Virtua Tennis

"The best tennis game!"

I have never been much of the videogame genre in sports. I like sports on the Television, but not much in Videogames, they go too fast or are far too confusing, although most of them are obscure button bashers. I never even wanted Virtua Tennis for the Sega Dreamcast, I rather would have a fishtank full of tennis balls (Don't ask). It was not even one minute in to the game before I relised that I liked Virtua Tennis, it is easilly the best sports game on the Dreamcast to date.

Instead of having twenty made up characters with unbelievable stats, the company behind this game put in a dozen real life Tennis players, such as Tim Henman, and other tennis players. (I would name some, but I only know Tim Henman.). You start off with six players, one from each country with the top tennis players, like Great Britain and the United States of America. The other six remaining players are secret players. Who are these players you ask? Let's just say you will have to work very hard to find out!

The Gameplay is very solid. Virtua Tennis makes full use of the 3D anolog controller for the Sega Dreamcast, the characters handle very well with it. The colored buttons on the pad are moves for the racket, which you can hit high or low, depening how far, hard and how you hit the tennis ball.

In terms of multiplayer, Virtua Tennis is a very fun party game, for those both old and new to the genre. I have owned this game for well over a year now, and I am always digging it out for some multiplayer madness.

There are several modes, like Championship and Arcade, which is where the game takes part. You can have either singles, or doubles (The computer or a second, third or fourth player takes over) and try and make your way to the final stages to win. There is another mode, World Circuit. If you remember the Crazy Box from Crazy Taxi, you'll be familiar with this. You have to go round the world, winning not only matches, but playing very difficult mini games, like bat the ball and knock the boxes off the court in thirty seconds, or hit all the color panles. These are very fun mini-games, and add the most replay value to the game.

If you are not familiar with the rules of tennis, the rules are quite... not-so simple. On the pitch, there is a net on the middle. When your player serves, you have to get it over the net and to the other player, trying to get the ball in their IN section, if you get it in the OUT section, you loose that point, but if it lands in the IN, you win. You can turn the ball quite easily to try and fool the player with the anolog, so playing the rules are pretty simple, but get more complex later on.

The commentary in this game is pure marveless, it reminds me of the commentator from Wave Race 64. The sound affacts are pure marveless, and offe no slowdown. There is great music as well. Virtua Tennis offers both brilliant sound and music.

The worst portion of the game is the graphics. I would give the graphics an eight of ten though, they are still some of the best I have seen on the Sega Dreamcast. They are almost photo realistic, and the crowd look great, but rather flat and still.

Good

- Great in all areas

Bad

- Crowd seems a bit flat

Summary

Graphics - 8/10
Music - 10/10
Sound - 10/10
Gameplay - 10/10
Enjoyment - 10/10
Lifespan - 10/10
Challenge - 8/10 (In World Circuit)
Overall - 10/10

<b. Alternatives : Virtua Tennis 2

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 12/30/01, Updated 12/30/01