Virtua Tennis 2009

I've always really enjoyed Tennis games. Being a big fan of watching Tennis, it is great to be able to play video games of the sport, recreating the great events from around the world.

One of my favourite Tennis video games is still Smash Court Tennis on the SNES. It might be getting close to 20 years old now, but that game never gets boring and the controls and speed of the game is just right.

Moving forward, the next Tennis games I really enjoyed were the original two Virtua Tennis games on the Dreamcast. They introduced a lot of new ideas compared to SCT on the SNES, including the World Circuit, where you could create a new player, and then take this new player from the bottom of the rankings at 300th all the way to the top by training and then winning matches and tournaments. This was a big improvement and added a sort of RPG element to the game.

Then Top Spin was released on the Xbox and it instantly became my new favourite Tennis game. The graphics were very nice and the gameplay well balanced, making it easier to feel like you were actually in control of the player and ball. I loved that game. It also utilised many aspects of the VT games, including the World Tour idea, but introduced a lot more mini game style events to train your character.

Top Spin 2 was later released, and this improved the already great game further.

Now moving on Virtua Tennis 3. I was quite disappointed with this one. The graphics looked a little tired and dated, and the gameplay seemed to have taken a step back compared to VT2 and Top Spin. The player control seemed less accurate or precise and it was a bit of a disappointment.

But now we have the new VIrtual Tennis 2009, and whilst I've only played it quickly so far I'm pleased to say that the graphics look much nicer and bring the game bang up to date, and using an Xbox 360 controller the controls are very easy to pick up and play, with accurate and enjoyable control.

So I'm really looking forward to playing this some more and exploring what the World Tour mode has to offer.

At the moment I will give it:

Graphics: 7/10 - Not cutting edge, but good looking.
Sound: 7/10 - Good court sound effects, players moving, balls bouncing, and the umpire speaking the scores and faults. No music after the intro that I've encountered so far, but there might be some in the tour mode.
Gameplay: 8/10 - Enjoyable, and unlike some Tennis games, not frustrating. The controls allow you to anticipate and move to the ball without feeling like the controls are getting in the way.
Lastability: 7/10 - Like most sports games, they have a lot of reply value. Normally however once I've played through the long tour mode and built a character up to number 1 in the world, having completed all events and won all tournaments I stop playing. However when the real tennis grand slams get shown on TV I always have to fire a tennis game up again and recreate the current event happening in the real world. Is always great fun. :)

Overall final score: 8/10

So how is it compared to top spin 3? I'm looking at getting one on the wii, so want to get the best one

I've not played Top Spin 3 yet, but I still prefer the Top Spin games to Virtua Tennis. They seem a bit more polished, as well as being designed to enjoy them as a game, rather than as a way to simulate pro tennis.

I also find the Top Spin control system (not Wii) better.

yep yep, thanks for that, will order that one soon!