Virtua Tennis 3 is essentially Virtua Tennis 2K2, otherwise known as Sega Sports Tennis, with a fresh coat of paint. The near perfectly polished gameplay remains the same while the single player gameplay modes and graphics get a next-generation overhaul. If you havent played any of the older Virtua Tennis lately, are looking forward to the slight upgrades, or are just a huge fan of the series VT3 wont disappoint. On the other hand if youre looking for an actual significant evolution of the series youll most likely be bored with the game in 10 hours or less.


The crowds are all 3D models but you never see them...
When entering the world tour mode for the first time youll be able to create your own character to ascend from the depths of rank 300. While the clothing and body options are pretty limited and standard, the face molding is quite advanced. Instead of the usual sliders that morph nose or mouth size, there are squares that you move a dot around in. These determine the overall definition of the head, chin, eyes, and nose. It kind of feels like youre crafting a face out of really gooey clay.

Once your player is created, youll head to the main world tour menu. Its a globe that has all kinds of places to visit. You can try out a mini-game, head to a tournament, go to your house, or prove yourself in a training area. The L1 button brings up your e-mail where you get messages from your coach, the league, and other players. Once you get to around the low to mid 200s youll start to get solicitations from top players from around the world. At first I thought they were propositioning me for some kind of dating mini-game, but it turns out they just wanted to schedule a practice match.


What it's all about.
Hitting the R1 button brings up your calendar and it will show you what practice matches you have scheduled for the upcoming weeks of the year. It also shows tournaments that require rankings of under 300, under 204, under 100, and under 56. Up through the 204 ranking tournaments, the AI is pretty retarded and is quite easy to beat. Once you hit 100 and above things actually get kind of challenging and 56 and above is very difficult. The 56 and above tournaments are the major ones like the French Open.