It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Sony. After the PlayStation Network fiasco, the loss of 75 million user credit card details, Virtua Tennis 4 is a great reason to start talking about the games again.
VT4 developer Sega have always been able to come up with a good idea and take it forward. Think Dead or Alive, Golden Axe, Sonic and the Football Manager games have all developed into successful franchises with strong customer loyalties.
I may be slightly biased here, because me and Virtua Tennis go way back…back into the noisy local arcades of my youth, so I always have a soft spot for each new version.
In the last 7 or 8 years together with Top Spin, they have been the ONLY 2 tennis games worth buying. And while Top Spin has had the edge in terms of graphics and realism, generally Virtua Tennis has been the more fun game to play (except the last VY2009 which was something of a disappointment).
The latest version is now compatible with the PS3 Move / Kinect and Wii systems. I’m actually glad we tested the PS3 version as the Kinect is great and all that, but if I am playing Tennis I want to have something in my hand to represent a racquet.
Ideally this would be a 4d holographic virtua(l) tennis racket but for now we’re using the Playstation Move controller.
As your average living room is a bit smaller than a tennis court the computer takes care of the running bit for you (while saving your mums ceramic dolphin collection in the process), and the first person perspective you get is great on a big screen.
[nggallery id=44]It’s just a shame this option is limited to single mode only as Virtua Tennis 4 has lots of different options to play, including the updated career ‘World Tour’ mode. Building your player up though the tournaments and 8 inventive mini games (and autograph signing’s) is challenging but there is well thought out difficulty arc.
Top Spin slightly shades it on the graphics side, but for an immersive tennis atmosphere turn the volume up on your surround sound and Virtua Tennis ‘kills’ it on an excitement level.
While it’s not perfect, it’s good to see a new title worth buying that doesn’t involve guns and killing. Something I am sure the worried heads of Sony would currently approve of.
Published by: Sega
Developed by: Sega
Rating: U
Available on: Wii, Xbox 360, PS3