Excellent. Finally, a superb next generation tennis game that truly lives up to its promises.
Only Sega has really produced tennis games over the years, yes Smash Star and Top Spin are alternatives. But I'll tell you now, they are no where close Virtua Tennis 3. Let's start, then shall we? The menu is fantastic, simple yet it has great colours. The first time I launched VT3 I was amazed, the menu only made it better. The graphics are superb for a tennis game. The players look realistic, the forehand cross-court or the sliced backhand has never looked better. Or maybe a 135 mph serve that gives you an impressive ace. There is hardly any jaggy image in the game, the courts are excellent. You can develop your own player, with many features, you pick up rackets and new clothes on the way, too. Don't you dare forget the courts either, there's trillions of them, seriously! Hard court, grass, clay, whatever. They all look great. Just make the game better.
So we've seen the menu, the impressive court and our awesome clothes our player is using, now we need to talk about the gameplay, which is perfect. Each player has their own style, some are powerful with their backhand, some are powerful with their net play. It's features like this that make the game so much better. The actual gameplay is easy to understand, 3 buttons, topspin, slice and lob. The ball never appears to go to high or too low and the earlier you press the button the more power you get on the shot. The gameplay is just perfect. There is a numerous amount of modes, very easy all the way to very hard. Playing Nalbandian in the King of Player's final my first time is nothing now, but I remember how hard it was. There are levels too, you can get your own rank. I have 2 players in World Tour mode, one ranked "All Around", the other ranked "Strong Backhand", you receive an individual rank based on what you train on, very impressive.
That's great, but let's make it perfect. Sound! Ahh yes, the sound of the ball being smashed is never boring, or managing to beat Nadal on clay and hearing him fall over. There are numerous sounds, the cool, sly sound of the slice is a whisper compared to the smashes you receive while you're at the net. Just perfect. I'll quickly summarise this.
If you love tennis or watch tennis, don't have a doubt about this game. Amazing. Get it now, sport fan or not, it's a classy arcade'ish game that after playing for more than 100 hours, I'm still not bored with it.
Purchase this, now.