Virtua Tennis 2009 Review

Virtua Tennis 2009 is the latest release in the long running Virtua Tennis saga. Saying that a game is the latest release doesn't always enquire that it is the greatest which is best demonstrated by this game.

Like Virtua Tennis 3 you still work your way through a world tour mode but you need strict determination to make it to the top, and make it through those less than challenging ranked matches. Gameplay consists of a 48 week season in world tour mode where you build up your skills through the dozen mini games that are offered along with the time honored tennis academy. Five of the dozen minigames come from Virtua Tennis 3 the rest seem to have been made by stoners just throwing out ideas, lets just say they get ridiculous at times. During the world tour mode you can choose to compete in tournaments to up your ranking or those minigames which get near impossible to complete at the highest level and ultimately become more frustrating and challenging than fun. Your first fifteen or so tournaments in World Tour offer little to no challenge and having the will to complete them to get to that number one ranking takes sheer determination.

Characters in Virtua Tennis are the same solid cast of pros, playable men include: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, David Nalbandian, Tommy Haas, Juan Carlos Ferrero, James Blake, Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, and Tim Henman. Playable women include: Venus Williams, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Lindsay Davenport, Amelie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidisova, Daniela Hantuchova, Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova. You also have the time honored Virtua Tennis tradition of creating your own character, and using it to compete but the computer players always have the edge. As far as character appearance goes you can say the tennis hotty Maria Sharapova looks more block like and stiff than what we all know she looks to be, which is why this game isn't the best of the saga.

Virtua Tennis 2009 fails to be that great game tennis fans were looking for to replace Virtua Tennis 3, the bottom line is that it is not a big enough improvement over Virtua Tennis 3 to get those fans to make the switch. The graphics and gameplay are better, but the character pro's appearance look to be carved out of granite and less than appealing. Overall it is a continuance in the Virtua Tennis saga and any die hard tennis fan will be sure to pick this game up for a couple hours of tennis fun.