	Virtua Tennis World Tour
	Developer: SEGA / Sumo Digital Publisher: SEGA Europe Release Date: Out Now Players: 1, 2-4 wi fi	Words By:
The classic arcade hit was first seen in the home on SEGA's last home console, the Dreamcast. It was a truly superb game, which played so beautifully, and was instant hit. It spawned a sequel too, which also got a release on the Dreamcast. Later, SEGA released Virtua Tennis 2 on PlayStation2, which added new features and modes to the game. Sumo Digital, who ported the lush Outrun2 to Xbox for SEGA, were given the job of porting Virtua Tennis 2 to Sony’s new handheld. As soon as you start to play you can see this is a fantastic conversion of the Dreamcast/PlayStation2 version. The game is super smooth, with lovely looking courts, and well-detailed and animated character models. It really does look sweet, and it plays like a dream too. If you didn’t know, like all SEGA games, Virtua Tennis is a very easy game to get into. You use the analog stick or D-pad to move your player around, and then cross, square and circle are used for different shots. It’s very easy to get in to and play, and moving your player around the court is very fluid, and as the game is arcade based, you don’t have to be exactly in the right position to be able to return the ball. Basically it plays exactly how you would want an arcade tennis game to play. Characters go full-stretch to hit the ball, and if they tumble they get up very quickly to be able to get to the ball again. There are loads of modes to play through, like Quick Match, tournaments where you win money, and of course there is the Career mode. I didn’t really like this mode in Virtua Tennis 2 on Dreamcast, and unfortunately this is pretty much exactly the same. You first create both and male and female character, and then you begin. There are lots of mini-games to play, which you gain experience from like power, balance etc, which increase your character’s performance. The problem is that I think there are too many mini games, and not enough matches to play, and sometimes you have to wait around for new matches to come up on the calendar. It’s impossible to see what mini-games you have completed once you have done them, and when you start to get lots marked on the globe it gets a little confusing. To be honest I gave up on playing that mode, and just concentrated on playing the superb single and multiplayer mode. The game can be played in wifi mode for up to four human players, and it’s fantastic. There is no lag at all, and it plays just like you’d expect it to. You do have to re-time your shots slightly as it feels like the pace is adjusted slightly. It’s all good though, and great fun. Load times off the PSP’s UMD aren’t too bad, but in World Tour mode especially you’ll be waiting around a lot for things to load so you can select them. It gets frustrating after a while. There is also a split-second pause at the end of every match when the last point is won. The whole game freezes whilst it loads in the winning scoreboard etc. It’s not a major issue, but it’s worth noting and is a slight annoyance. Regardless of that, and the rather mediocre World Tour mode, this is a truly fantastic game, which plays just like it did in the Arcades and on the Dreamcast all those years ago. If you enjoyed it then, you’ll still love it now, it’s a superb tennis game, and definitely worth picking up for your PSP.

Best Bits
- Plays just like its big brother
- Multiplayer is fantastic
- Looks and sounds superb, with classic SEGA music

Worst Bits
- The World Tour mode is poor
- The pause at the end of matches is annoying
- You might hate the SEGA rock music


by: DC