plays with and without motion control, but we appear to be stuck with it for now.
The main game mode is tournament mode where players contest several matches in order to progress to the final and win the tournament, unlocking new outfits for the player they've selected as well as different Table Tennis arenas. While these aren't exactly exciting unlocks, most of the enjoyment from this game comes directly from the gameplay rather than unlocking extras.
Initially the gameplay seems like a lot of fun. Even with motion controls, there's a good range of shot options (the d-pad controls spin), the A button is used for a soft shot, and the B button is used as a focus shot when players have filled their focus meter. The nunchuk can be used to control either player movement or shot direction, but this is one of the few games that seems better without, as there's not a great range of player movement anyway at a table tennis table.
Once you've been playing for a while though, players may notice that its almost impossible to hit the ball off the table, and as long as no silly shots are made, it's fairly likely that the CPU player can be beaten. Which reduces the game to a simple "press a button to return the ball" type experience, or more aptly "swing the Wiimote to return the ball". Once this effect has been observed, there seems little point in continuing with the game as there's not really much else to it.
Graphically the game looks really nice, with realistic visuals and a good amount of different players and arenas. Unfortunately there's not quite so much interest or familiarity with table tennis venues as there is with Wimbledon and other lawn tennis venues. Soundwise the game is a little quiet with only the sounds of the ball being hit back and forth accompanying games.
Overall Rockstar Presents Table Tennis can be enjoyable, but seems like more of a imitation of playing table tennis as players lack real control and skillful shot options. It seems like it'd be pretty difficult to make a good table tennis game, considering how frustrating it might be if the game was fully realistic, but this leans a little too much towards being automated for convenience, which ruins the overall experience and replayability of the game.
Rating: 60/100
Grade: D
Game: Sega Superstars Tennis
Console: Sony Playstation 3/Nintendo Wii
Developer: Sumo Digital
Release Date: 17th March 2008
In a fairly obvious attempt to copy Mario Tennis, Sega released their own All Stars tennis game featuring many of their classic franchises in its characters and courts. Although the game has tennis in its title, and does indeed feature the ability to play games of tennis, its Superstars career mode plays far more like a party game than anything else, or perhaps a collection of minigames such as those featured in Virtua Tennis.
The tennis aspect of the game plays fairly well; characters are divided into Speed, Control, Spin and Power specialists with a few all-rounders, and although these don't make a huge amount of difference, I spent most of the game playing as Beat from Jet Set Radio, partly thanks to his huge speed around the court. The games of tennis I did play were fairly fun, with an arcade feel though I wasn't such a fan of the power-ups and super moves included; though they fit with the game's theme, they can make things a little unfair at times.
The themeing of the courts and their respective score and time counters is a nice touch, changing to reflect each game being referenced, but unfortunately Superstars mode which features the courts for its minigames is wildly unbalanced in terms of the amount of minigames in each game's "world", and ends up feeling very little like a tennis game after 5 or 6 zombie or graffiti based missions, even if they are based on actual tennis play.
Every now and then there are tournaments in each zone to unlock a new character, but even then they're either pretty short or have the difficulty turned up to 11. The AI in doubles matches is appalling and will play as if you're not there 90% of the time, leaving you to hit the 10% of balls it decides that it doesn't want to hit, no matter how close they are to you. The game also commits the cardinal sin of using an alphabetic grading system, with A being a mission clear, and AA and AAA grades available for performing better. This is annoying on two counts because a) it's impossible to get a grade below B without failing so that might as well be an F, and b) for anyone who's a completionist it means hours trying to get those illusive AAA grades.
The selection of characters is generally good, with appearances from Alex Kidd, Gilius, Gum, Pudding and other slightly more obscure characters from Sega franchises. Non playable characters are also in good supply, with courts from Outrun and House of the Dead, but no players. Shenmue is a notable but thankful exclusion, since I'm unsure that Ryo Hazuki's name needed tarnishing with this sort of frivolity. It's a shame though that Sega acknowledge the amount of truly memorable franchises they have the rights to, in this game and yet seem to care very little about anything other than the Sonic series in the modern age.
