Now in its fourth home console iteration, Virtua Tennis is no stranger to fending off the competition. Sega's flagship racket game has seen off the likes of TopSpin and Smash Court Tennis over the years. But it's 2009 (as the new title affirms) and there's Wii Sports and EA's Grand Slam Tennis to contend with. Can Virtua Tennis change it up enough to feel fresh or has the tennis genre gone as far as it can?
There are two answers to that question, which depend on what platform you opt for. PS3 and 360 versions follow the familiar formula, while the Wii version features Wii MotionPlus. We took the 360 version for a workout and can confirm that little seems to have changed since Virtua Tennis 3.
In order to compete with the big boys and girls you have to start at grass roots level and work on your abilities in the almost identical Career mode. Abilities are broken down into groundstroke, footwork and technique and serve and volley areas, with each having its own mini-game or club house mission that'll tone that specific area. Check out the video below for more insight into the mini-games.
Virtua Tennis 2009
Gameplay footage
2:17A walkthrough of mini-games
Virtua Tennis 2009
Gameplay footage
2:17A walkthrough of mini-games
Age Restricted Content Please enter your date of birth below in order to verify your age before watching this video
You must be at least 0 years of age.
Play Again? Missed something? Just watch it again..
Watch More Videos Browse related videos and see what's new & popular
Share This Video Email this video, or embed it into your own web page
So far so similar then. But once you've maxed out a level of one ability, you unlock a new playing style that you can pin on your custom-made character. Then you work on building up that skill to the next level that unlocks another style and so on. So while the career mode looks and plays just like VT3, this extra layer of details adds more depth to the personalisation and progression of your character.
After playing tennis games for as many years as we have, we've come to realise that single player matches are ultimately limited by the AI routines of your NPC opponents. If you know how a tennis games works (where to position your feet before a shot), then you'll find the first few hours of spanking low-ranked players dull and void of any excitement. This is only highlighted when you get an achievement for winning 25 games to Love after playing exactly 25 games (okay, maybe 26). The mini-games tide you over as you keep chipping away at your vitals, but even they start off ridiculously easy.
After a couple of hours of moving up through the world rankings the NPCs then go into Neo mode and trying to outwit them becomes a test of patience rather than skill, placement and tactical awareness. You can coax your mate into thinking your going to hit the ball down the line and then smash it cross court. But against a higher PC opponent, it feels like they're hitting everything back because they know where you've chosen to hit it.
If tennis games are to survive then advances need to made. If you take FIFA as an example, EA has breathed new life into an annual franchise by exploring new modes of online play. Advancements must also be made to the social side of tennis games.
Virtua Tennis 2009 offers a basic set of online modes (four-player tournaments and mini-games) but there's almost no sign of any attempt to really explore how tennis can be played online and enjoyed together.
You could compare it to Pete Sampras. Technically it's as good as a tennis game can be. Visually it raises a few 'eyebrows' here and there (hideous player models). But when it comes to thrills and spills, it's predictable and lacks excitement. Multiplayer is where the fun is to be found.
If you've never played Virtua Tennis before then maybe it's nearer 8, but for VT veterans there's little new to get excited by and you can't help but think that more effort should have gone into the online component.
Oh god - there you go again. Mr Monkey man claiming that everyone is a fanboy except himself whilst singing the praises of a console named after something we do in the toilet.
You should have said who is going to bother getting this game at all (on any platform).
And could you explain where your monkey has got to please. I did ask on another thread whether it is the monkey in Raiders of the lost Ark, which is dead, but perhaps it it Curious George (or is he a chimp).
I agree about the score, that seems about right, but what on earth are they on about with the online modes?
Did they play the career mode?
You can play against people online WITHIN career mode and earn money from that to improve your character.
How on earth did they miss that out of the review?
I kind of agree that they should add some kind of online ranking system (Which it kind of does in the career mode), but you cant just totally ignore a certain part of the game in order to strengthen your argument. At least mention the fact that they have tried to do SOMETHING a little bit different.
No reason why there shouldn't be a 360 review of this multi-format game.
But I would hope there will be a Wii review as well at some point to hear an unbiased opinion of how the Motion Plus works, and which of the two tennis games designed for it is best.
Judging from what I've read online, there seems little point in getting it for my 360 when I have VT3 (which is great).
And you can pick up Virtua Tennis 3 for about £5-£10 second hand. Although 2009 may be a better buy for PS3 owners as for some stupid reason the PS3 version of VT3 didn't have online play.
For me the greatest tennis game of all time has to be the original Top Spin. What an amazing game that was. A perfect blend of easy to pick up and play, but with practice and skill became a real joy to master. My friend and I spent over a year playing this online. Virtua Tennis 3 was far too skill-less for my liking. Online doubles could potentially have volleys go on for far too long. Ultimately it was dull for it's simplistic approach which was no doubt aimed as much for newcomers as it was for experienced gamers. Personally I think tennis games, as with most sport games, hardly ever warrant a whole new game, but should be supported and updated periodically until a completely brand new engine justifies the full price tag.
OS: Windows XP / Vista Processor: Pentium 4 3.0GHz / Athlon XP 3000+ RAM: 1 GB Video Card: Geforce 7800 GS / Radeon X800 Series HDD: 4 GB DirectX: 9.0c
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
Great with a mate
