Reviews
Upon delving into the game proper two main modes of play are on offer, namely the Arcade mode and the World Tour. True to its roots the arcade mode itself simply offers exhibition or tournament modes against progressively more difficult opponents ranging from a nice selection of tennis superstars such as Federer, Nadal, Hewitt and Mauresmo etc…Each having their own particular strengths and weaknesses to replicate how they play in the real world. Having cut your teeth in arcade the World Tour circuit is where the real meat of the game is unveiled. This mode returns from VT2 and is similar in structure, whereby you create a player and then train them through a series of mini-games and the excellent Tennis Academy before entering them into tournaments with a view to reaching the number one seeded position.
This mode is far more accomplished in VT3. The sheer amount of mini-games on offer is impressive and most are great fun to go back to time and time again not only improve your scores but also to perfect each facet of your game. Similarly the tennis academy is a brilliant practice ground which starts out as a pretty basic tutorial for the standard shots on offer before becoming a strangely addictive pastime all of its own. Also in the World Tour players can continue to upgrade and customize their created player with new equipment such as better raquets and snazzy clothing. On the whole the World Tour itself feels like a far more comprehensive package though admittedly the new stamina/recovery mechanic in place that requires you rest in between tournaments at the risk of incurring injuries is a bit too basic for its own good and therefore slightly pointless in its approach.
Moving away from the single player and onto Xbox LIVE and its here that Virtua Tennis 3 really begins to shine. Whereas the PS3 version of the same game is completely bereft of any online component whatsoever the Xbox 360 version is about as feature complete as any fan of the series could hope for and Sumo should be commended for what is on offer here. Online VT3 is the first tennis game to finally give players the option to play doubles matches with all four protagonists on separate machines which is incredibly good fun and in ranked matches there is a cool feature where you can view the last online match of your next opponent so you aren’t left wandering into an slaughter completely green. This also carries over into what the developers call VT.TV, much like what we’ve seen and loved in PGR3, a TV channel showing the best and current matches being played online. All mini-games are available for online shenanigans as well which is makes for an entertaining sideline all of its own. Lastly lag is generally well within acceptable limits provided you don’t end up playing overseas players too often.
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