The first thing you’ll notice with Virtua Tennis is the game’s strong lineup of tennis players.  With the likes of Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport, Sega has delivered in giving us the marquee players that gamers expect in a tennis title.  The only obvious exclusions are Andre Agassi and Serena Williams, which is a downer but the overall lineup of world-class players makes it easy to forget these well-known stars.  Since we’re on the topic of players, I might as well talk about the game’s graphics, which are more than capable for the glossy PSP.  The graphics do reflect a somewhat older generation title but this in no means detracts from the overall experience.  The players’ likenesses are decent and you don’t get any of the bizarre faces that periodically crop up in some big-name publisher sports titles. 

The players move and hit the ball like their real-life counterparts so if you’re into power tennis, then Roddick is an obvious choice to pick for your tournaments.  Want the best, well-rounded player then look no further than today’s most dominant player, Roger Federer.  On the women’s side, Sharapova is the most consistent player while Williams is the best pick for power.  The game does a commendable job of simulating each player’s strengths and weaknesses in its gameplay.  My only minor complaint with the representation of the players is the grunting they make when hitting the ball.  The grunts are obviously coming from voice actors, which is not a big deal but how about varying the frequency?  The game has each player grunting for every single swing, which doesn’t occur with every player and besides, it tends to wear thin after awhile.  Tying the grunting to certain types of strokes or maybe during a long rally would have made a lot more sense.  The other on-court sounds such as squeaking sneakers and the thump of the ball hitting the racket do a much better job of adding to the overall experience.  The same can be said of the audience noise.  What doesn’t add to the game is the funky arcade-style music, which can fortunately be turned off.

The gameplay in Virtua Tennis is stellar and comparable to the best console tennis games out there, which includes its Dreamcast brethren as well as PAM Development’s Top Spin (formerly a Microsoft published titles, now 2K Sports).  The types of available strokes in the game are topspin, slice, and lob.  All of your shots are tightly controlled with the PSP nub, which is extremely responsive when it comes to putting the ball where you want it.  So get ready to implement some strategy with your game since passing shots, drop shots, and lobs will be part of your a**nal for success.  The game is also very accurate when it comes to hitting overhead smashes when you’re near the net.  Gauging your location and timing a successful overheard smash isn’t difficult so charging the net becomes a viable strategy.  You do have to be careful going to the net since the computer AI is very good at hitting deadly lob shots.  The other cool thing is that the game gets you to anticipate where the ball is going to be hit so you can move your player to the right position for a return volley.  While all this is going on, you’re thinking of the best type of return to hit and where you want to place it.  These are the core elements of the game of tennis.  Bravo!     

Serving takes some time to master, especially when it comes to pinpoint shots and hitting aces.  This is probably one area that could use a bit of improvement since it is still too difficult to hit aces, especially center-line aces.  On the flipside, it is too easy to hit a big power serve on your second serve.  There needs some type of limiter on how hard you can hit a second serve which would force you to use more strategy with your second serve, such as utilizing more of a slice serve to prevent a big return.  This is a minor complaint when you factor in what happens after the serve – yep, the awesome rallies.  There will be points where you go back and forth like a real tennis game and the tension will either make you holler with either joy or disappointment, depending upon the outcome.  Either way, there is no mistaking the fact that Virtua Tennis knows how to pull you into the game of tennis and keep you there with its awesome rallies.

The tennis games consist of Quick Match, Exhibition, Tournament and World Tour.  The Quick Match is a bit weak since it limits a match to the winner of two games but it does serve its purpose if you have short amount of time to kill or need a quick warm-up.  The Exhibition mode gives you choice of the number of games (winner up to six), while the full-blown Tournament mode locks you into six games.  If you want to mix things up, there are also plenty of mini-games that will keep you busy.  In the World Tour mode, you create and outfit your player to go through an entire calendar of events.  These events include both competitive matches and eight training mini-games.  There are also mini-games that can be played outside of the World Tour mode.  The mini games can be a bit frustrating at times since they unfortunately expose how imprecise the analog nub can be at times.  I have much more of a preference for the gameplay and competitiveness of actual matches than dealing with the pinpoint frustration of the mini-games.  If you can stick with the mini-games, you’ll definitely improve your skills. 

The doubles matches add a unique spin to the game since your reaction time has to be faster than the singles game and you also have to consider your partner’s location on the court.  The doubles play ends up being just as much as the singles game.  Multiplayer is limited to ad hoc (up to four players) so let’s hope the next iteration of the game features infrastructure mode since it would be a kick to go head-to-head against somebody across the country.  The load times are reasonable and there is a slight pause at the end of the each game winner as the disc is being accessed for the start of a new game.  I was bit alarmed when I read this in other reviews but since experiencing it myself, I can attest that it has a very minor impact on playing the game.         

Virtua Tennis World Tour isn’t quite the killer app for the PSP but it earns itself the honor of being one of the first definitive sports title for Sony’s handheld.  It is easy to pick up and play, looks great and its gameplay is highly addictive.  If you’ve been holding out for the right sports title for the PSP then your wait is over with Virtua Tennis.