On the Wii there's a choice of three control schemes; motion control without a nunchuk whereby players are moved around automatically and need only swing to hit the ball, motion control with a nunchuk whereby the left hand controls movement and the right strokes, and traditional play where the wiimote is held sideways and used like a proper controller. Needless to say the last method is the only real acceptable one. The graphics look fairly similar, it's not too much worse than the PS3 version.
Graphically the game looks pretty good; the courts and characters are detailed nicely and the animations are top notch. The music consists of remixes from the various franchises that provide the courts in the game, and the only real letdowns are the cringe-inducing voice clips that most characters have been given.
Overall Sega Superstars Tennis could have been a far better game with more focus on the tennis aspect and less on the party game side of things. For the Wii, any hint of motion control makes the game more of a chore, but it controls pretty well on the PS3. It's okay for a few sessions here and there but the main Superstars mode isn't really rewarding enough to stick with and there's very little meat to the game elsewhere.
Rating: 63/100
Grade: C
Game: Virtua Tennis 2009
Console: Sony Playstation 3/Nintendo Wii
Developer: Sumo Digital
Release Date: 9th June 2009
The Playstation 3 and Wii versions of this game are very different; so much so that I'll be giving them separate parts in this review. Firstly we'll take a look at the Wii version which is obviously graphically inferior to the Playstation 3 version, but when the players faces first appeared onscreen I was taken aback at just how low quality they were. The developers definitely could have done better than this for the Wii, as such poor images impact on the overall feel of the game.
Gameplay on the Wii is motion controlled, with the nunchuk attached to move around the court. Shot direction is based on timing, and a meter appears for every shot which swings from one direction to the other. Wherever it's stopped will be where the ball goes in the court, and anywhere not on the meter will result in a miss, There's a chance the ball will go out of play if hit too early or late, or if the player is too far away from the ball's position. It's a little difficult to get used to, but not a bad system once players are over the intial hump.
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| (Virtua Tennis 2009 - Wii version) |
What's truly unforgivable though is the frame rate. In almost every match it manages to dip to about 10fps for a few seconds, which makes timing the meter far more difficult and obviously impacts the flow of the game. If it hadn't been for this, I might have been willing to give the games the same overall score, but it makes the Wii version the worse of the two.
The Playstation 3 version is much closer to the control scheme of Virtua Tennis 3, although the ridiculous amount of dives that occur have been far reduced and players now stumble instead of diving. This means that each rally is easier to win and doesn't drag on too long. The action is generally good and there's a far better frame rate than the Wii version, though every now and then there's some lag. On the whole though I'd have to recommend getting the Playstation 3 version if you're considering buying this game, for the tighter controls and lack of real frame rate issues.
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| (Virtua Tennis 3 - PS3 Version) |
World Tour mode is pretty much the same as in Virtua Tennis 3 though now each tournament has a singles and doubles event and players can choose whether to enter both, or just one of the events. Many of the existing minigames have been rethemed, but remain the same in content, and there's a 100 place amateur ranking to climb up before hitting the pro rankings, but other than this most things remain the same. A nice touch is that not all actions take a week on the calendar, so it's possible to train a few times a week. This is counterbalanced by the fact that a week's rest at home recovers about 1/3 of the player stamina bar (which I find pretty silly).
Overall Virtua Tennis 2009 is probably the best tennis game so far, if we're talking about the Playstation 3 version. The controls and tennis is tight, there's some nice unlockable legends in the arcade mode, and some actual challenge in the harder difficulty settings. The game's arcade edge has been brought back with the removal of the excessive diving from Virtua Tennis 3, and there's a great selection of licensed pros to choose from and face.
