Publisher: THQ ___Platform: XBOX 360

Review: Jason Round

When I attended university, people would literally be lining up to play Virtua Tennis, and at the time I couldn’t quite work out why.
Now that I’ve had the pleasure, and that it was, trying out the latest incarnation, though, I can see why. This thing is addictive, easy to come to grips with, and while it might be a touch cheesy, there’s still enough realism there to keep most green-ball fans begging for more.

That means you’ll find a large selection of all your fave players, such as Hingis, Roderick, one of the Williams sisters (we guess one’s enough) and yes, Sharapova as well. Of course, the first thing we tried to do was see if you could look up her skirt, but alas, the pixel Nazis have managed to jump over that hurdle with some cleverly placed camerawork. Her grunts are there, however, as are most of the top-player eccentricities, and their form on court is surprisingly true to life.

With some ultra quick load-up times that would put most next-gen titles to shame, Virtua boots up and you can literally jump straight into the action with an exhibition match or Xbox Live! If you’re a little more adventurous, there’s also a championship event, complete with your own couch and a series of mini-games.

Now, these mini-games really add some meat to this title. For example, why not hit some giant tennis balls at a horde of advancing zombie robots? How about trying your hand at tennis 10-pin bowling? Hell, why not dodge some fruit running from giant tennis balls being chased by zombies? Yes, yes, it does sound like Takeshi’s Castle on acid, but these little games just suck you right in, especially when you’ve just had your ass handed to you by Federer once again.

The graphics are arcade-like, though the cut scenes are surprisingly realistic and smooth. The locales, too, are fantastic, with a variety of court surfaces, quirky locations and some that will no doubt be familiar to most. Anyone heard of some place called Melbourne? In particular, we liked the way the courts gradually ‘wear’ over time, with ball marks showing up and little rough patches indicating worn areas.

The moves too, have become more fluid, with players leaping and diving across the screen with enough vigour to do a fist-shakin’ Leighton proud. Is the game hard? Yes and no. It’s easy to get a hang of, but considering you start off ranked 300 in the world, you can imagine there is a long way to go and a variety of opponents and events to tackle. Sound-wise, the thing plays like a DDR machine, with futuristic, guitar-driven rock cranking out — something that is in strong juxtaposition to the regal nature of the sport. That’s not to say it’s a bad thing. Hell, no. We liked it because it brought in that whole arcade feel, and believe us, that’s a good thing for a title like this.

So, yes, we loved Virtua 3, and given this, we can only imagine the PS3 version will only crank it up another notch. For now, though, the 360 has this one in the bag — game, set and match.

5/5