Review: Virtua Tennis World Tour (PSP)
When Virtua Tennis was released on the ill-fated Dreamcast, it was quickly heralded as the best tennis game ever made. To date, Gamestyle has yet to meet anyone who doesn't enjoy its wonderful, arcadey nature. Now, thanks to the power of PSP, you can enjoy a virtual match at anytime with World Tour, a game that lives up to its predecessor(s) in every conceivable way.
As the title suggests, the main mode hinges upon creating your own tennis player (albeit with some rather limited options, in comparison to other titles) and taking on the tennis world to become the number one seed. The training sections - always a fun part of the Virtua Tennis legacy - are included and key to improving your skills and abilities. This takes time though, and your shots and accuracy at the beginning will be feeble in comparison to the CPU (which smashes the ball at a tremendous pace). Unfortunately, it's this challenge that may deter some people from carrying on, and instead choosing to stick with exhibition matches and their favourite tennis pros. After all, why play as a rather rubbish novice when you can choose Hewitt or Haas and smash the ball with abandon? These people will inevitably miss out on the real challenge - particularly later in the game - where various matches become available in the World Tour year (either singles or doubles), with each one requiring that you be at least seeded in a certain position before entering.
While a lot of time will be spent in World Tour, it's somewhat disappointing that unlike previous titles you don't actually get to play this mode as a tennis pro. So, for all those people who like playing as Tim Henman - or with Maria Sharapova (and who wouldn't?) - there are simple exhibition matches or tournaments to test your skill. Graphically, like a lot of PSP titles, the game is amazing; as far as character detail goes it doesn't quite match the Dreamcast iterations, but the fact that it's running on a handheld makes it all the more impressive. Unfortunately, the visual strain could also be what causes the game's major downfall - the loading times. Even during the menu there's always a short pause between selections, and this becomes even more apparent on the World Tour select screen. Luckily, it rarely happens during the matches and even when it does it's only when you've won or lost a point. This slowdown hardly detracts from the brilliant gameplay though.
The classic Virtua Tennis formula hasn't changed and the PSP's analogue nub is quite effective as you control your player on court; the action is also aided by the soundtrack - never going for actual songs, the music in Virtua Tennis is reminiscent of the classic arcade titles of yesteryear. Always offering a pleasant backdrop, but never drowning out the grunts of players or the tennis announcer.
With World Tour providing many hours of gameplay, chances are you won't be putting down this game anytime soon. Even when you become bored of your own custom-designed character, it's hard to resist a quick blast in the tournament or exhibition modes. And particularly for those of you with PSP-owning friends, who will further make use of the added Wi-Fi functionality. Undoubtedly a showpiece for the PSP, Virtua Tennis: World Tour offers something for everyone - and, despite the laborious loading times, it's a tried-and-true SEGA title that everyone should have in their collection.
Rating: 9 / 10
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