Though it was an entirely unplanned coincidence, my first purchases for the Xbox and the Xbox 360 included Top Spin and Top Spin 2, respectively (I was a late adopter for both systems, so sue me). I enjoyed both games, but Top Spin 2 never quite lived up to my expectations. I just couldn’t get into it. The matches seemed very long and boring, which doesn’t exactly augment the replay value.
Bridging the gap for those of us that want instant gratification in a tennis game is Sega’s Virtua Tennis 3. The arcade style approach and variety of minigames means you’ll have a large mixture of entertaining play options. The matches play out very quickly, so you can play several games in one sitting. For my money, Virtua Tennis 3 is the more enjoyable of the two tennis games available for the Xbox 360.
Virtua Tennis 3 features some of the top tennis talent in the world today. You can play as or against the likes of Federer, Roddick, Sharapova or Venus Williams (where’s Serena?) to name a few of the twenty available players. All players are current, so there’s no ability to pit Agassi against Conners, but the selection of pros covers a wide variety of play styles. There’s also no need to scout an opponent in advance. During gameplay a player’s style is noted on screen with brief descriptions such as “Big Server” or “Speed and Volley”.
The game plays simply and effectively. Serving is a straightforward matter of two button presses to start and stop the power meter, while aiming between presses. Returning the ball requires you to get your player in position and then hold a button to complete the swing while aiming with the left stick. The longer you hold the button, the more power that will be transferred to your shot. The basic types of shot are the normal topspin shot, the slice and the lob. Each is assigned to a different button. During doubles play, you can use the triggers to give commands to an AI teammate, such as “normal”, “play the net” or “play the baseline”. The controls are very basic and uncluttered, meaning most gamers will be able to pick up and play right away. Drop shots (dropping the ball just over the net to catch an opponent off guard) can be difficult to pull off. I’ve only had success with these if I’m playing well behind my own baseline and I have plenty of time to attempt it. The game will determine if you need to dive to make your shot, and there are plenty of dives in every volley it seems. Sega intended this to be an arcade style game, so that is to be expected.
Virtua Tennis 3 boasts a variety of game play modes to choose from. Exhibition and Tournament are the basic “quick start” modes. Court Games allows 2 to 4 players to compete at the plethora of minigames available (more on those later). As all Xbox 360 gamers demand, the Live support is rich (I’m told online play is not supported on a certain overpriced console). You can easily jump into an online game with up to 3 other players in ranked and unranked player matches. Unfortunately, you can’t play the minigames on Live. Besides using the professional players, you can also bring your created players online. You are also able to watch others players on Sega’s “VT TV” – although I’m not sure why you would want to, other than to get the 10 achievement points you’ll earn.
