And with Wimbledon just a vague memory, the best-behaved and dangerously stereotypical ‘outlaws’ on the planet ‘do’ tennis, their fourth bash at the sports genre. We liked Outlaw Volleyball and Golf, we loved and hated Outlaw Golf 2 depending on what machine you were playing it on, but even after playing it solidly for a week we’re really not sure about Outlaw Tennis.

As with the previous Outlaw titles, you get a starting selection of characters to play with, and by completing the tour mode and sub games (called ‘drills’) you unlock new players, outfits, accessories (sun glasses, sweat bands & rackets), different courts, as well as further tour and drill events to play. As you progress you earn tokens to improve the players’ skills and attributes, and as with the previous games this is really noticeable and important if you are to have any success.

Slick movement and controls, make or break a tennis game and once their stats are up to scratch, the Outlaw Tennis players play as good, varied and accurate game of power tennis as any other game out there, Top Spin and Virtua included. The AI is clever and believable (with 3 difficulty settings) and you’ll see them mishit and get hit by the ball and you can even hit your partner in a doubles game should they get in the way. Slick animations and intuitive controls (better than Top Spin’s) mean you can hit plenty of aces (if your timing is good enough), but also mix it up with successful topspin lobs and deft angled drops shots – much like Outlaw Golf 2 underneath OT’s bash exterior lies an excellent simulation. Naturally you get 4 shot types (flat, topspin, lob and slice) and by aiming these as you hit and by applying spin with the left trigger a nice variation in shots can be achieved. Play well and you can also achieve turbo-boosted movement and shots that allow you to zoom around the court and blast the ball back like a cannon shot.