	Smash Court Tennis 3
	Developer: Namco Publisher: SCEE Release Date: Out Now Players: 1-4	Words By:
Released around Wimbledon time when British interest in tennis is at its peak, Smash Court Tennis 3 aims to capture the mini market with the chance to play at Wimbledon at, well Wimbledon. But is it a day of bright sunshine or play stopped after an hour? Graphically SCT3 looks great on the teeny PSP screen; the intro movie really does show how the developers are getting to grips with the PSP and making things look rather lovely. You’re treated to a range of the top athletes from both men and women’s tennis: Roger Federer, Justine Henan, Rafael Nadal and the lovely Maria Sharapova to name a few of them. They all look the real deal and move convincingly around the court, swing with weight and speed and you can even see when the players shift their weight. The courts are equally stunning as once you get past the bog standard courts (or cheat and play arcade mode) you can play aside old English castles, on Japanese high-rise rooftops or palm-swept sunset beachfronts that really do wow you for such a tiny console. You’re given the standard fare when it comes to game modes: exhibition, arcade, multiplayer, training and career. Career is where you’ll spend most of your time, as you create your own character and work your way up from 250th in the world rankings to the big number 1 spot. Initially your player couldn’t hit a barn from inside (just like Henman then), let alone win any of the tournaments, so you’re left to spend a good hour going through the training mode, which is long and confusing in itself. Then you need to complete training challenges in order to win ability points for your character. After you’ve levelled up a bit you can have a crack at the many tournaments that pop up on your PDA. Matches are generally decided in short games where you have to win by two games in a final set, so nothing drags on too long. As mentioned earlier the movement is pretty fluid with a feeling of weight and momentum, especially when the players lunge for the ball. SCT3 didn’t fall into the trap of “if you’re within 10 feet of the ball and press O the player will teleport next to the ball and start the shot animation” that a couple of older tennis games I’ve played have done. If you’re near the ball your player will react differently, especially if you mis-time it, and the shot animation will be different. If you’re using a worse player you’ll get more unforced errors, but when playing as top stars like Federer the game is generally more forgiving. The game isn’t always forgiving though, as there are a couple of gameplay snags that may or may not be Namco’s fault. Tennis is a very precise game, and what highlights the PSP’s slightly crude “analogue stick” is when you need to use precision serves to beat the top opponents. Serving using the chocolate button attached to the PSP is like trying to mend a wristwatch with a sledgehammer. It’s hard enough trying to judge how far left/right/diagonal you’re placing the ball using the stick but holding it in place while you’re trying to time your button presses is impossible. One great feature of Smash Court Pro Tournament 2 was the amazing serves you could reel off once you got the hang of it, which is sadly absent in the portable update. When you’re playing, after you’ve started pre-loading (for power) your shot of choice you can use the analogue stick to choose the direction you want to power the ball into. Generally this works fine but sometimes the game will just decide not to play by the rules and not recognise the button press. Say you are running to the left, but want to play the shot into the right. You’re running and press O, then hold right. If the game doesn’t recognise the O you’ll stop just before the ball and start running right, away from it. 15-0. It doesn’t happen very often but when it happens on a tie break or games where every point counts it’s a right pain in the arse. Also, for some reason a drop shot is seen as some kind of magical special ability as the training level for it says: “your ability to play the drop shot decreases the more you play it each match”. They say this but the lob shot gets its own button (triangle) and can be used as much as you want! Something doesn’t quite make sense here… Smash Court Tennis 3 is a beautiful, fun arcade tennis game with a pretty long career mode. If you can avoid the annoying flaws in the gameplay and the slightly imprecise controls then you’ll have fun with this.

Best Bits
- Looks beautiful
- Nice, quick arcade play
- Some licensed tennis aces

Worst Bits
- Clumsy controls at times
- Simple arcade setup
- Longevity?


by: Crazypunk