Rating: 85/100 (PS3 Version) Rating: 68/100 (Wii Version)
Grade: B Grade: C
Game: Virtua Tennis 4
Console: Sony Playstation 3
Developer: Sega
Release Date: 10th May 2011
Virtua Tennis 4 is a strange beast; while it's true that all the Virtua Tennis games in the series so far have changed up the gameplay somewhat from game to game, this instalment changes the most, and seriously reformats the World Tour Mode. The most obvious change is that gameplay has slowed down once again so that sometimes the action feels almost as if it's in slow motion. There's also a new concentration bar which fills when players perform specific types of shots, that when full allows a super shot to be used.
Despite the slowdown it's more difficult to predict where opponents will hit the ball for returns, and often it's too late to get to the ball once players have committed to a direction. This is perhaps realistic, but sometimes its incredibly frustrating when you're right by the ball and the game refuses to hit it. Thanks to this the arcade element of the games is almost completely removed, as the gameplay has become slow and more simulated, with badly timed balls more likely to be called out.
World Tour mode is completely different from any of the previous instalments; players complete 4 seasons on tour in Australia, Africa, Europe and America, with a major tournament to win in each territory as well as 2 other satellite tournaments. Inbetween these players move in a board game style with "move tickets" dictating where they land. The main goal is to earn Stars which increase the player's rank overall, and these can be gained by winning matches, and completing press events such as meeting fans and donating to charity. At the end of the season there's an awards ceremony where players can also earn stars.
Other than matches and star events, players can land on training spaces where they may increase their levels and unlock different play styles. It's unclear as to whether raising the levels makes gameplay any easier, but for the first season or so players are forced to play without the use of the special shot meter, due to needing a level 10 in any area to unlock a specialism. This is annoying as the game berates players for not winning the few matches and tournaments they're allowed to play in. Ultimately there's far too little tennis and far too much messing around in this mode, though it may be a fun change up from the regular World Tour at first.
Graphically the game is pretty breathtaking at points, though the slow speed of gameplay is unfortunate at points. The range of clothing and accessories featured is vast but ultimately I changed my World Tour player's clothes twice so it wasn't of much use that I had a huge range of choice. Soundwise the game's stopped recycling old soundtracks and written some new jams, most of which are good. The new training minigames are also pretty enjoyable, though not as plentiful as in other games.
Overall Virtua Tennis 4 is a disappointment if you like arcade style tennis games, and I found that the longer I played, the less I seemed to like the game. Capping World Tour Mode at 4 seasons is a silly decision, as I felt little desire to play through it all again, and arcade mode is pretty much the same as ever. The idea of sequels is to improve on the previous game, and in this respect Virtua Tennis 4 fails.
Rating: 71/100
Grade: C
So in summary the complete list of tennis games I've reviewed from best to worst looks something like this;
| #1 Virtua Tennis |
DC |
|
|
|
B |
87.20 |
| #2 Virtua Tennis 2009 |
PS3 |
|
|
|
B |
85.40 |
| #3 Virtua Tennis 2 |
DC |
|
|
|
B |
83.60 |
| #4 Smash Court Tennis Pro Tournament 2 |
PS2 |
|
|
|
B |
77.95 |
| #5 Virtua Tennis 3 |
PS3 |
|
|
|
B |
74 |
| #6 Virtua Tennis: World Tour |
PSP |
|
|
|
C |
72.65 |
| #7 Virtua Tennis 4 |
PS3 |
|
|
|
C |
71.95 |
| #8 Virtua Tennis 2009 |
Wii |
|
|
|
C |
68.45 |
| #9 Sega Superstars Tennis |
PS3 |
|
|
|
C |
63.6 |
| #10 Roland Garros 2001 |
PS |
|
|
|
D |
60.75 |
| #11 Rockstar Table Tennis |
Wii |
|
|
|
D |
60.65 |
| #12 Tennis |
NES |
|
|
|
D |
52.50 |
| #13 Tennis |
A2600 |
|
|
|
D |
51.80 |
| #14 WTA Tour Tennis |
PS2 |
|
|
|
E |
39.60 |
| #15 Super Tennis |
MS |
|
|
|
F |
10.00 |
