All these little features do wonders to add to the immersion and make Virtua Tennis feel like it’s taking place in a real environment. Shadows are also impressive, with some of them taking up half the court and moving as the match progresses as they would in reality. Things like ball boys (or roombas) shuffle around collecting stray balls, while linesmen move out of the way if you hit the ball in their direction. If you serve a ball that hits the line, chalk will fly up into the air – that same serve will also trigger a speedometer in the background which tells you how fast it was. It’s the little details on the courts that really make them special, though. The backdrops add to the sense of immersion – sometimes it’ll just be a crowd of people, other times you’ll be overlooking a sea of skycrapers on the roof of a building which is always highlighted by a gorgeous panoramic shot at the start of a match as well as others in between points. You’ll play on a variety of different surfaces from chalk to grass, with plenty of colour variety (particularly in the Asian leagues where you’ll only play on bright blue or purple courts often). Obviously environments are limited to tennis courts, but even then things are impressive. In saying all this, they’re still lightyears ahead of most other models on Vita, let alone fully customizable ones and stand out as a big achievement.
The character models created aren’t as impressive-looking as the real-world stars – possessing more of a doll look, but they still move around the court well and have fun little animations such as spinning their racquet after missing a ball or slamming it if you hit too many shots past them (the game generates random players for you to go up against using these same tools). You’re also able to create your own player character with an incredible Sims-esque toolset, that allows you to customise everything from hair colour to eyebrow width. The game likes to use a lot of close-up shots during transition scenes between points and these only serve to highlight how good the players look – the only thing I’d say is that certain ones don’t look quite right (but close enough for it not to be too jarring). Real player likenesses are used for stars like Federer, Nadal, Sharapova and Williams (it’s amusing how many are still playing at the date of publication) – the modelling is very impressive, with facial features all in tact and things like bespoke animations for serves (noticeable in legacy stars like Pat Rafter). An incredible amount of effort has been put in to craft a beautiful experience that – most importantly – runs extremely well. This has also allowed SEGA to experiment and add new competitions – including ‘England Tennis Futuristic’ which uses roomba robots as ball boys, which I found hilarious and unique.ĭespite being a Vita launch title, Virtua Tennis still stands out to this day as one of the most graphically impressive games on the console. French Open, Wimbledon) they’re given fictional names likely due to copyrighting issues. Interestingly although the tournaments are largely based on reality (i.e. I grew attached to my doubles partner (and eventual rival) as we competed across the world – it’s not anything special in terms of narrative, but it’s executed extremely well. In a nice touch, you’ll receive emails from a particularly dedicated follower who forms your very own fan-club which grows as your fame does – until you’re rubbing shoulders with the likes of Federer or Nadal.Īll of it provides a brilliant sense of progression – it genuinely feels like you’ve gone on a journey when playing, one that’s very personal and your own. You’ll start as a nobody in the lower leagues of the Asian tournaments, signing autographs for fans and practising against similar level-players – who you can forge friendships and form doubles teams with (although inevitably one will be your Pokemon‘s Gary-esque rival as you both rise through the rankings). Like many modern sports titles, Virtua Tennis allows you to craft your own story through a ‘World Tour’ mode that follows a player-created character from obscurity to victory over the course of a tennis season – it works just as well here as it ever has.
#Virtua tennis 4 players series
SEGA’s classic tennis series comes to Vita in blistering fashion, providing a technical feat that’s tonnes of fun to play.
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