Virtua Tennis: World Tour

"Will this sports game out-serve the rest?"

Virtua Tennis started its career on the Dreamcast, and was considered to be one of the best Tennis games of video game history. Sega aims to do that with Virtua Tennis: World Tour for the PSP. It proved to grasp the ultimate goal of the PSP, pick up and play mechanics.

Virtua Tennis offers many modes to the gamer, a simple match against the computer AI(s), a tournament, some quick mini-games, or play against your friends in multi-player. This all compliments the main mode, World Tour mode, with which your created boy and girl compete in competitions to raise your world rank. The character creation system isn't incredibly in depth, but it is adequate for a handheld system. You will play many mini-games to raise the stats (i.e. power, control) of your competitor so that you will be able to hold your own against the best players in the world. The mini-games range from bowling (serving to knock down pins) to blowing up tanks to picking up tennis cans. With just five minutes of playing time, you can play several mini-games and raise your stats substantially.

The competitions are shown on a very conveniently to find calendar so that you always know when they are. To get into the harder tournaments you must raise your rank, thus the game has a skill curve to enable anyone to go their own speed. You also gain money by winning competitions (or just one match in a competition), which you will use to buy clothing, shoes, accessories, racquets, and even arenas. Although I've never heard of a 6,000-dollar skirt, I'll let it pass.

The courts of Virtua Tennis look stunning, perfect on the PSP screen. The players, the judges, and chairs on the side of the court are a nice touch. The spectators are 2d, as are with all PSP sports titles, but Sega did not disregard them; Sega gave the spectators a variety of colors and a decent clapping sequence. The contenders move very fluidly as the animations are true to the sport of tennis. You can easily see the ball move across the courts using a nice blur effect.

During doubles matches sometimes the players don't interact exactly, but this is only on the close-up scenes after a point is won or lost. Also, occasionally a frame or two has a big black triangle in the upper left corner…but this is only like once a 1-2 hour intense gaming session. The loading times in Virtua Tennis are not bad, albeit moving throughout the menus make up this loss of excess loading. Sometimes it will take you 3-5 seconds to move from one icon to another on the “World Tour” map. Loading in such places are prohibited! Sega should have made before/after matches the all time loading point.

The sounds of Virtua Tennis during the non-match situations are just that, sounds. There are no catchy tunes, as is found in other games such as Hot Shots golf, (Everyone's golf) which deteriorates the mood at times. When you are in a match though, is a different story. The subtle grunts, loud squeaks, and thuds represent true sounds from the sport. This melds with the commentary and the cut-scene/close ups to make matches seem as real as possible.

Sega could easily just slap a working tennis engine and call it a day, although of course they did not. Sega implemented three different shots/serves, which actually are useful in different situations. Should I choose to hit a Lob to the corner, or a drop shot right over the net? The analog movement feels natural, unlike complaints from past PSP games. The analog stick is also used for aiming the direction of your volley. Although the aim could have been more precise, it does add an effect of realism that might not have been meant to put in the game.

At first Virtua Tennis is an x button masher, but once you realize that once you press X your player does not move much further, that it just gets ready to hit the ball. This forces the player, during the harder difficulties, to play smart tennis; to calculate where the ball is going to go. This way, the gaming experience doesn't get tiresome; it actually gets much better with time. AI is a big concern in the sports game business, well actually in the entire gamin industry. Virtua Tennis offers great AI; your partner in doubles is in some cases better than yourself. The L button changes your partner's position on the courts, thus greatly complimenting your strategy. That being said though, there are occasions when the AI seems like it couldn't handle the input.

Over everything, Virtua Tennis offers a sport that is not represented much in the gaming industry and Sega brings this wonderful sport to the PSP. If you are a sports buff, or would like 1-3 sports games for your shiny PSP Virtua Tennis is a great bet for happiness. Pick it up, and play it till it is done.

Audio 7.4 / 10
Controls 8.1 / 10
Gameplay 8.3 / 10
Graphics 9.3 / 10
Lastability 9.6 / 10
Overall 8.6 / 10

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 10/17/05