- Title: Virtua Tennis 3
- Platform:Xbox 360
- Publisher: Sega
- Developer: Sega-AM2
- ESRB Rating: “E” for Everyone
- Genre: Tennis
- Pros: Deceptively simple gameplay; nice presentation; tons of modes; fun multiplayer; minigames are awesome; perfect difficulty curve
- Cons: Lobs are worthless
Features and Modes
Virtua Tennis 3 offers up a decent selection of modes. You can play exhibition matches, set up tournaments, or tackle the lengthy career mode. Career mode is interesting because you start out ranked 300 in the world and you have to win tournaments to move up. Along the way, you can enter a Tennis Academy or play a number of different minigames to increase your stats and become a better player. The minigames include bowling and a space invaders-style game among many others and they are all surprisingly fun. The difficulty curve is absolutely perfect in the career mode as well, and while it may seem easy to win at first, when you move up to the next stages of rankings you’ll really be tested. This makes the career mode satisfying and fun because you play a lot of different types of players and skill levels and it makes you learn how to deal with any situation.
The multiplayer aspect of Virtua Tennis 3 is also very well done. You can play singles or doubles matches or play many of the minigames competitively with your friends. You can also take your created player online and play on Xbox Live, which is very smooth and lag free and proves to be very fun thanks to the great gameplay.
Gameplay
One thing we really like is that the core gameplay is simplified in that you never really have to worry about hitting the ball out of bounds or missing the ball. As long as you are close, you’re going to hit the ball which completely puts the focus on the strategic elements of the game rather than having you worry about missing the ball and embarrassing yourself. It is more of an arcade-style than simulation, but it works very well and is amazingly fun.
Graphics and Sound
Graphically, Virtua Tennis 3 is a nice looking game. Everything is nicely detailed and looks just like it should. What really stands out, though, is the amazing animation. Player movements are amazingly realistic and lifelike and are pretty much perfect.The sound is also very good, for the most part. The sounds on the court are exactly what you would expect from a tennis game. The music in the menus isn’t the greatest thing you’ll ever hear, but you can use custom soundtracks so it isn’t a problem.
Bottom Line
