Review:
VIRTUA TENNIS WORLD TOUR
Genre: Sport
Publisher: Sega
Players: 1-4 (AD Hoc)
Online play: No
Firmware: 1.52
Video:
Windows Media Player:
Virtua Tennis: World Tour - Trailer
QuickTime Player:
Virtua Tennis: World Tour - Trailer
The greatest tennis arcade has come to the PSP, and it’s brilliant! Virtua Tennis has been a success since its debut on the arcade machines over ten years ago due to its simplicity, stylish visual and endless fun!
Virtua Tennis World Tour has 14 of the best world tennis players to choose from, including Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams just to name a few.
These players can each be selected to play in the Quick Match, Tournament, Exhibition, Multiplayer and Ball Game modes.
However, the finest part of the game is the World Tour mode. This allows you to create your own two players, male and female, to dominate the World Tour and reach the number one ranking. It’s a hard way to the top as you would expect, and you must train your players amongst a series of different training techniques to improve the ability and skill of your players. This includes the famous Pin Crasher, where you must serve accurately to knock down as many bowling pins as possible, and Stomper, where you must use punchy footwork to stomp as many ‘yellow’ Coke cans as possible. It all sounds a bit mad, but this is arcade gaming at its best for anyone and everyone.
As you compete across global tournaments such as the English Trophy, the US Super Tennis and the French Cup in singles, doubles and mixed doubles categories, you earn money, increase your world ranking and unlock new accessories and stadiums, all of which increase your skill and reputation amongst the other contenders in the World Tour.
As you progress through the World Tour, the AI become less predictable, their strength and skills increase, and they play a variety of challenging shots and serves to keep you running around the court as much as possible.
High detail and huge freedom is given to the customisation of your player, whether you want him to be a John McEnroe look-alike, or a Muhammad Ali look-alike, it’s all possible here.
Virtua Tennis is a pleasure to navigate and play. The menus are clear and simple to younger players or even newbie PSPers, and anyone can pick up this game and get straight into it very quickly.
While playing a match, controls are once again kept clear and simple, and as your skills improve you’ll be able to master drop shots, slice serves and smashes in no time.
The graphics are smooth and accurate, but after each point the screen freezes very momentarily while it loads a quick replay video. The sound has clearly been thought about, and a crowd atmosphere is achieved quite well apart from a repeated whistle which can get quite annoying!
Playing Multiplayer via AD Hoc also offers hours of singles, doubles or mixed doubles tennis, whether you play against or with your friends. You can also enter a Tournament alongside a friend as double partners, and compete against the computer in 3 rounds to win the Tournament.
Virtua Tennis World Tour is a must have PSP game to anyone who enjoys tennis or even just a sporty arcade game. The loading times and visual are all good, considering this was one of the initial bunch of games released for the PSP. The World Tour can get tough for the more serious gamer, but offers many different types of games to choose from for those who just want to have a short and fun match.
The Verdict:
Uppers:
- A must-have game for anyone
- Bright and stylish visual
- So much fun!
Downers:
- No online play
- The annoying whistler in the crowd
- It ends!
Overall score: 90%
Henry,
27/01/07
Linear Mode
