Of course it has its fair share of stinkers -not unlike the PC - but the console undeniably boasts a number of genuinely classic titles. What can’t be faulted is the quality of the hardware, or indeed the games. The reasons for the failure of the Sega Dreamcast are manifold, be it the shit advertising campaign, the half-arsed - nay, superfluous - online strategy, or even the curious donation of $15 million to Arsenal Football Club. It came from the East, but it has now firmly gone west. Crucially, the gameplay has remained intact, and if you don’t own a Dreamcast this is definitely worth a look. It’s still basically the same game though, as evinced by the words 'press start’ on the menu screen. Graphically, the conversion may look crisper than its Dreamcast counterpart, but seems to have lost some of its subtleties, such as the motion blur in the replays and the barely discernible cloud shadows, which appear here as if the apocalypse were pending. Success opens up further options, and also enables you to win money, which can be spent on such treats as different coloured shirts, or even a doubles partner. Various options are available, including a World Circuit in which you complete short matches and training modes, some of which are passable mini-games themselves. The eight computer-controlled players all behave differently, and getting the measure of your opponent is crucial.
Even if you’ve never played the game, it soon becomes evident what you have to do, be it forcing your opponent into a comer, or getting up to the net and cracking in some volleys. Like the best sports games, it isn’t about mastering the interface, but mastering the actual sport, and you will have to employ genuine tennis tactics to get results. Even if you consider tennis to be the sport of fools (and I personally find Wimbledon the most boring fortnight of the year), it’s hard not to get sucked in once you get the hang of it, which should take no more than five minutes for all but the most cack-handed buffoon. Once mastered, it’s a gloriously playable system, and one that makes for some quality action.
However, this doesn’t mean that it’s a simple game, as the ball can be knocked to virtually anywhere on the court by adroitly tweaking the joypad at the moment of impact. There is a rarely used lob button, but essentially the key moves come down to a solitary knob, something that will be repellent to flight sim fans and their keyboard overlays. In that sense, it's the tennis equivalent of Sensible Soccer (and praise comes no higher). A supremely intuitive affair, its simplicity is the key, largely relying on just one button. If you’ve never played Virtua Tennis, here’s the deal. Something of a hand-me-down situation then, but one that has nevertheless retained the integrity of the game. That’s the story here though, as Empire attempts to breathe life into Sega’s classic Dreamcast title, itself a conversion of the arcade game. Please, don't get my idea wrong, I love the game, but being a tennis player, I felt that there were gonna be more improvements on the 2003 version to make it more realistic and get the popularity it really deserves.Console conversions are a contentious issue at the best of times, not least when the game being converted is 18 months old and has already spawned a superior sequel.
#Tennis game for pc series#
I also agree with the inclusion of real players, tournaments, and the ability for players to edit the game (similar to EA's FIFA Series which have become succesfull due to their ability to be edited by adding new players, teams, leagues, kits, stadiums, tv channels, and even languages). Now if you could combine the best of both Virtua Tennis and Masters-Series, you would have tennis game with no competition, and that is what Microids needs to do for their 2004 version. Virtua Tennis came very close to being the best tennis sim for PC, this is because of the graphics and the AI of the players, and by graphics Virtua Tennis came very close to being the best tennis sim for PC, this is because of the graphics and the AI of the players, and by graphics I mean that in Virtua Tennis, the movements of strokes and the way tennis players move are very smooth and accurate.