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Virtua Tennis 3

Tournaments around the world

Tournaments become available from time to time, and you can check the schedule from your calendar. Each one has a minimum ranking to enter, and early on you can only enter "Challenger" events. Oddly, you face the exact same big-name players regardless of the level of the tournament - the only difference is that they play like total newbies in the early tournaments. A much better system would have been to use randomly-named generic players, so your first encounter with a real pro player would actually be a lot more significant.

Unfortunately, tournaments in the World Tour mode are short; very short. You play from the quarter-finals onwards and every match is for the best out of three games - that's games, not sets, so win 8 points and you've won a match. Since you pretty much 2-0 everything for the first 10 to 15 tournaments, things can get a bit repetitive. The difficulty level also scales in huge jumps; as long as the event is for anyone over the ranking of 300, you can simply trash every opponent blindfolded. Then you hit the next step at the ranking of 204 and things get noticeably harder. You can still win most matches without too many problems but you can actually lose points from time to time, and if you get too fancy, you might lose a game. And then when you hit a ranking of 100, you get your ass handed to you when the big-name pros start to play like pros they should be. Adjusting to these jumps in difficulty takes some time and it's a shame that the game offers absolutely no challenge during the early months of your character's career, before throwing you right in at the deep end.

As a new feature, your character has a stamina bar. You lose endurance whilst training and playing in a tournament; to recover it, you can take some sports drink (no time lost, but won't protect you from injuries), take a week off lounging at your home or go on a three-week tropical holiday to relax. The system is very simplistic but it does mean that you may have to schedule some rest breaks just prior to important tournaments, or you risk injuring your character and being forced to take weeks off during major tournaments.

Over time you unlock extra shoes, shirts, pants, wristbands and accessories, and you can choose the appearance of your character at your home. While most of these are just cosmetic, only altering your outward appearance, unlockable rackets can influence your play slightly, based on their stats.

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