Review: Virtua Tennis: World Tour
by JOSEPH PHUNG
Special to Globe and Mail Update
- Reviewed on: PlayStation Portable
- Rating: E for Everyone
- The Good: Maintains all the fun and simple controls that the series has been known for; nice graphics; the variety of modes available.
- The Bad: Isn't much different from
the past console versions; have to create and train two players in
World Tour Mode; lack of Internet Wi-Fi play.
- The Verdict: Still maintains the top seed as the best tennis series to date.
REVIEW:
Since its debut release in 2000 on the Dreamcast, Sega's Virtua
Tennis series has remained a grand slam winner to many with its
easy-to-master gameplay and overall addictiveness. Now it has been
ported to the mobile PSP, and it's surprising how close the game play
is to the console versions.
Virtua Tennis offers a number of modes, but most players will probably favour the Tournament, World Tour, and Ball Games modes.
As you might of guess, the Tournament Mode involves competing
against some of the world's best, like Roger Federer or Maria
Sharapova. You can play as the aforementioned players or as any of the
12 other tennis stars for the tournament. In addition, created players
can be selected here too.
World Tour Mode allows you to create your own tennis stars and enter
tournaments to compete for the No. 1 world ranking. Developing the
skills for your players is an important part on becoming the best, so
it's a good idea to participate in the Training Games. There are a
total of eight training games with each having four levels of
difficulty to successfully complete. My personal favourite was Pin
Crasher, which involves serving the ball to knockdown bowling pins.
Although the World Tour Mode will take a while to complete, Sega
doubles its length by forcing you to create and train not only a male
player, but a female player too. Some may not like this increase
workload.
If the quest to become No. 1 is getting tiring, then the Ballgames
Mode will provide some relief. These four arcade mini-games are a joy
to play. Don't be surprised if you find yourself frequently coming back
to this mode and trying to beat your score.
Sega hits the ball out of bounds with the game's wireless (WLAN)
capabilities, though. Featuring local Wi-Fi play, players can only
compete against other PSP users nearby.
The graphics for Virtua Tennis are fantastic. There is very little
graphical difference when comparing the PSP version to the past console
versions, which shows how far portable gaming has come along. In
addition, the game still features a TV-like presentation with replays
and cutscenes of players displaying some emotion after scoring a point.
Overall, Virtua Tennis is the ideal portable game — it's fun and
there are plenty of modes to play in, making it a great pickup for
those new to the series. Yet, series veterans should consider holding
off until the price drops, since it's not much different from the games
that have come before it.
Source: GlobeAndMail
You can buy the game for about $20 from Amazon.com here.