Sumo Digital has done a great job of porting the Xbox 360 version of Virtua Tennis 3 to the PSP. In fact, when running both titles side-by-side, their presentations are near-identical. But how the game is offered isn’t all it has going for it. Like most successful sports franchises, Virtua Tennis 3 also has a solid foundation to expand on. The arcade-inspired gameplay makes jumping into a match as easy as pressing start and the three-button setup has a surprising amount of flexibility. In other words, it’s perfect for portable gaming.
For a coin-op inspired setup, there’s a surprising amount of gameplay depth here. Simple hits like lobs, slices, and top spins can be modified into smashes, drops, and running shots based on player position and the amount of time a button is held; and when you factor in variable player stats and multiple surface types, you get a pretty good game of tennis.
Truth be told, playing lob wars with an ad hoc buddy or the CPU can be a lot of fun — even if it does feel extremely similar to 2005’s Virtua Tennis: World Tour. Whether you’re smashing back and forth in a singles match or teaming up with three others for a doubles competition, there’s real entertainment value here — and some matches can get downright intense. When two or more advanced players are butting heads, it’s not uncommon to see 30-stroke volleys that involve every racket motion known to man. Diehard fans should feel right at home.
The revamped World Tour Mode is a nice distraction as well, but it does feel a little limited compared to the 2005 game. Most folks will still spend the majority of their time in World Tour obviously, but the tweaked interface and loss of a market option is a slight backwards step. However, the inclusion of the sim-like stamina meter, the all-new mini-games, various practice challenges and a formal “Tennis Academy” (for fine-tuning attributes and skills) is a definite move forward. Putting it all together makes for quite a few game years of net play and all things considered, it’s still pretty good.
One of the reasons that World Tour is so interesting is because creating your own character is actually entertaining. Though the facial modification and accessory options are limited (even more so than the console version, as the PSP edition removes the option to do real-time morphing), enhancing a player via the Tennis Academy (timed shot challenges) and the mini-games is really addictive. Finding an excuse to avoid boulder-sized tennis balls while capturing fruit to improve your footwork or blowing up orb-shooting robots to better your stroke is a smart and surreal way to pass the time. Being able to influence what sort of tendencies your alter ego has (big server, fast runner, etc) is a nice touch too.
- Published by: SEGA
- Developed by: Sumo Digital / SEGA
- Genre: Sports
- Number of Players: 1
- Release Date:
US: March 26, 2007
Japan: Cancelled - E for Everyone
- Also Available On: Arcade, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
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