Virtua Tennis 3

Virtua Tennis 3 - (PS3)
Developer: Sumo Digital
Format: PS3
Genre: Sport

Game, set and match to the PS3!

It's the age-old adage; what came first - the console or the games. In the case of the PS3, it's quickly becoming apparent that it's the console. Ported over to it, many games are lacking just that little bit extra to make great games even greater. So let's get the big bugbear over with quickly and move on: VT3 on the PS3 has no online play. 'nuff said.

Moving on from this, all the arcade-worthy action of the court and ball boys is here in glorious bright new console-land. Single player has you, like the 360 version before it, vying for the top position from your starter's ranking at a lowly 300th. Via the tennis training academy and mini-game skill-honing, your sub standard ball boy will quickly move up to Wimbledon-worthy level. In this refined version, the mini-games (guilty pleasures of fun time) include Drum Topple (self-explanatory), Avalanche (of fruit and oversized tennis balls!) and Pin Crusher (think tennis at a bowling alley).

Such lunacy has a purpose though - to hone your backhands, your volleys and your serves so that when you take on real players in a variety of indoor and night time courts around the world, you'll be ready to jump through the rankings. If you manage to avoid injuries, crap serves and if you can survive the cheesy soundtrack, the No1 slot should be yours with a suitable amount of gameplay hours under your belt.

And gimmick alert - you can move your player, should you choose to, by tilting the PS3's Sixaxis controller. But that only makes things trickier, let alone inducing mild motion-sickness in your living room. What you have here is the same excellent game, just with 'new balls please'.

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